 | Why Does Software Cost So Much?: And Other Puzzles of the Information Age author: Tom Demarco asin: 093263334X binding: Paperback list price: $29.95 USD amazon price: $26.95 USD |
I don't agree with everything in this book (including the title essay). However, it contains the best 5 pages on management ever written - the Standing Naked In The Snow chapter. It's a must read just for that.
 | The Cognitive Style of Power Point author: Edward R. Tufte asin: 0961392150 binding: Paperback list price: $7.00 USD amazon price: $7.00 |
No silver bullet fixes here though - this is a think piece. Challenges you. Makes you think. Refreshing. Anything written by Tufte is worth reading.
 | Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative author: Edward R. Tufte asin: 0961392126 binding: Hardcover list price: $45.00 USD amazon price: $32.40 USD |
The third book in a series on information display. Deals with information that changes over time. Anything written by Tufte is worth reading.
 | The Visual Display of Quantitative Information author: Edward R. Tufte asin: 096139210X binding: Hardcover list price: $40.00 USD amazon price: $40.00 |
The book for anyone involved in showing numerical data graphically. Anything written by Tufte is worth reading.
 | Envisioning Information author: Edward R. Tufte asin: 0961392118 binding: Hardcover list price: $48.00 USD amazon price: $34.56 USD |
One of the most beautiful and stunning books I have ever read. Expensive, but worth several times the price. It has directly influenced me in several ways. It forever changed the way I go about communication and presenting tabular data. This book was the direct influence for the FDD processes and the template (layout) they use - which have received acclaim from many people worldwide (even those that are not fans of FDD are fans of the process templates). Anything written by Tufte is worth owning.
 | Design, Form, and Chaos author: Mr. Paul Rand asin: 0300055536 binding: Hardcover list price: $60.00 USD amazon price: $60.00 |
Beautiful. Inspirational. One of the world's great designers.
 | The Form of the Book: Essays on the Morality of Good Design (Classic Typography Series) author: Jan Tschichold Hajo Hadeler asin: 0881791164 binding: Paperback list price: $19.95 USD amazon price: $19.95 |
Beautiful. I consider it very important and it (and New Typography) has had a great influence on me.
 | The New Typography (Weimar and Now : German Cultural Criticism) author: Jan Tschichold asin: 0520071468 binding: Hardcover list price: $65.00 USD amazon price: $65.00 USD |
Beautiful. I consider it very important and it (and The Form Of The Book) has had a great influence on me.
 | Machine Beauty: Elegance and the Heart of Technology (Master Minds Series) author: David Gelernter asin: 0465045162 binding: Hardcover list price: $21.00 USD amazon price: $21.00 |
The good part of this book is a short section on Linda, tuple space and Lifestreams. It's recommended for that only. These ideas are still be to fully realized - we're only scratching the surface (in the mainstream) of breaking the ridiculous hierarchical file system of desktop PCs with brilliant first steps such as OS X's fully integrated Spotlight feature. The time ordered representations and categorizations talked about here are yet to come (in the mainstream and fully OS integrated as they need to be). I can't wait...
 | How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built author: Stewart Brand asin: 0140139966 binding: Paperback list price: $30.00 USD amazon price: $19.80 USD |
A stunning book on design and entropy. Yes - it really is about buildings but there is much we can learn - it's "what happens after they're built."
