Book-Review

Over the years, I’ve spent quite a bit of time teaching core computing concepts. When I was teaching at universities, there were a few “go-to” books that I liked to use. One such book was Structured Computer Organization by Andrew Tanenbaum and Todd Austin. I recently noticed that it was now in its 6th edition, so I thought it was time to revisit it.

The book was designed to be used in university courses. I’m not sure what the current setup is, but I noticed on Amazon that it was a crazy high price, yet it was also available for direct download from a university GitHub repository. I couldn’t seem to work out if that was intentional or not, so I won’t link to it.

2025-05-03

I’ve known Soheil Bakhshi for a while now and was keen to review the second edition of his new book: Expert Data Modeling with Power BI . Our friends at PackT sent me a review copy.

Data Modeling

The data modeling that’s needed for good Power BI outcomes is something that’s dear to my heart, and I was keen to see what Soheil had to say, and where I agreed or disagreed.

2025-05-01

I’ve been a fan of Seth Godin for such a long time. I recently read Small is the New Big: And Other (Little) Ideas That Change Everything . Once again, I’m glad I read it.

One thing I’ve learned over decades of giving presentations, is that you can present all the detail you want, but the thing that the attendees will remember, are the stories and anecdotes that you deliver. Seth is a master of story telling.

2025-04-29

I’m an unashamed fan of Bill Bryson. His ability to see through the fog of any topic, and to make sense of it all, is unsurpassed. I also find his writing very funny. The strange thing is he doesn’t come across that way in person. I’ve never understood that. I’ve seen interviews with him where he comes across as really flat, yet his writing is just amazing.

I’m also a fan of understanding more about language. So I was really pleased to get to read his book Made in America which is subtitled as An Informal History of American English. He published this back in 2016 and it’s been on my list for a while.

2025-04-26

I’ve been meaning to write about this book for quite a while. Complete Showplan Operators by Fabiano Amorim is a wonderful book, and a great example of the books that our friends at Red-Gate have made available for free, over the years, as part of their Simple Talk series.

Clearly, reading execution plans in detail isn’t for everyone, but any developer working with SQL Server should be across much of this content.

2025-04-24

Hamida Rebai Trabelsi started her professional career in Tunisia working for multinational corporations as a software developer, then served as a .NET consultant in Canada. She is currently a senior advisor and information and solution integration architect. She has been awarded as Most Valuable Professional (MVP) in Developer Technologies and as a Microsoft DevHero by Microsoft.

Thanks to the people at PackT, I recently had the pleasure of reviewing another one of her new books: A Developer’s Guide to Building Resilient Cloud Applications with Azure .

2025-04-18

I recently had the opportunity to read a preview of Business Intelligence Essentials You Always Wanted To Know by Irene Tobajas from LUKiN Consulting.

I like the way each chapter started with a set of key learning objectives.

I also like the way that quiz questions are integrated into the text (even though there’s the odd question where I didn’t love the answer. For example, saying that Data Mining wasn’t a component of BI).

2025-04-17

I recently finished another Audible audio book. It was How to Land an A330 Airbus: And Other Vital Skills of the Modern Man by James May.

I need to start by saying that I am a really, really big fan of James May. After watching his Toy Stories series, I decided that when I grow up, I want to be James May. It was brilliant, inventive, and just a bunch of fun.

2025-03-27

I recently listened to the audio book of Preincarnate by Shaun Micallef.

I need to start by saying that I’m a huge fan of Shaun’s, and I also love hearing him narrate books. Shaun’s humour can be a matter of taste. It’s not for everyone, but I generally love it, although I know many others that don’t. Mad as Hell was one of my favourite TV shows. The one exception is that I wish Shaun would lose the impersonations of Kenneth Williams.

2025-02-10

I recently listened to Your Best Year Ever by Michael Hyatt on Audible.

When the book started with The Best is Yet to Come being announced loudly, I nearly stopped listening. I can’t get the look of Kimberly Guilfoyle screaming that, out of my head.

The way she did that was like an excerpt from a horror movie. She has ruined that phrase for me, for all time.

2025-01-28