Computing books received in March 2019

These books, which I received recently, look interesting, and I’m looking forward to reading and reviewing them. All book links are Amazon affiliate links.

How to think like a coder was shortlisted for an educational writers’ award, which you can read about here: The 2018 Educational Writers Award. I didn’t receive this in March, but have only now started to look at it in depth. I’ve already penned a few notes about it here: Books in Brief: How to think like a coder.

Monitored, which I’ve just started reading, is an examination of big data and surveillance from a Marxist perspective. I haven’t looked at any Marxist literature for a very long time — not since I tried to read Das Kapital when I was 17 (I got as far as page 23, which was 8 pages further than one of my teachers!) — so it’s a completely new perspective for me, which makes this an interesting, if difficult, read.

It covers similar ground to other books on the same subject matter that I have to review — indeed it references some of them — but with a clearly different take on the whole thing. I have to say that from the little I’ve read so far I remain unconvinced, and happily so.

Mission Python has been sent to me by Teach Secondary magazine. As the title suggests, it’s a book that teaches you how to program in Python. All I can say about it so far is that it looks colourful, and that I’m looking forward to reading it.

Thumbnail sketch of the Raspberry Pi User Guide

I always dread having to open any kind of manual. For a start, it’s against the natural order of things. (I don’t ask for directions either, even when I’m hopelessly lost.) Secondly, they usually seem to be written for people for whom they are superfluous.

Imagine, then, what a pleasant surprise it was to open this book and discover that it is not only well-structured, but an enjoyable read.

I wouldn’t say it is bedtime reading exactly (mind you, I used to read books on Excel functions and VBA before retiring for the night). However, it is very comprehensive.

For example, if you are interested in setting up your Pi to take time-lapse video, this book takes you step by step through the process.

If you’re serious about pushing your Raspberry Pi to its limits, and even if you’re already pretty familiar with what it can do, this book is a must-have for your bookshelf or workbench.

Raspberry PI User Guide (Amazon affiliate link) 

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