Review: Designing Data-Intensive Applications

Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hooter: A foundational view into building big data based applications

This is what you would call an academic approach to Data Engineering - not a corporate cookbook to apply hacks but actually get your fundamental bearings right. Taking the key tenets of data engineering and showcasing the key similarities and differences with each approach, Martin takes you through the structured way of thinking about designing applications that are data heavy.

The clear summary is there is no one technology that is the messiah of all problems, but instead understanding their strengths and weaknesses help identify what combination would work for an end to end business outcome. A good foundational read for individuals looking to build their data engineering careers.

View all my reviews

Review: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hooter: If a children's book started adulting, it'd be this.

A picture book would be mis-stating the depth of what the book has to offer. Light in weight, heavy in content is how I'd summarise the book. In concise and crisp manner, leveraging a few words or a sentence , the author tackles a lot of inspirational points that deem to motivate wherever in your journey you are.

The hand drawn sketches tend not to distract but also complement the otherwise void the book would leave you with.

From "the biggest waste of time being to compare yourself with others" to "the bravest thing to ever say is help", there are numerous quotes that leave you thought provoking prompts to measure up with your life.

Its a cup of hot chocolate on a gloomy, downcast day in your life.

View all my reviews

Review: Normal People

Normal People by Sally Rooney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hooter: If the facebook status "It's complicated" was a book

Raw, painful with a silver lining - are they truly normal people? The protagonists Connell and Marianne literally orbit around each other as life happens around them. From Connell's mom working as a cleaner at Marianne's house - he being popular in school and she the misfit to college having them swap those roles. Whilst you could call them friends with benefits by definition, their relationship is formed at an intellectual and mental level and the physical is a distraction. As they slip in and out of relationships with others, they navigate their own relationship around what life throws at them.

Being teenage love, there is clearly a lot of physical satiation at play that gets thrown around the other oddities life throws at them but there is a bittersweet innocence of those romances beyond the superficial that tugs at the reader. Wish life was like the book as it fast forwards to consequential and pivotal moments in their life skipping the mundane in between.

View all my reviews