Slack: Getting Past Burn-out, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency, by Tom DeMarco

Excellent deconstruction (or destruction) of many of the cherished principles that dominate the contemporary knowledge work environment, exposing them for the often counter-productive fallacies that they are. There aren't many people, particularly in IT/knowledge work, who wouldn't benefit from reading it.
5/5

The World Without Us, by Alan Weisman

Fascinating thought experiment that succeeded in really getting me thinking about humanity's impact on the planet. However it was not full of guilt-inducing lectures or doom & gloom so was as illuminating as it was serious.
4/5

Service-Oriented Architecture: Concepts, Technology, and Design, by Thomas Erl

Detailed & often prolix account of what SOA is & how it should be done from the design stage up, though stops short of an actual how to. Unfortunately too much detail hides the odd useful chapter & it's difficult to see who the intended audience is supposed to be.
2/5

40 Days and 40 Nights: Darwin, Intelligent Design, God, Oxycontin, and Other Oddities on Trial in Pennsylvania, by Matthew Chapman

Surprisingly gripping account of the US trial of intelligent design in opposition to Darwin's evolution. The author does a good job of describing hours of legal proceedings without it becoming a boring read whilst also emphasizing the human interest element within the story.
4/5

Me Cheeta: The Autobiography, by James Lever

Scurrilous & salacious spoof autobiography of a world famous chimpanzee who sets about scandalizing many icons of Hollywood's so-called Golden Era as he tells his story. Hugely enjoyable it offsets the brazen humour with a touching brotherly love story between Cheeta & his co-star, Johnny Weismuller; its pathos & sense of loss is such that it puts many a human life story to shame.
5/5

Microsoft .NET: Architecting Applications for the Enterprise, by Dino Esposito & Andrea Saltarello

This book is very specific to its title: it details how a developer might like to structure applications in an enterprise that uses .NET. It's quite low level with big chunks of code included, & therefore different to other architecture books I've read. The section on defining the DAL details how to write your own O/RM which I found a bit excessive. When considering architecture it's usually from a higher level perspective so this level of detail was surprising. However there were some good discussion points, debated in a refreshing conversational style.
3/5

A World Without Bees, by Alison Benjamin & Brian McCallum

Written in a somewhat journalistic style to describe the latest affliction that is wiping out colonies of honeybees with potentially dire consequences for humanity. An interesting rather than enjoyable read, some parts seemed a bit repetitive as though the subject was being stretched to fill the book. What's clear though is that the situation is very serious & action should be taken to find out what's affecting the bees as a keystone species, & what this means for our wider environment.
3/5