Just this guy, you know?

This was an absolute joy to read. I’ve been watching some of Filmdeg Miniatures interviews with various former Games Workshop employees. After one with Mike McVey I knew I had to pick up a copy of this book.

It was published in 1993 so is as old as me but the advice contained within is still as relevant as ever, just like me. It teaches the house style of GW from the early 90s which has an incredibly vibrant colour palette with a focus on making photos from that era look good on boxes and in magazines.

I read this as part of a book exchange with my partner.

I’ve tried writing about my thoughts and feelings but it’s all been a more verbose way of saying “it’s fine”. It’s fine, I don’t regret my time with it but I won’t be revisiting it. I think the blurb is the perfect way for you to decide if it’s for you.

Skip it. Mark Richards & Neal Ford wrote a much better version called Fundamentals of Software Architecture.

Reader, I did not in fact finish Mark Urban’s book on the paratroopers. Instead I was recommended this book by Pierre Novellie which I devoured almost instantly.

Somehow I’d not come across Pierre despite him being exactly my jam and moving in the same circles as other comedians I enjoy. He’s just published this book on his experience with his Autism (ASD). It’s not just his experiences but also a history of the condition, where Asperger Syndrome went, a thoughtful examination of how the nomenclature affects and might affect people with ASD, and the ethics of classifying how “functioning” a person is.

Mirage came out at the end of last year and I got the vibe that it was fine. I finished it over the weekend and it is indeed fine. Perfectly fine.

Given the playable character and at least one other main character, there wasn’t a huge amount possible with the story. It feels like a lot of Horus Heresy books where it’s just filling background lore for some characters who can’t die because we’ve already seen them in the future. There’s no modern day playable character with minimal the Isu stuff. It’s fine.

I bought Beyond the Wall by Katja Hoyer entirely because of the cover. Some striking design and photography.

It’s the history of the German Democratic Republic. Hoyer goes into what I think is a reasonable level of detail given it’s covering the entire history and ideology of the GDR. That works well for my entry level knowledge of the country.

If you have a poke around online there are lots of positive reviews but also a a fair chunk of people unhappy with the often rosy picture the book renders life in the GDR to be. I think I agree with the latter stance but there’s a decent argument towards the end that the nostalgia some people have for life in the GDR is not a desire to see it return but just happy memories of youth.

I’ve pre-empted my last few posts with how long it’s been since the previous post. Well it’s been another two months and I’ve not finished much, and yet I am alive.

I have been continuing the path of the Retro Oner. I’ve made it through the XFM days and miss Vin a lot. I just finished the Self Assessment Tax Deadline episode in 2022. Hundreds of hours down and yet there’s more. I find Shame Wells really hard but it’s a very fun project, seeing the last decade compressed into a few months has been wild.

Has it really been a month since I finished a book? Not good form. Not good.

I finished the breezy Keith Brymer Jones autobiography yesterday. I knew a little about the star of the Pottery Throwdown but his life before going global was totally new to me. If you’re at all interested in pottery I think this is a must read.

I’ve done a little bit of throwing recently and this book makes me want to do a lot more.

It’s been a while. I’ve been reading but not finishing anything. With the release of Dune Part 2 I picked up Dune again for a rare seconding reading. I finished it on a 4 hour train back from Glasgow.

Dune is flawed but I love it. There’s not a lot to say that hasn’t been said over the last 59 years. It’s very prog rock and waistcoat coded. I started Dune Messiah moments after finishing it.

I’m a big Kent Beck fan. Big fan of Extreme Programming ideas. Tidy First is his latest book and I wish it was around when I started working on software.

Kent details some tidyings (refactorings) and then talks about when to use them. He discusses the tension between delivering changes vs having options for change in the future. There’s a really nice aside on coupling and how it only makes sense with respect to changing the code. Coupling is fine if you don’t need to change stuff.