Books

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (goodreads.com)

This was quite a journey over 4 months, but I believe it was well worth the effort. The sheer scope of this book is overwhelming, yet Tolstoy masterfully blends sweeping historical events with personal moments, creating a story that feels both epic and deeply personal.

Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann (goodreads.com)

Highly recommended for every programmer. Perception depends on how much do you know already but coverts following topics

  • Relational vs Document data models
  • Graph based modeling
  • Data warehousing
  • Distributed actor frameworks
  • Replication vs partitioning
  • Consensus on distributed computing
  • Batch vs stream processing
  • MapReduce

Fast, Feast, Repeat by Gin Stephens (goodreads.com)

Taught me how to approach intermittent fasting from first principles. The key takeaway was to avoid triggering any insulin response during the fast. Even something as small as chewing gum with additives can cause trigger insulin response without actual food intake.

The only intakes allowed during fasting are

  • Water
  • Tea (without any additives)
  • Black coffee (without additives, of course)

Articles

OAuth from First Principles (stack-auth.com)

Excellent article explaining the reasoning behind every aspect of OAuth, rooted in first-principles thinking.

The Art of Finishing (bytedrum.com)

Great set of tips to finsh your next side project. In a summary,

  • Define “Done” from the start
  • Embarve MVP
  • Give yourself a deadline