Here in Vancouver I'm working right downtown just a few blocks from the Skytrain station and like most financially dependent people it doesn't make sense to drive to work every day.
Note: I say financially dependent because that's the opposite of what the investment companies always promise us. The holy land, the Shangri-la named "Financial Independence" that you can have when you're 55, but only if you call them now! Now!
End of bitter, non-lottery winning, gotta work hard to put food on my family note.
A quick walk to the bus stop and if all the planets are aligned just right and the BC public transport gods look favourably on me (alas, today was not such a day), I'm at work in 35 to 40 minutes, tops.
In order to occupy myself during said commute I've been reading fiction lately and I've pretty much exhausted my books to read. Plus, the latest selection has been a bit boring (sorry, Margaret Atwood is not doing it for me. Booker Prize indeed.). I've decided to do some light technical reading instead, might as well feed the old grey matter right? I'll save the fiction for times when I just want to read but not really think too hard.
So, my dilemma is what should I read? I want something that I can absorb while not having to be sitting at a computer at the time in order to run through code, do an exercise or just check out what the author is saying on my own system. That eliminates a good deal of coding type books that I'll reserve for times when I'm in serious learning mode. I also need something that I can hold with one hand (and arm) in a crowded train, so 1200 page tomes are out as well.
To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, right now I'm reading Inside Microsoft
Windows 2000, Third Edition which I've had for a while but never got a chance to go through cover to cover. I'm not sure if I'll pick up the fourth edition since it probably goes over some of the same ground and expands to Windows 2003 and XP, but if I was buying it for the first time that's the one I'd pick up. Although it's a bit heavy it's about at the limit of what I can comfortable read on the train.
On deck is Enterprise Integration Solutions. I read the first few chapters the day I got the book but haven't had the chance to progress much since then.
The other books I'm thinking about are:
Coder to Developer: Tools and Strategies for Delivering Your Software by Mike Gunderloy
Code Complete by Steve Mcconnell
Coding Slave by Bob Reselman (for light tech/fiction reading).
So, does anyone have further suggestions on what to get next? What has proven to be good light tech reading for you? Help a poor geek commuter out.