During lunch with a friend towards the end of last year, he mentioned how much he enjoyed reading Red Rising by Pierce Brown. Since recommendations from friends has become one of my top criteria for adding books to my reading list, I made sure that I put Red Rising at the top of my 2015 reading list.

As the website for the trilogy says, the book contains “…shades of The Hunger Games, Ender’s Game, and Game of Thrones….” I couldn’t think of a better analogy for the characters and plot. It’s a really strong effort for Brown’s debut novel. The characters are well developed and he does an excellent job keeping the story moving and the reader guessing as to what will happen next.

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Like a fine wine, some books just get better with age. Examples that I’ve read are Brave New World (Aldous Huxley – 1931) and Amusing Ourselves to Death (Neil Postman – 1985). Both books are just as relevant now as they were when they were written, if not more so. I recently completed The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering (Anniversary Edition) by Frederick P. Brooks, Jr. It was first published in 1975, and updated in 1982. The anniversary edition, which I read, was published in 1995 and added four extra chapters. Even though material in the book is almost 40 years old, it’s just as applicable in today’s software development environment as it was back when it was written.

There are so many nuggets of wisdom in the book, that it would be impossible to cover them all in one blog post. I just wouldn’t be able to do them justice. However, here are a few points that I found quite interesting.

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William Hertling is one of my favorite authors. His Singularity Series is one of my top Must Reads. I strongly encourage you to check it out if you haven’t already. Anyways, I recently discovered that Hertling had decided to write a book for kids – The Case of the Wilted Broccoli. I decided I needed to check it out and picked up a copy for my youngest daughter and me to read together.

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Almost one year ago, I read Mark Russinovich’s first novel, Zero Day. Even though it didn’t make my Must Read list, it was a strong enough first effort that I put his second novel, Trojan Horse, on my 2014 reading list. I finally finished it earlier this month.

Trojan Horse features the chief protagonists from Zero Day – Jeff Aiken and Daryl Haugen, so it can be considered a sequel. In the second installment, they are once again called in to identify and fix damage that has been inflicted by a virus of unknown origin. Through his debugging efforts, Aiken begins to trace the virus back to state governments, first in Iran and then China. He calls in his girlfriend Daryl to help, and their involvement ends up putting them in the middle of a state sponsored international espionage plot.

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I’ve grown tired of reading book series and sequels. I don’t have enough time for reading or read fast enough to warrant the time investment. There are exceptions to this rule. Hugh Howey’s Silo Series, William Hertling’s Singularity Series, and A.G. Riddle’s Origin Mystery Trilogy are all Must Reads in my opinion.

One of my favorite books and recommended reads for 2014 was Terms of Enlistment by Marko Kloos. When I saw that he had released a follow-up, Lines of Departure, I decided to make another exception to my “no series rule.”

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