Considering I do not quite have time to write a book, I figured it would be nice to provide you with a reading list to get acquainted with the wonderful world of technology through prose. These are all books that I have read, enjoyed and are at loosely related to productivity or Web 2.0. Chances are if you enjoy this blog you’ll enjoy any of these books.

Web 2.0

Accelerado

Charles Stross look into the future. The book starts only a few years from now and takes a look at what our society would look like if we ever hit a technological singularity. A technological singularity (or rapture of the geeks) is the point in a societies development after which common methods of prediction break down. Usually the invention of general A.I. marks the beginning of this journey.

The book is fun, interesting and most importantly free. For a wonderful author like Mr. Stross to offer a full novel under creative commons is uncommon at best. It seems like someone understands the power of promotion.

Pattern Recognition

It’s a novel about advertising, the internet, and memes all wrapped up in William Gibson’s highly descriptive style. Pattern Recognition is easily one of the most interesting books that I have had the pleasure of reading. It is a mystery novel where all of the pieces take place through the internet. The puzzle is unraveled through web pages and the general theme is how art and technology can produce beautiful synergies.

Though I am often disappointed with the canned nature of many of Gibson’s novels, Pattern Recognition stands apart as a brilliant read.

Lifehacks

A Random Walk Down Wall Street

While not strictly a technology novel, this is a book that will get you thinking. If you have ever wanted to try your hand at beating the market, you might want to preface that by sitting down and reading this book. Unlike many tomes on finance, for the most part this book reads like a collection of short stories. It’s fast, concise and provides only enough detail to get its point across. A Random Walk Down Wall Street is a great read.

Getting Things Done

This is David Allen’s treatise that introduced the concept of gtd to the world. If you are at all interested in productivity, or maybe you just find yourself wondering what this “gtd” stuff is all about, Getting Things Done is a great starting point. It’s a quick read and the system it recommends works pretty well, if you keep it under control.

Like all great productivity systems, it’s fantastic as long as you don’t spend more time setting it up than you would have saved in increased efficiency.

Web 2.0

My fifth and final recommend is the wild card of the list. And the winner is…

Gunslinger

This novel has absolutely nothing to do with technology and less to do with productivity, but it was either this or the Ruby on Rails book. The Gunslinger is part one of Stephen King’s seven part Dark Tower series. If you have never read a Stephen King novel before start with Gunslinger book one and end with Gunslinger book seven. While most of his novels present to same, rather tired stock horror that we have come to accept, this is truly his finest work. If you find yourself in need of a tech break, give this novel a look, you’ll be happy that you did.

[For those who care, the links to the books themselves contain my Amazon affiliate code -- except for Acclerado which is completely free.]