I’m traveling so can’t look on the shelf, but off the top of my head I’d recommend The Wizard War: British Scientific Intelligence 1939-1945, R. V. Jones, 1978.
I first read this book when I was starting out as a Dev some 20 years ago. It made a huge impression and is still relevant. Some things I remember off the top of my head.
- It was the first time I came across Occams Razor. This really helped me understand how to approach debugging issues and generally dealing with problems.
- It discusses the dangers of people who don't understand areas at a technical level being in charge of programs that depend on those technical things. Even more so when they have an inflated ego. Apparently Churchill was very good at seeing through this.
- If I'm remembering correctly, there was a section about a practical joke someone played on their apartment neighbour that involved swapping out their pet tortoise for gradually larger versions. I very recently read a Roald Dahl childrens book to my kid which had this exact story. Now I have no idea if this actually happened as RV Jones wrote, or if it was a well known story at the time that Roald Dahl also adapted.
- The dangers of making assumptions.
I'm sure there are more. It's a worthwhile and highly entertaining read regardless.
