January Reading

Here’s a list of things I was reading in January:

Finding Serenity : Anti-Heroes, Lost Shepherds and Space Hookers in Joss Whedon's Firefly, various authors.  A really interesting collection of short pieces from llitarary analysis to spoofs.  I love the analytical pieces which discuss everything from Zöe’s place as a warrior woman on the ship to theories (pre-Serenity) on the origins of the Reavers.  Most of the pieces are great, one or two stink, but overall a fun book.

Martha’s Rules, Martha Stewart. I wrote about this already in another post.  A very good, concise read for business owners/entrepreneurs.

Designated Targets, John Birmingham.  A nice second book in the Axis of Time trilogy.  Good sci-fi of the alternate history type.  I very much enjoy the culture clash between the folks from the future and the “contemporaries” of 1942.

Time Management for Sytem Administrators, Limoncelli. Very good book on time management from a sysadmin's perspective. Nice bit on tools to help a sys admin, nice bit on customer service for those pesky users. Nothing earth-shattering if you've already read something like Getting Things Done, but still a good read. And it's short!

Things I referenced off and on in January:

Programming ASP.NET, 4th ed., Liberty.  Very nice intro for me to use as I finally get my feet into ASP.NET.

Core C# and .NET, Perry.  Haven’t looked at this much, but it already answered a couple tough questions for me, so it’s got that going for it.

19 Deadly Sins of Software Security, Howard, et. al.  An absolutely killer book for understanding the worst, common security offenders.  Skimpy on nitty-gritty implementation details, but that’s OK because such is not its focus.  Indespensible for me as I’m working on my security presentation for this month’s DevGroup meeting.

Writing Secure Code, 2nd ed., Howard & LeBlanc.  Whoof.  Now here is a massive tome which gives you impelemtation details missing in 19 Deadly Sins.  A perfect hand-in-hand companion to 19 Deadly Sins.

The .NET Developer’s Guide to Windows Security, Brown.  Very practical cookbook-style of nuts and bolts issues for dealing with developing secure code.  Runs the gamut from not developing using an Admin account to how to use the various Principle objects.