The Checklist Manifesto, by Atul Gawande

The Checklist Manifesto, by Atul Gawande. Metropolitan, 2009.

This book is an expansion of Gawande's interesting New Yorker article. It's an exploration of how the relatively simple idea of a checklist can be used to ensure that complicated things get done well. What works for pilots also works well for surgery. I thought the article was enough to get the idea, but the book was an interesting read for more depth.

Collapse, by Jared Diamond

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, by Jared Diamond. Penguin, 2005.
What makes a society fail? Diamond looks at a variety of societies, current and past, to explore this, with a framework of several factors, but especially focusing most on ecological ones.

When discussing modern societies (e.g., Montana, New Guinea), Diamond is able to speak from personal experience and from interviews. He highlights how people build up a certain conception of their society, and how hard that makes change. He also discusses the effects of absentee owners, corporate influence, and more.

Diamond covers a variety of older societies too, in varying levels of detail, including Greenland, Easter Island, the Anasazi, and others. I found Greenland interesting because he was able to contrast the experience of the Norse Greenlanders and the Intuit, and Easter Island because he gives a plausible explanation for "the mystery."

The writing draws on archaeology, biology, sociology, and more. By starting and ending with modern scenarios, it drew me in well: here's where we are in Montana, here's what happened to a variety of past societies, here are current issues. If you like a broad survey, that shows implications for today, you'll like this book.

Down & Out in the Magic Kingdom, by Cory Doctorow

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, by Cory Doctorow. Tor, 2003.

What happens when reputation is more important than money, when death is yesterday's problem? A group of people have decided to maintain Disney World. Is it better to change or stay the same? How far would you push the issue on either side? This is a fun bit of science fiction.

Mabinogion Tetralogy, by Evangeline Walton

Mabinogion Tetralogy, by Evangline Walton. Overlook. 2003.

This is an under-appreciated work of fantasy. It's based on the Mabinogion, a set of Celtic myths found in Welsh documents. The version I bought 25 years ago was in four separate volumes, but I've linked to a recent version with everything in one volume.

The Prince of Annwn tells of a prince who helps a mysterious Gray Man. A few years later, the druids blame him for troubles in the land, and he vows to take a wife. (Throughout these stories, you see interplay between old tribes and new tribes, men and women.)

The Children of Llyr starts with a time when people are starting to figure out how men are involved in procreation. Inheritance had passed down to one's sister's children, since you knew they were related. This is a story of brothers and the troubles between them that resulted in death and change.

The Song of Rhiannon ties the first two stories together, following the story of one of Llyr's children.

Finally, The Island of the Mighty tells of a sorceress who tried to control someone's destiny but found she could not.

If you enjoy fantasy, or would like to sample it without picking up something as intense as Tolkien, these are an excellent read.

Mythology, by Edith Hamilton

Mythology, by Edith Hamilton. Back Bay Books, 1998. 

Hamilton works through the basic myths, mostly from Greek and Roman sources. Topics include "The Gods, the Creation, and the Earliest Heroes", "Stories of Love and Adventure", "The Great Heroes before the Trojan War", "The Heroes of the Trojan War", "The Great Families of Mythology" (Atreus, Thebes, and Athens), and "The Less Important Myths". She closes with about 15 pages of Norse myths (just a taste). The stories are typically brief, easy reads in a fairly modern style. I was struck by how she describes the difference between different authors (though I'm not to the point of distinguishing them myself). 

The Dark Tower and Other Stories

The Dark Tower and Other Stories, by C.S. Lewis

If you want to complete your collection of C.S. Lewis fiction, this volume will do that. (Note that about 1/3 of it overlaps with the stories included in Of Other Worlds by the same publisher and editor). "The Dark Tower" is a partial story (about 70 pages) about a parallel universe; the characters overlap a little with the "Space Trilogy."

