Reading List

Posted 2023-12-29

I’ve explained elsewhere why I’m not going to try to write a meaningful book about software engineering. If I was going to tackle it, though, I’d start by re-reading the books listed below. If you were going to add one or two, what would they be? I’m particularly interested in books from authors and perspectives outside Europe and North America.

Baldwin2014: Peter Baldwin. The Copyright Wars: Three Centuries of Trans-Atlantic Battle. Princeton University Press, 2014. ISBN 978-0691161822.
Bellos2024: David Bellos and Alexandre Montagu. Who Owns This Sentence?: A History of Copyrights and Wrongs. WW Norton, 2024. ISBN 978-1324073710.
Bollier2014: David Bollier. Think Like a Commoner: A Short Introduction to the Life of the Commons. New Society Publishers, 2014. ISBN 978-0865717688.
BuenoDeMesquita2022: Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith. The Dictator's Handbook. PublicAffairs, 2022. ISBN 978-1541701366.
Burlingham2016: Bo Burlingham. Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big. Portfolio, 2nd edition, 2016. ISBN 978-0143109600.
Cech2021: Erin Cech. The Trouble with Passion: How Searching for Fulfillment at Work Fosters Inequality. University of California Press, 2021. ISBN 978-0520303232.
Chang2012: Ha-Joon Chang. 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism. Bloomsbury, 2012. ISBN 978-1608193387.
Ensmenger2012: Nathan L. Ensmenger. The Computer Boys Take Over: Computers, Programmers, and the Politics of Technical Expertise. MIT Press, 2012. ISBN 978-0262517966.
Eubanks2019: Virginia Eubanks. Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor. Picador, 2019. ISBN 978-1250215789.
Frankfurt2005: Harry G. Frankfurt. On Bullshit. Princeton University Press, 2005. ISBN 978-0691122946.
Green2014: Elizabeth Green. Building a Better Teacher: How Teaching Works (and How to Teach It to Everyone). W. W. Norton, 2014. ISBN 978-0393081596.
Hippel2006: Eric von Hippel. Democratizing Innovation. MIT Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0262720472.
Hirshman2013: Linda Hirshman. Victory: The Triumphant Gay Revolution. Harper Perennial, 2013. ISBN 978-0061965517.
Hoffer2010: Eric Hoffer. The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements. Harper Perennial, 2010. ISBN 978-0060505912.
Jaffe2021: Sarah Jaffe. Work Won't Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone. Bold Type Books, 2021. ISBN 978-1568589398.
Karabel2006: Jerome Karabel. The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. Mariner Books, 2006. ISBN 978-0618773558.
Lakey2018: George Lakey. How We Win: A Guide to Nonviolent Direct Action Campaigning. Melville House, 2018. ISBN 978-1612197531.
Linklater2013: Andro Linklater. Owning the Earth: The Transforming History Of Land Ownership. Bloomsbury USA, 2013. ISBN 978-1620402894.
Mattei2022: Clara Mattei. The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism. University of Chicago Press, 2022. ISBN 978-0226818399.
McMillanCottom2017: Tressie McMillan Cottom. Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy. The New Press, 2017. ISBN 978-1620970607.
Moyn2010: Samuel Moyn. The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History. Belknap Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0674048720.
ONeil2017: Cathy O'Neil. Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy. Crown, 2017. ISBN 978-0553418835.
Ostrom2015: Elinor Ostrom. Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. Cambridge University Press, 2015. ISBN 978-1107569782.
Phillips2019: Leigh Phillips and Michal Rozworski. The People's Republic of Walmart. Verso, 2019. ISBN 978-1786635167.
Restakis2010: John Restakis. Humanizing the Economy: Co-operatives in the Age of Capital. New Society Publishers, 2010. ISBN 978-0865716513.
Robin2017: Corey Robin. The Reactionary Mind. Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, 2017. ISBN 978-0190692001.
Rogelberg2018: Steven G. Rogelberg. The Surprising Science of Meetings. Oxford University Press, 2018. ISBN 978-0190689216.
Sahlberg2015: Pasi Sahlberg. Finnish Lessons 2.0: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland? Teachers College Press, 2015. ISBN 978-0807755853.
Schneier2023: Bruce Schneier. A Hacker's Mind: How the Powerful Bend Society's Rules, and How to Bend them Back. WW Norton, 2023. ISBN 978-0393866667.
Scott1999: James C. Scott. Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. Yale University Press, 1999. ISBN 978-0300078152.
Stanford2015: Jim Stanford. Economics for Everyone: A Short Guide to the Economics of Capitalism. Fernwood Publishing, 2nd edition, 2015. ISBN 978-1552667651.
WachterBoettcher2017: Sara Wachter-Boettcher. Technically Wrong: Why Digital Products Are Designed to Fail You. WW Norton, 2017. ISBN 978-0393634631.
Wainwright2017: Tom Wainwright. Narconomics: How to Run a Drug Cartel. PublicAffairs, 2017. ISBN 978-1610397704.
Wiener2020: Anna Wiener. Uncanny Valley: A Memoir. MCD, 2020. ISBN 978-0374278014.
Wilkinson2011: Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger. Bloomsbury Press, 2011. ISBN 978-1608193417.
Williams2014: Joan C. Williams and Rachel Dempsey. What Works for Women at Work: Four Patterns Working Women Need to Know. NYU Press, 2014. ISBN 978-1479835454.