ESI Library, June 2023: the 3+2 books recommended by Diego Cordero
Diego Cordero Contreras, student at the School of Informatics and member of the research group AIR, stars in our library section in the month of June. As you already know, the 3+2 section includes the recommendation of 3 books related to technology and the professional field, and 2 books on various other topics. These are the books that Diego recommends and why:
Tech books (3)
1. PMBOK, project management
I have to admit that, if it hadn't been for a certain subject, I wouldn't have started reading this book, but beyond that, it's a book that really teaches you something that goes beyond computer science and that is probably more necessary than to learning to program, it teaches you to work on projects as a team. The PMBOK promotes a systematic and disciplined approach to project management, providing professionals with the tools and knowledge necessary to plan, execute and control projects effectively, which makes it possible at the time of project delivery and during development does not give us the blank sheet syndrome and we always know what to do despite not having any previous reference.
2. The art of Prolog
Without a doubt, it is an essential book for those who wish to enter the world of prolog programming further; but beyond that, my recommendation is not for those who just want to learn about prolog. My recommendation comes because this is a book that I started skimming due to some problems we had for a class project, and that I ended up reading because it teaches you a new way of programming.
With this book you realize how useful it is in so many ways declarative programming which, while not as popular today as the imperative paradigm, in many cases, with a small "chip change", you can save hundreds of lines of code and make it much more understandable at first glance.
It is true that this is not a book that talks explicitly about declarative programming as such, it only talks about prolog, but with all the applications, algorithms and examples that are shown, you really understand all the applications that this paradigm really offers you.
3. Algorithms Unlocked
If I had to talk about a book that introduced me to computing for the first time, I would have to mention this one. I met him by a forced chance, since I myself was looking for books to understand something more than what I used every day. It is a book that serves both for dissemination and for more professional reading, since it makes a detailed description of many contemporary algorithms when it was written (2013).
If you are both interested in getting fully into computing from the outside and want to know something more about how algorithms work in so many things that surround us today, this reading is for you.
Non-tech books (2)
4. The Eagle's Shadow
This work, which is perhaps not the best known by Pérez Reverte, deals with a small group of Spaniards forcibly imprisoned in Napoleon's “la grande armée” on the way to Borodino, one of the bloodiest battles of the Napoleonic wars; and talks about how they would end up becoming heroes, in a perhaps somewhat unexpected way. I personally really enjoy the historical novel and this particular period in history. With this novel I enjoyed every word because, although there are already many narrative examples of this battle as it occurs in Tolstoy's "war and peace", this story presents the leading Spanish battalion as a great comic relief that allows you to eventually get away from all the pain and suffering caused by the battle.
Obviously this does not make it a comic novel or less realistic, it simply adds a different touch to what has already been told other times and, in the end, it takes advantage of fiction within a historical realistic framework.
This is why, despite not being able to attract much at first because it is a historical novel, I highly recommend it; I'm sure it will surprise you.
5. maus
I am taking the liberty of adding a graphic novel to the list that I think is completely worth reading. Maus deals with a subject as hard as the holocaust, without mentioning it and bringing it closer to you in such a way that it would hurt less if they mentioned it. Maus is a story about cats and mice, mice that in a historical moment are chased by cats. The story is specifically about a mouse and a grandfather who tells his granddaughter, his journalist, who tells us the story, everything he experienced in this time of persecution.
Maus is a heartbreaking and hard story, but it also teaches a great lesson and you will not be able to walk away from the book until you finish it, because it is not very long either. It is in line with other graphic novels about survivors such as "Persepolis" if you are looking for a similar example that can encourage you. I do not tell anything more about the story since, to advance something more, it would be to annoy the experience.
