Turning Pages in 2025
I'm trying to step up my personal and professional reading this year. Here are four technical books I plan to read in 2025, and the reasons why I chose each one.
Code Complete by Steve McConnell
Okay, starting with a big fish! At ~840 pages, this will be a time investment. This book has been recommended by a few great programmers as a definitive introduction to writing code well. I expect to find many new ideas, as well as reinforcements of lessons I've learned the hard way.
Design Patterns by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, and John Vlissides
This year a mentor helped me see the value of understanding known software design patterns. I've learned about or stumbled into implementing a handful of these, but I'd like to take in the full landscape a bit more mindfully. I think it will help me improvise and advocate better.
Programming Pearls by Jon Bentley
I'm finally reading this, Jack! This book takes us into the weeds of algorithmic problem-solving. Books in the lower-level languages I didn't learn in school slow me down, so I hope this is good practice. I expect this book to be dense relative to its page count.
Code by Charles Petzold
I think strong mental models are crucial. This book builds up a mental modal about computer science from first principles, from a flashlight to a computer chip. I've stopped this book twice around the logic gates section. In 2025 I'm in the right frame of mind for the mathematical ideas there.
Motivation & Accountability
Why read these books? You might notice a theme among them: three of the four were recommended to me by a mentor. I hope to follow their paths and know more about what they know. Also, I think our industry undervalues technical books, even old ones. It's where many of the revolutionary ideas we take for granted today came from.
Will I finish? Follow me on Goodreads to see; I'll be posting my updates there. And follow me on Bluesky for quotes, threads, and summaries.