Listening Through a Year of Change
This year brought an unexpected gift through returning to the office several days weekly: rediscovered time for listening. The commute created both physical and mental space that had vanished during remote work years. Audiobooks naturally reintegrated into daily routines—not as productivity optimization, but as genuine thinking and learning time.
The selected books reflect curiosity across multiple dimensions: software development, professional relationships, enduring difficulties, and preparing for first-time parenthood.
Dark Wire by Joseph Cox
This cybersecurity exploration examines surveillance and law enforcement consequences. It prompted deeper consideration about where developed software ultimately lands and how disconnected developers often remain from real-world impacts.
The Pragmatic Programmer by David Thomas and Andrew Hunt
Timeless principles transcend technological trends. The book emphasizes fundamentals—responsibility, communication, curiosity, ownership—mattering more than specific tools. This relevance persists even decades later and will likely intensify in the AI era.
The Art of Resilience by Ross Edgley
Extreme examples ground an accessible resilience philosophy: growth emerges through deliberate discomfort, not chaos. A referenced Mike Tyson observation resonated: “Discipline is doing what you hate to do, but do it like you love it.”
The Positive Birth Book by Milli Hill
Approaching first-time fatherhood shifted perspectives quickly. This recommended resource offered multiple viewpoints rather than certainty, reframing birth as approachable with confidence rather than fear.
Building Microservices by Sam Newman
Microservices discussions often treat them as objectives rather than tradeoffs. This examination centers boundaries, change, and failure—not deployment diagrams. Tools fundamentally shape problem perception.
The Manager’s Path by Camille Fournier
Despite no management aspirations, exploring role-specific perspectives proved valuable. Management represents problem-space transformation rather than simple promotion, with constraints explaining seemingly puzzling external decisions.
Platform Engineering by Camille Fournier
Aligning with daily software engineering work at a growing company, this emphasized internal platforms as products serving users rather than obstacles. Technical elegance matters less than reducing friction.
Reflection
These books naturally aligned with life circumstances—professional and personal questions about systems, responsibility, resilience, and care appeared repeatedly across different contexts.
Audiobooks didn’t increase productivity; they deepened reflection. Sustained curiosity served well this year, and it promises an interesting future ahead.