All Consuming : Muness Alrubaie

A story about "Borges Jorges Luis: The Mirror Man"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Muness Alrubaie) — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 03:26:44 GMT

Borges Jorges Luis: The Mirror Man

Available online at http://www.veoh.com/downloadFlow.html?permalinkId=v3907364MC2MHST

Why I want to consume "Joel on Hiring"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Muness Alrubaie) — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 17:25:29 GMT

Joel on Hiring

by Joel Spolsky

The title rocks! And it’s by Joel.

A story about "Test Driven Development: A Practical Guide"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Muness Alrubaie) — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 04:07:01 GMT

Test Driven Development: A Practical Guide

by David Astels

Like the subtitle says, a practical guide to TDD, with tips and even an example of a project end-to-end done via TDD. (I’ve yet to read through the end-to-end project…)

A story about "Refactoring Databases: Evolutionary Database Design (The Addison-Wesley Signature Series)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Muness Alrubaie) — Fri, 26 May 2006 19:02:43 GMT

Refactoring Databases: Evolutionary Database Design (The Addison-Wesley Signature Series)

by Scott W. Ambler

Excellent book; good discussions, alternative solutions, war stories, and examples. I read the essays thoroughly and skimmed the refactorings themselves – I am sure I’ll reach out for it as I do database refactorings. A must have for an agile project.

A story about "Rainbows End"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Muness Alrubaie) — Fri, 26 May 2006 17:23:46 GMT

Rainbows End

by Vernor Vinge

Not my favorite by Vinge – he usually does an amazing job of describing the cultural implications of technology and only secondarily of discussing the technology. In this book, there is far more about the technology itself than is his wont. Still a great book by the best scifi author I’ve read, just not his best.

Why I recommend "Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Muness Alrubaie) — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 03:26:26 GMT

Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon

by Daniel C. Dennett

For one thing, this has to be the best executed application of memetics I’ve yet to read.

A story about "Getting Real: The smarter, faster, easier way to build a successful web application"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Muness Alrubaie) — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 21:37:01 GMT

Getting Real: The smarter, faster, easier way to build a successful web application

by 37signals

The book is by 37signals, the guys who brought you basecamp and Ruby on Rails. It’s available from them, at https://gettingreal.37signals.com/.

A story about "Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Muness Alrubaie) — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 20:10:49 GMT

Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity

by Lawrence Lessig

Available under a by-nc Creative Commons license at http://www.free-culture.cc/freeculture.pdf .

A story about "Tacit Dimension"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Muness Alrubaie) — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 07:12:34 GMT

Tacit Dimension

by Michael Polanyi

This was thought provoking and helped me question and then better understand aspects of cognition and philosophy of science. The chapter on emergence seemed deeply flawed to me and many of the conclusion seem to reflect to me that things in that field have come a long way since then. The text seems to confuse determinacy and predictability.

A story about "Notes on the Synthesis of Form (Harvard Paperbacks)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Muness Alrubaie) — Sat, 15 Oct 2005 04:03:30 GMT

Notes on the Synthesis of Form (Harvard Paperbacks)

by Christopher Alexander

I wrote a lengthy note on the book at http://muness.blogspot.com/2005/10/on-notes-on-synthesis-of-form.html .

A story about "2046"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Muness Alrubaie) — Sun, 25 Sep 2005 05:06:40 GMT

2046

by Kar Wai Wong

One of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. Imagery was very detailed. Simply: poignant.

A story about "The Time Traveler's Wife"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Muness Alrubaie) — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 14:17:28 GMT

The Time Traveler's Wife

by Audrey Niffenegger

The story weaving was well done, especially for a first book. But the story just didn’t do much for me. And I didn’t like the way the author emotionally screwed with the reader; it just seemed like a cheap – albeit effective – shot.

A story about "Avalon"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Muness Alrubaie) — Mon, 08 Aug 2005 13:25:23 GMT

Avalon

by Mamoru Oshii

Mini review at http://www.livejournal.com/users/jwz/520240.html .

A story about "Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmers' Guide, Second Edition"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Muness Alrubaie) — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 20:13:26 GMT

Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmers' Guide, Second Edition

by Dave Thomas

First Edition is at http://www.rubycentral.com/book/index.html

A story about "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Muness Alrubaie) — Mon, 11 Jul 2005 04:23:50 GMT

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

by Cory Doctorow

Available online at http://craphound.com/down/Cory_Doctorow_-_Down_and_Out_in_the_Magic_Kingdom.pdf

A story about "The Pursuit of Wow!"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Muness Alrubaie) — Mon, 11 Jul 2005 04:22:38 GMT

The Pursuit of Wow!

by Tom Peters

Seth Godin has mentioned this book several times. I am finally reading it and can see why he recommends it so. An excellent read for anyone looking to excel, not just in management but in everything.

A story about "Software Project Survival Guide (Pro -- Best Practices)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Muness Alrubaie) — Tue, 05 Jul 2005 15:49:59 GMT

Software Project Survival Guide (Pro -- Best Practices)

by Steve C McConnell

Highly recommended by Seth Godin in Free Prize Inside!

A story about "Pattern Recognition"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Muness Alrubaie) — Tue, 05 Jul 2005 15:22:50 GMT

Pattern Recognition

by William Gibson

Here’s one review:
http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/gibson_review.html

A story about "General Chemistry"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Muness Alrubaie) — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 19:14:16 GMT

General Chemistry

by Linus Pauling

Doing (IT) contracting work for CAS, so I thought I should try to gain some domain knowledge. So far, I like it a lot; relates chemistry to other topics, especially math, physics.

A story about "Game, Set and Math: Enigmas and Conundrums (Penguin Mathematics)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Muness Alrubaie) — Sat, 11 Jun 2005 07:09:03 GMT

Game, Set and Math: Enigmas and Conundrums (Penguin Mathematics)

by Ian Stewart

Should reread again and actually try the exercises.

A story about "Survival Is Not Enough"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Muness Alrubaie) — Sun, 05 Jun 2005 21:33:09 GMT

Survival Is Not Enough

by Seth Godin

One of the few books I’ve read that applies evolutionary ideas to business and succeeds. Seth makes compelling arguments as to why businesses, departments and employees need to make evolution part of the way things are done everyday and how to do so.