It is about applying optimization techniques in your life learned through computer science and other self-development books.
1. Algorithms to Live By - The Computer Science of Human Decisions by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths:
This is one of my personal favourite computer science books. It has 11 Computer science concepts but you don't need any knowledge of computer science or algorithm to understand that. It's really interesting to look at how things are optimised in the world of computer science but they actually have a direct parallel, how we operate day to day life.
Like sorting is very popular in computer science, There are various kinds of lists, items, ordering we have to deal with and even reverse it. And this book they give you an example of how you can use sorting to sort your clothes in a certain order so that you can grab your clothes very effectively or the ones you use more often are accessible to you.
I think you will enjoy this book if you are into optimising your methods or processes in your life. So check it out if you find interesting.
2. Time management by Brain Tracy:
This is one of my personal favourite computer science books. It has 11 Computer science concepts but you don't need any knowledge of computer science or algorithm to understand that. It's really interesting to look at how things are optimised in the world of computer science but they actually have a direct parallel, how we operate day to day life.
Like sorting is very popular in computer science, There are various kinds of lists, items, ordering we have to deal with and even reverse it. And this book they give you an example of how you can use sorting to sort your clothes in a certain order so that you can grab your clothes very effectively or the ones you use more often are accessible to you.
I think you will enjoy this book if you are into optimising your methods or processes in your life. So check it out if you find interesting.
“Your ability to manage your time…will determine your success or failure.” This is how Brian Tracy begins his book on time management.
In Chapter 1, The Psychology of Time Management, Mr Tracy says, “How you think and feel about yourself largely determines the quality of your life.” This will determine how far you will succeed in your endeavours.
He gives advice on tasks and activities in the section ‘The Important vs. the Urgent’. Further, in Chapter 11, there is a discussion on delegating tasks to others. In addition, we all know at one time or another, we have procrastinated. He deals with that monster in Chapter 13, ‘Overcome Procrastination’.
Now that you have overcome procrastination, he further guides on the importance of an organized workspace. Clean desk, clean and organized mind. It is hard to find what you need when your desk is full of clutter. He concludes with a final point: “time management is the concept of balance.’ You must learn to balance work and outside relationships, “A wise old doctor once observed, “I never spoke to a businessman on his deathbed who said that he wished he had spent more time in the office.”
Also included, is a free sample excerpt from ‘Success Under Stress’ by Sharon Melnick, and a short quiz to determine your survival under stress.
Brian Tracy’s books teach how to organize, delegate, and developing a reading system. It is a self-enhancement learning guide. I recommend this book for business professionals, small business and corporations.
3. Getting Things Done by David Allen:
4. Pragmatic Thinking & Learning- Refactor Your Wetware by Andy Hunt:
The author uses lots of study and concepts from neuroscience and cognitive science and combines that with the process of software development. In the end, it's presented in a way that anybody would find this pretty useful and informative.
This book is slightly more technical but you could easily skim that and just focus on some of the case studies that the author has here about basically how the brain functions and you could probably come up with pretty interesting brain hacks and optimizations by reading this book. And if you're a software developer/engineer it's more interesting to learn how the brain operates hand in hand with processes of software development of hardware development. Give it a try. It's a pretty book.
5. The Productive Programmer by Neal Ford:
He also gives “the Four D’s of Effectiveness”: desire, decisiveness, determination, and discipline. Each is discussed in further detail in the book. I agree when Mr Tracy states, “time management is a business skill…a skill that you can learn, practice, and master.”
In Chapter 1, The Psychology of Time Management, Mr Tracy says, “How you think and feel about yourself largely determines the quality of your life.” This will determine how far you will succeed in your endeavours.
He gives advice on tasks and activities in the section ‘The Important vs. the Urgent’. Further, in Chapter 11, there is a discussion on delegating tasks to others. In addition, we all know at one time or another, we have procrastinated. He deals with that monster in Chapter 13, ‘Overcome Procrastination’.
Now that you have overcome procrastination, he further guides on the importance of an organized workspace. Clean desk, clean and organized mind. It is hard to find what you need when your desk is full of clutter. He concludes with a final point: “time management is the concept of balance.’ You must learn to balance work and outside relationships, “A wise old doctor once observed, “I never spoke to a businessman on his deathbed who said that he wished he had spent more time in the office.”
