Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light” – Vera Nazarian

Recently I came across a theory which says “We are average of five people in our closest inner circle”. So I chose five people in my inner circle by choosing the authors of my favorite books, which I will love to share with you. So here are some great books that I read in the year 2016!

The Design of Everyday Things by Dr. Donald A Norman

Ever got stuck outside an unlocked door of a building? You tried everything but the door did not budge, and suddenly you saw someone walking through the same door. This is when you realize that the place where you were trying to enter was not a door at all, its a wall of glass. The door is a little further ahead. You missed it because the door somehow managed to camouflage itself with the glass wall! What did you feel at that time? Embarrassed for messing up on something as simple as a door? Oh well, Don’t be. Dr. Norman says it’s not your fault, it’s the fault of the door’s design.

The Design of everyday things is a book which describes the principles of cognitive psychology and influence of good and bad designs on consumer behavior. Dr. Norman states in the book how the design of simple things such as - a door or light switches, should come without a user manual or memorization of procedures. The primary motive of any product should be the ease of use rather than its aesthetics’s. The book stresses on the topics like - how a badly designed equipment can harm the person operating it or lack of feedback can completely baffle the consumers. It plunges into details of psychology of everyday actions and design challenges. This is a highly recommended book especially for engineers, because it gives useful insights on the design principles and urges the reader to think more creatively about the design flaws in products.

Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Biases, Halo Effect, Anchoring Effect, Hedonic Psychology. Oh my god! What in the world is happening here? This is exactly how you will NOT feel while reading this book. Yes, I said not!

After reading Thinking Fast and Slow you will truly be able to understand how choices are made by us in our professional or personal lives. There are a lot factors influencing our decisions. In this book Dr. Kahneman takes us on a tour of Human Irrationality and introduces us to two main systems at work. System1 which is fast, intuitive and emotional. System2 which is slower and more logical. Complete the phrase “bread and ….” - that’s System1 at work. Count the occurrences of letter ‘a’ in the next page - that is our System2. Dr. Kahneman talks about all the topics mentioned above from Human Irrationality to Hedonic Psychology in a very interesting and conversational tone. This book is not only full of information but also contains lot of practical life case studies. It also involves the reader in fun activities, for example, try this ‘Hold a pencil horizontally in your mouth and leave it there for some time’. Any idea what happens after a few minutes? You start feeling happy! Don’t believe me? Go ahead and try it yourself.

Reamde by Neal Stephenson

Reamde, is science-fiction, techno-thriller which immerses the reader in the world of online multi player gaming. Fasten your seat belts for a rollercoaster ride which starts from a small-farm in ‘Iowa’, takes you over ‘British Columbia’, beautiful city of ‘Seattle’ to the populated streets of ‘China’ then back to ‘British Columbia’ and ending where it all began. Its entertaining, fast paced with Russian gangsters, computer hackers, computer viruses creating chaos.In addition to this, for gun enthusiasts, this books provides lots of brilliantly choreographed shootouts, including an epic mini-war in the climax. Now that’s some action!

The Pragmatic Programmer by Andrew Hunt, Dave Thomas

“To err is to human”. As human beings, we are susceptible to mistakes. This holds true even for software programmers. Some mistakes are grave and put us in extremely difficult situations like messed up piece of code or a poorly captured requirement, which can be avoided. In situations such as these we need a friend or a mentor who can give us some valuable advices. The Pragmatic Programmer is one such friend.

Ranging from topics like importance of writing the clean code to team management this book covers some very important aspects and principles of software development. It stresses on the importance of writing reusable code, DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) Principle, avoid writing code by coincidence, effectiveness of good testing and also discusses the significance of getting clear requirements. This book imparts a lot of information and major pitfalls , explained using practical real life examples. If you are new in the field of software programming, this book will be a mentor to guide you through the learning process, giving lessons to remember for life. If you are an experienced programmer , well, no harm in going back to an old friend for some great advices!

Sophie’s World by Jostein Gardner

What if you return home one day to find a note in your mailbox with these questions ‘Who are you?’ and ‘Where does the world come from?’ What will be your reaction? Surprise? Confusion? Sophie’s World is the story of a 14 year old girl by the name of ‘Sophie Amudsen’ who returns home one day to find these notes ‘Who are you?’ and ‘Where does the world come from?’ in her mailbox, along with another note addressed to a certain ‘Hilde’ whom Sophie doesn’t know. Imagine the confusion of this girl! From here starts interesting series of Philosophy lessons for Sophie by a mysterious philosopher.

As suggested on the cover page , the novel is a History of Philosophy. Starting from question of ‘What is philosophy?’ , the book breezes over the periods of Myths and legends of Thor to famous philosophers like Socrates and Aristotle. It takes us on a tour of Medieval Ages philosophy and ends with the theories of Sigmund Freud. It is an interesting read, not only because the book provides us with enlightenment on philosophy , but also keeps you guessing about the mystery of ‘Hilde’ and her connection to ‘Sophie’.