Synaptic Misfirings: Lists

Book List: Book List

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:58:38 GMT

Jon Skeet: C# in Depth: What you need to master C# 2 and 3: What You Need to Master C# 2 and 3
Assuming you already know a little C#, this is *the best* next C# book you should read. If you really want to understand and make best use of C# 2 and C# 3 then you simply must read this.
Darcey Bussell: Darcey Bussell's Dance Body Workout
Another great book from Darcey. There's quite a lot of Pilates material in here even though it's not presented that way on the jacket. The floor bar stuff is interesting and very useful.
Mike Mattesi: Force: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators
I'm really enjoying this book. Each sketch is just loaded with information.
Krzysztof Cwalina & Brad Abrams: Framework Design Guidelines: Conventions, Idioms, and Patterns for Reusable .NET Libraries
One of the best coding books I've read in a long time, it's up there with 'Code Complete' in my mind. I have no doubt I'll be coming back to this book again and again. Its convinced me that API design is far deeper than 'just' OO and interfaces.
Christopher Hitchens: God Is Not Great: The Case Against Religion
Open you mind to rationality and ethics. More and more these days I find it hard to view any kind of religious belief as the product of either intellectual laziness and/or a tragic lack of imagination.
Pepe Valencia: Inspired 3D Short Film Production (Inspired)
Things to do before I die: make my own CG short. Reading this along side learning to use Softimage|XSI.
China Mieville: Looking for Jake - And Other Stories
Richly textured, many set in London, these are stories of the weird often with mythos overtones. The stories are just bursting with wonderfuly dark backdrops against which the inhabitants struggle to pretend nothing is amiss.
Darcey Bussell: Pilates For Life
My teacher recommended this - and having spent some time with it I can see why. The descriptions are very clear and the photography is stunning. I have to keep my eyes open for an oportunity to see Darcey dance.
Michael L. Scott: Programming Language Pragmatics
This is great book if you want to not only understand the implementation of things like polymorphism, continuations and other language toys - but want to understand why you might include them in the first place. Language and paradigm agnostic.
Tomas Petricek: Real World Functional Programming
Tom's new 'must read' book. Available in MEAP format (it's still being written) head on over to http://www.manning.com/petricek/ and upgrade your brain today! Uber-recommended!
George Avgerakis: Softimage Xsi 5 for a Future Animation Studio Boss
Don't be put off by the '5 this is just a useful if you're learning version '6 of XSI (or I imagine the upcoming '7). The unique aspect of this book in addition to be a decent XSI introduction is its deeply pragmatic career advice. Recommended.
Anthony Rossano: Softimage Xsi 5 Revealed
I would definatey recommend this to anyone wanting to get to grips with Softimage XSI. Don't be put off by the fact that the book covers v5 rather than the latest v6.x release. Pretty much essential
Sam Harris: The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason
In my opinion religion, not global warming, is the bigger threat to human civilization on this planet. Anyone clinging to their childish beliefs in sky Gods should hand over their iPods and the rest fully adopt the life style of ignorance.
Richard Dawkins: The God Delusion
One of the best books I've read so far in 2006. Read, think, question and evolve. Totally wonderful book.
M.R. James: The Haunted Dolls' House and Other Ghost Stories (Penguin Classics)
Classic ghost stories with a real sense of history, place and malevolence. Read these and the English country side will never be the same again. I think 'James probably rates as one of my favorite authors in this genre, alongside Lovecraft of course.
Bruce Payette: Windows PowerShell In Action
Bruce is a member of the PowerShell team and his passion and insight for what they've built comes over in this book :-) I'm reading the eBook version since the dead-tree version isn't quite published yet. You can't be a .NET developer and not read this.

Custom List: Video Games Podcasts

Sat, 31 May 2008 19:29:07 GMT

Video Games Podcasts

Penny Arcade
Home of the best video game blog and web comic, Penny-Arcade's unique brand of funny delivers one of the most insightful and entertaining commentries on the culture and industry.
1UP.com
Home to the '1UP Yours', 'Retronauts' and 'GFW Radio' podcasts. Essential listening. These folks do not pull their punches when reviewing or commenting on publishers. Extremely entertaining and informing.

Custom List: Graphics

Sun, 04 May 2008 07:37:48 GMT

Graphics

The Gnomon Workshop
I've been buying videos from these folks for years. A constant source of inspiration and producers of the highest quality training out there.
Digital-Tutors
DT's training materials are perhaps more immediately accessable than Gnomon's offerings. Which is not to say one is better than the other. I've bought many a title from DT and they've all been great value.
Softimage XSI
One of those rare software packages that proves that you can have powerful and deep software that is also beautiful not only to use but look at - truly artist friendly. The workflows are really really well thought out.

Custom List: Programming

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 10:17:25 GMT

Programming

F#
A major influence on C# 3. Even if you never code F# in-anger you should check this language out since it will definately inform your C# 3 programming.
Wes Dyer
C# 3 compiler and language team member. Wes's posts on FP in C# 3 are required reading.
Lambda The Ultimate
I wish I had more time to read all the wonderful articles on this site. Very much recommended. In addition to the larger written pieces the forum threads are mostly free of noise and often full of wonderful debate.
Simon Peyton Jones
Lots of wonderful research papers on Haskell, STM and other marvels. Everything Simon writes is worth reading! :-) His site was a real find for me, I've learnt a lot by just reading and thinking about his papers.
Brian Beckman
Brian Beckman is a physicist and programmer at Microsoft. More to the point he's not only a incredibly smart person but a wonderful and enthusiastic communicator. He often shoots off on long tangents when talking about a topic - and they're half the fun.
Erik Meijer
Erik Meijer is Microsoft's programming language uber geek. It is *always* worth your time watching or listening to Erik's Channel 9 interviews and conversations.I've learnt so much by following up on stuff Erik talks about.

Custom List: Dev Tools

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 10:12:09 GMT

Dev Tools

Araxis Merge
The best Diff/Merge tool for Windows. Close the competition, send the judges home, this is the implementation you want. Worth every cent.
Refactor! Pro
This is one of those "How did I cope before?" tools. It delivers instant value and is so beautifully implemented you find yourself smiling in appreciation every time you use it.
PowerShell
.NET at the command prompt. You're just not a 'real' .NET developer unless you have at least one PS shell open on your desktop ;-) Seriously though, once you begin learning it the value it adds pays of in ways that just go on and on revealing themselves.
Lutz Roeder's 'Reflector'
The best damn free type browser and decompiler out there. Often copied, never bettered.
Visual C# 2008 Express Edition
Whatever you may personally think about Microsoft, C# 2008 Express Edition is the best *free* programming tool on the planet. Period. Close the competition. Send the judges home. If you can't afford Visual Studio 2008 Profressional Edition then get this!

Custom List: Pilates

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 08:56:41 GMT

Pilates

Stott Pilates
These folks do very good quality Pilates equipment. The construction quality is solid.
Pilates Style Magazine
As these things go this one isn't too bad and actually seems tohave 1 or 2 good articles per issue.
Pilates Podcast (Beyond the Movement)
Excellent companion to your Pilates, add to your podcast subscription list!
Balanced Body Pilates - Bibliography
Wish I had the space (and the money) to buy some of their bigger equipment. None the less, the Pilates bibliography they publish has been a useful source of direction and information for me.