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Books That Shape My Thinking
Ideas from books on systems, design, technology, work, and the larger questions behind them.
Currently Reading
The Design of Everyday Things
About the book
Don Norman's foundational work on usability and human-centered design explores why well-intentioned objects and systems still fail the people using them. It offers a way to think about design from the user's experience outward, rather than from the designer's intentions inward.
What is staying with me
As an engineer, I tend to expect logic to prevail and assume that people can read the instructions when something is unclear. Norman challenges that expectation. Good design should communicate how it works without requiring an explanation.
That human-first perspective maps naturally to the five-view framework I use when thinking about systems. Customers, employees, processes, environments, and owners all experience a product differently. Designing around only one perspective leaves everyone else fighting the system.
I am still reading, but the shift in perspective is already sticking.
Finished
More Everything Forever
About the book
A critical examination of effective altruism and longtermism, including the belief that humanity's distant future may justify radical action in the present. The book looks closely at how urgency, existential risk, and utopian goals can be used to push ethical limits aside.
What stayed with me
The instinct to look upward, dream bigger, and build toward a better future is worth preserving. At the same time, Earth is the only place we know can sustain human life. Building the best version of life here must be the foundation for anything beyond it.
Nearer-term ambitions such as asteroid mining may eventually ease competition over limited resources. That feels more practical than sacrificing present-day ethics for an uncertain distant outcome.
The argument for limiting extreme wealth concentration was the most challenging part of the book. I am not fully settled on the proposed $500 million cap, but the broader principle makes sense. The most meaningful form of altruism raises the baseline for everyone rather than concentrating power among those already at the top.
Finished
The Friction Project
About the book
A study of the unnecessary obstacles that make work slower, harder, and more frustrating than it needs to be. Reducing that drag requires understanding the full operating system around the work, not only the immediate task.
What stayed with me
Better systems account for five perspectives: the customer, the employee, the owner, the community, and the process itself. Decisions become stronger when those voices are considered together.
How it influences my work
I use this perspective during incident reviews and workflow design. Changes should account for user impact, operator burden, business tradeoffs, environmental context, and process clarity before they are finalized.
Read in Part
The Pragmatic Programmer
About the book
A practical guide to building software and systems that remain understandable, adaptable, and easier to change over time.
What stayed with me
The strongest theme was decoupling. Adaptable structures, loose connections, and incremental improvements usually outperform brittle solutions designed around a single moment or requirement.
How it influences my work
I try to build validation workflows, runbooks, documentation, and internal tools so they can evolve safely as teams and environments change.
Finished
The Phoenix Project
About the book
A story about operational flow, constraints, unplanned work, and the tradeoffs required to maintain reliable technology systems.
What stayed with me
Protect the bottlenecks, reduce unnecessary work in progress, and make operational work visible. Teams recover and plan more effectively when hidden work becomes part of the system.
How it influences my work
I structure runbooks and checklists to reduce cognitive load during incidents, improve handoffs, and keep teams aligned when conditions are changing quickly.