This is my bookshelf. Not completed because I am lazy to type all here. I put up here for some books that inspired me. Books I particularly liked preceded with **, substantially above average with *.

• Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! **

• What Do You Care What Other People Think? **

  These 2 books are so good when you’re in university studying physics, but do not really know why we study physics. I skipped the classes but felt guilty, so I went to library to find some books related to physics. Then OMG, this man is really interesting and gave me motivations to study physics. In the end, I studied enough to pass physics, electromagnetic, ... but I remember nothing now but Ferynman’s books!

• Hackers and Painters**

  First time I read it when I was 19. I just got my first salary from making scallion pancakes ($3 per hour), I bought a collins English dictionary ($40!!) along with this book because the stories of first chapter reasonates with me. I read it and a seed of programming planted into my heart.

• Rework**

  I was in a terrible job and this book made me realized and quit that job.

• Remote

  I was in another terrible job (in terms of long commute) and this book made me quit and find a remote job.

• The Little Schemer

  The Q&A style to teach programming is nothing I’ve ever seen. And this book is written for non-tech people like me! You learned Scheme by reading Q&A. Maybe best intro book to programming?

• The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

  I read in 2015-ish. I discovered this when I was checking out Japan Society NYC’s YouTube channel. This becomes my guideline to buy things carefully and throw away things easily.

• Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility

  I was into Netflix’s culture deck and bought this book to learn more and it’s good but ruthless practices.

• Three body problem

  Sci-fi recommended by a friend. You will finish in one day because it is so fascinated...

• The Design of Everyday Things

• High Output Management

• The Element of Style

  My habit of apply ’s from users’s came from here.

• Anything you want

  Derek Siver’s reluctant entrepreneurial stories. Written in English even I can finish in a day. Very honest mini stories.

• Let My People Go Surfing

  If you have to wait to go surfing on Satuday 3pm, then you’re a loser.
  from the founder of Patagonia

• A Gentle Introduction to Symbolic Computation

  Probably my first book of intro to programming! I finished all exercises on paper and pen in a library in one really hot summer. I was there studying this weird programming language where everyone else was studying for university, the exam to get a job at the government.

• Pragmatic Programmer

  Many good tips but I read it too early in my career. Re-read this after been in the industry will be awesome!

• Permanent Record

  I like the Super Mario metaphor that there is no going back in time.

• NO HARD FEELINGS**

  Can I say this is probably the best onboarding book go into work at any (tech) company? Read on why.

• Just For Fun

  A short book by Linus to know more about the stories behind creating Linux. Cold weather and hot pasta.

For Magzines. For Chinese books recommendation.

Reading tips

Think book as an archive of blog posts (except fiction). You don't need to finish the book from beginning to end. The important thing is to truly understand the ideas from the book.

Hey some books are so bad but you...

Books I marked ** maybe the worst book to you, because I read in the time I most needed and got inspired. A book needs to read by you at the right time. Other people’s best books maybe worst book of yours, because you already read other good ones.

I want to like reading

Velocity of being is perfect for you. 121 open letters for young readers.

Where to find good books to read?

• Podcast often talks about books
• Brainpickings by Maria Popova
• Follow people who read on Twitter
• A good book leads you to another one
• Conference talks often recommend books
• Find out what your friends are reading

Other recommendations:

• Patrick Collison’s Bookshelf
• Bret Victor's Bookshelf
• 297 books by Brandur Leach
• Books I’ve read by Derek Sivers
• Books which have influenced me most by Tyler Cowen
• This twitter thread

Books I bought but haven’t finished

• How to win friends and influence people

Recommend by Podcast

• Happy by Darren Brown — Recommend by Sivers

Programming Books

Smalltalk Best Practice Patterns — The content has many good tips of building software these days. The quick reference at the end is quite useful to know the name of many patterns and what are them. Can see many Ruby’s inspirations.

Wishlist

• Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh
• I am a Strange Loop by Douglas R. Hofstadter
• Life: A User’s Manual by Georges Perec
• Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?
• The Soul of A New Machine
• Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins Of The Internet
• Developer Hegemony
• how to do nothing

If you would like to be an angel of my life, please check my wish list.

Recommend by friends

• Ted Chiang
• Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley's Bill Campbell

Multiple attempts

• SICP (never made it to chapter 4)
• G.E.B.
• Scheme and the Art of Programming
• Essentials of Programming Languages