Also included, is a free sample excerpt from ‘Success Under Stress’ by Sharon Melnick, and a short quiz to determine your survival under stress.
Brian Tracy’s books teach how to organize, delegate, and developing a reading system. It is a self-enhancement learning guide. I recommend this book for business professionals, small business and corporations.
In today's world whatever we do, we are just never able to catch up with all the things. And if you're a computer science student or professional then you know there are lots of things to learn and do. As we try to accomplish all the things most of the time, we become stressed. In this book author, David Allen talks about an approach to maximizing productivity and getting more things done without stress.
In short, this book focuses on getting "stuff" --commitments, to-do items, reminders to gather information, requests for information or actions, etc.-- out of your short-term memory and into a physical, highly organized system that will remind you of the right stuff at the right time.
But how to implement! We all know implementation is the hard part. For this author added so many details, tips and tricks to overcome that resistance. If I make gist out of all those, there are 4 main parts:
- Collecting incoming stuff
- Processing the stuff
- Doing the stuff
- Regularly reviewing your system to make sure your action items and project lists are up to date.
I learned about being productive and getting more things done from this book. So I would recommend it to anyone who feels like they're not being productive enough or getting buried in work.
This is a really interesting book. The author generally goes through the way of software development but the actual core concept of this book is that software development the entire process actually happens in your head. So it is really critical for us to know how our brain operates and how we learn things. How we focus, how we defocus!
The author uses lots of study and concepts from neuroscience and cognitive science and combines that with the process of software development. In the end, it's presented in a way that anybody would find this pretty useful and informative.
This book is slightly more technical but you could easily skim that and just focus on some of the case studies that the author has here about basically how the brain functions and you could probably come up with pretty interesting brain hacks and optimizations by reading this book. And if you're a software developer/engineer it's more interesting to learn how the brain operates hand in hand with processes of software development of hardware development. Give it a try. It's a pretty book.
This book is all about being an efficient and more effective programmer. It doesn't really teach you how to become a better problem solver per se but it definitely gives you a lot of information about things you can do to actually become productive at your work. And this is probably the middle ground of Non-Technical and Technical folks. Technical folks will definitely get a lot of use out of it.
7. Mindset: Changing The Way You think To Fulfil Your Potential by Carol Dweck:
The book is divided into two parts. One the author calls "Mechanics" and the other part is called "Practice".
So the Mechanics side of things he sets up a lot of ideas and tools that you can use to build your environment to become a productive programmer. This isn't really just specific to programmers it could be effective for anybody. But most of the things the author talks about around programming.
The second part is more interesting for software engineers where he talks about some neat principles like "YAGNI" means "You Ain't Gonna Need It". So don't do more than what you need. And there are some principles like "DRY" means "Don't Repeat Yourself" and the way he talks about these principles are sort of removed from the actual coding but it does have some samples of code. I think it's an easy read it's not too technical, easy-going book. I hope you'll enjoy it.
6. The Big Thing: How to Complete Your Creative Project Even if You’re a Lazy, Self-Doubting Procrastinator Like Me by Phillis Korkki:
There are so many days in our life when we don't feel like working. We just feel lazy and doing nothing. What’s tricky is that those days can sometimes last a little longer than we expect them to.
And here you are, with that big idea to develop your app or website or YouTube channel or a Book in your head, keeping it for months, maybe even years. But every time you think about it, there’s something else and it’s never the right time.
This book will encourage you to pursue that big thing in your head, no matter how big it is. Procrastination is sometimes okay, but the time will come when you’ll have to take action.
7. Mindset: Changing The Way You think To Fulfil Your Potential by Carol Dweck:
Having a growth mindset (the belief that you are in control of your own ability, and can learn and improve) is the key to success.Hard work, effort, and persistence are all important, but not as important as having a right midset (the underlying belief that you are in control of your own destiny). If we put a limit to our mindset then we won't be able to go further in career or life. If our mindset is growth-oriented — we’re on the right track!
Author Carol Dweck will show you why a simple idea about the brain is more important than IQ and abilities.
Good Recommendations
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