"The Man Born Blind" is a story of a man who is given sight and wants to understand light. "The Shoddy Lands" is a short study in perspective. "Ministering Angels" is about a trip to Mars (and reminds me of some of Isaac Asimov's humor pieces). "Forms of Things Unknown" is about a dangerous trip to the moon. "After 10 Years" is a partial story (about 20 pages), a followup to a Greek myth. 
In general, the science fiction is "just" a carrier to get us to places unknown rather than being integral to the story. The stories themselves are good (though sometimes rough), laced with myth in his trademark way.

Structured Systems Analysis: Tools and Techniques

Structured Systems Analysis: Tools and Techniques. Chris Gane and Trish Sarson. Prentice Hall, 1979.
This is one of the classic books on systems analysis: data flow diagrams, data dictionary, and so on appear. It does a decent job explaining these (though heavier on the tools than the techniques). The description of a data dictionary is one of the better ones I've seen. There's a nice distinction between system and organizational objectives. This is the earliest reference I've seen to the IRACIS model: that work is done because it will Increase Revenue, Avoid Costs, and/or Improve Service. Their explanation of decision tables is excellent. For those who trace the history of agile ideas, Gane and Sarson view systems development as following Boehm's spiral model: "In each case and at each level we build a skeleton, first logical and then physical, see how well the skeleton works, and then go back to put the flesh on the bones." (This is from 1979, and 30 years later we're still working on it.)

The Principles of Product Development Flow (Reinertsen)

The Principles of Product Development Flow: Second Generation Lean Product Development, by Donald Reinertsen. Celeritas Publishing, 2009.

Lean product development can be looked at as flow-based product development. Reinertsen draws on a variety of areas (economics, queue theory, control theory, the military) to explore the consequences for product development. The book is organized as 175 principles, organized into chapters by area. Here are a couple examples: "B2: The Batch Size Queueing Principle: Reducing batch size reduces cycle time"; "F8: The Cadence Batch Size Enabling Principle: Use a regular cadence to enable small batch sizes". Each principle gets a page or two of explanations; the diagrams are plentiful and helpful. (For an introduction to the topic, I still recommend Reinertsen's book Managing the Design Factory.)

Legends of Dune (series)

The Legends of Dune series: The Butlerian Jihad, The Machine Crusade, and The Battle of Corrin (or the Box Set), by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson. Tor Books, 2003-2005. 

This series is called "Legends of Dune." It's set thousands of years before "Dune," when people were working out all the technologies and schools that showed up there. Find the roots of the Harkonnens, Atreides, Corrinos, and more. Being set so much earlier does free the authors up some; any discrepancies can be put down to the confusions of time. 

The first book has humans against robots and cymeks, and shows why the Butlerian Jihad got its name. The second book follows the struggles of the cymeks, early space-folding, and a human who grew up with the robots. The third book traces the ultimate battle with robots.

These books use the Dune universe, but I found the style closer to Asimov than Herbert (with lots of bouncing around following various characters and threads). It was enjoyable enough, but don't expect the equal of Dune.

The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and the Amber Spyglass

The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. (3-volume set) By Phillip Pullman. Laurel Leaf (pub.), 2003.

It's hard to review this series without giving away too much, but here goes:

The Golden Compass:This story is set in a world where part of your personality takes the form of an animal (called a daemon, but not like the ones in Unix:). We meet a girl named Lyra in Oxford in another world. She acquires an amazing compass that helps guide her on a dangerous journey through what we'd call a fantasy realm because it has witches and armored bears.

The Subtle Knife:
Lyra ends up in a different world, and meets Will from our world. They quest on, meeting with enemies and unexpected allies in different worlds. Will takes on new missions.

The Amber Spyglass:
The story continues and concludes with Lyra, Will, and many others. We're treated to an unlikely evolution that sounds almost plausible, another amazing tool, and a struggle affecting angels and demons, the living and the dead.

Overall, the series is compelling and interesting. It blends an interesting mix of scientific and religious ideas, with a notable anti-organized-religion bias that will put some people off.