on the richness of speaking to authors
A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.
— Carl Sagan
Amazing authors are catalysts for personal growth. While effective authors help us make sense of the world around us, the best authors change us through their work. Sometimes, these changes are small: a little voice of reason or a new framing of a familiar topic. Sometimes, they are earth-shatteringly large: a fundamental shift in thinking on a subject is introduced, changing the trajectory of one’s life.
One month ago, Carter Morgan and I launched Book Overflow, a podcast where we read and discuss a software engineering-related book each week. We both started this project thinking it was a clever way to give ourselves an accountability buddy while we read a bunch of books that we’d been meaning to read but never got around to. We were happy to discuss the books on camera as a podcast, but it has already shown to be much more than that.
Early on, Carter started reaching out to the authors of the books we’ve been reading. We wanted to invite them to the show as special guests to discuss their books, and to our surprise, many of them responded.
At the time of this writing, we’ve released interviews with Mark Richards and Brian Kernighan, with two more interviews recorded and scheduled to be released over the coming weeks. While I hope the interviews speak for themselves, I would like to emphasize the sheer joy of being in a position to talk to these authors. Their insights have been invaluable and have added a new dimension to our podcast.
What’s special about speaking with an author is that they are deeply thoughtful people by their very nature. How else could you dedicate yourself so entirely to writing a book? I’m fascinated by their creative process. What did it take for the author to reach these insights? What changed from the beginning of the writing process to the end? What did they have to overcome to finish the book? Did anything surprise the author about the book's focus in the end? I’m also curious about what might have been left on the cutting room floor or what they plan to work on next. Having the opportunity to read these books and then pick the brains of the authors is a privilege that I don’t take lightly. I love that not only do I have an opportunity to interact with these folks, but I also get to share these conversations with you as well.
This is just the beginning. We have many books to read and many more authors to speak with on our journey ahead.
Five Pseudorandom Observations
I discuss The Clean Coder (my first “Uncle Bob” book) this week on Book Overflow.
Andy Anderson has a unique skateboarding style that is a joy to see.
Filippo Valsorda announced Geomys which seems like a solid model for sustainably maintaining important open source work.
Pudding a new user discovery pattern for anonymity networks (thanks to a friend for sharing this with me)