In between announcements from our cruise director Julie, Buck Woody imparted some words of wisdom to our SQL Cruise group: What gets measured gets done. In other words, the things we track are the things we make sure to do. As part of his professional development talk, he issued a challenge to us all. Find twelve books that will assist in meeting a career goal, read one per month, and blog a review of each one. In doing so, we’ll not only advance closer to our goal, but also have some material handy in case we get in a rut thinking of blog content. Having identified a one-year goal, here are the twelve-ish books I’m reading to help me achieve it:
- ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income by Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett. This one has been on my radar for a while thanks to Brent Ozar. Better to incorporate these ideas now while my blog is still small and flexible.
- On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Knowlton Zinsser. The last time I wrote extensively was college. Since then, my written communication skills have slowly atrophied. Time to sharpen up again.
- MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-448): Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 Business Intelligence Development and Maintenance (Self-Paced Training Kits) by Erik Veerman, Teo Lachev, and Dejan Sarka. Since I’m as much a BI developer as anything, I really want to pass this exam. I’ve had this book for two years. I just need to get off my can and get it done. Speaking of getting things done…
- Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen. One of my not-strengths is organizing a large quantity of tasks. I can do it, but not very efficiently. I’m hoping to adopt some ideas, if not the whole system, to make life less chaotic.
- The Exceptional Presenter: A Proven Formula to Open Up and Own the Room by Timothy J. Koegel. At the end of Kendal Van Dyke’s 2010 PASS Summit session, he gave away two books about presenting. This was one of them. I love presenting and I crave getting better at it. This seems as good a place to start as any.
- Confessions of a Public Speaker by Scott Berkun. The other book Kendal gave away at the PASS Summit. Between this and Koegel’s book, I should have plenty to work on.
- StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath. I’ve already taken the StrengthsFinder test. I’d like to know more about what my results mean and how I can best put them to use. I expect this book will give me the answers.
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Integration Services: Problem, Design, Solution by Erik Veerman, Jessica M. Moss, Brian Knight and Jay Hackney. At last, a technical book on the list! I work with SSIS a lot, and I like hearing how other people design their ETL solutions. I’m eager to read how they solve problems with SSIS, and learn how I might design things better.
And then there were five. Five books that, for reasons I won’t go into now, are supportive of my one-year goal. As much as I love reading about giving a professional presentation, writing well, or blogging effectively, I expect this will be the part of the list I devour. I can’t wait to get through these five books, and I can’t wait to show you why I’m reading them.
- The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Hercule Poirot Mysteries) by Agatha Christie.
- Don’t Murder Your Mystery by Chris Roerden
- The Weekend Novelist Writes a Mystery by Robert J. Ray and Jack Remick
- How to Write a Damn Good Mystery: A Practical Step-by-Step Guide from Inspiration to Finished Manuscript, by James N. Frey
- How to Write Killer Fiction: The Funhouse of Mystery & the Roller Coaster of Suspense by Carolyn Wheat
Until then, enjoy the soothing sounds of the Norwegian Pearl, courtesy of a forum user with the handle “groo”.