Category Archives: Essential Knowledge

Big ideas in science, history, technology and business.

Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! Review: Curiosity as a Way of Life

Feynman's anecdotes make curiosity contagious and teach real lessons about honest thinking, though the self-mythologizing [...]

Refactoring Review: Small, Safe Steps to Better Code

Fowler turned code cleanup into a safe, disciplined technique; the opening chapters are essential reading, [...]

Design Patterns Review: A Shared Vocabulary, Showing Its Age

The Gang of Four gave programmers a lasting vocabulary for object-oriented design, but the dry, [...]

The Phoenix Project Review: DevOps Taught as a Workplace Thriller

A business novel that makes DevOps ideas stick through a painfully familiar IT crisis, though [...]

The Art of War Review: Ancient Strategy, Endlessly Reapplied

Sun Tzu's short classic is still sharp on deception, preparation and winning without fighting, but [...]

Superforecasting Review: How Ordinary People Learn to Predict Better

The best evidence-based book on making better predictions, backed by a huge forecasting tournament, though [...]

The Hard Thing About Hard Things Review: A CEO’s Honest Survival Guide

Horowitz's candid account of nearly losing his company gives founders rare, practical advice on layoffs, [...]

The Signal and the Noise Review: A Smart Tour of Prediction

Silver's tour of prediction, from weather to poker, is a highly readable introduction to probabilistic [...]

Silent Spring Review: The Book That Launched Modern Environmentalism

Carson's indictment of reckless pesticide use is beautifully written and largely vindicated, though its cancer [...]

Principles Review: Ray Dalio’s Rulebook for Life and Work

Dalio's system for learning from mistakes is genuinely useful, but the book is bloated with [...]

Grokking Algorithms Review: The Friendliest Way Into Algorithms

The friendliest introduction to algorithms in print, with pictures that make ideas click, but it [...]

High Output Management Review: Andy Grove’s Manual for Managers

One of the most practical management books ever written, packed with tools like one-on-ones and [...]