text: import Head from "next/head";
  import Layout, { siteTitle } from "../../components/layout";
  import utilStyles from "../../styles/utils.module.css";
  
  export default function About() {
    return (
      <Layout>
        <Head>
          <title>{siteTitle}: Book Reviews</title>
        </Head>
        <section className={utilStyles.headingMd}>
          <h2>Book Reviews</h2>
          <p>
            A selection of tech and career related books which I've read this
            year.
          </p>
          {/* <h3>Currently reading</h3>
          <p>How Computers Really Work by Matthew Justice</p> */}
          <h3>2021</h3>
          <ul>
            <li>
              <a href="#book-howComputersReallyWork">How Computers Really Work</a>
            </li>
            <li>
              <a href="#book-digitalMinimalism">Digital Minimalism</a>
            </li>
            <li>
              <a href="#book-deepWork">Deep Work</a>
            </li>
            <li>
              <a href="#book-indistractable">Indistractable</a>
            </li>
            <li>
              <a href="#book-technicallyWrong">Technically Wrong</a>
            </li>
            <li>
              <a href="#book-algorithmsOfOppression">Algorithms of Oppression</a>
            </li>
            <li>
              <a href="#book-invisibleWomen">Invisible Women</a>
            </li>
          </ul>
          <hr className={utilStyles.hr} />
          <section className={utilStyles.bookReview}>
            <img
              src="/bookImages/how_computers_really_work.jpg"
              className={utilStyles.bookReviewImage}
              alt="The book How Computers Really Work"
            />
            <h3
              id="book-howComputersReallyWork"
              className={utilStyles.bookReviewTitle}
            >
              How Computers Really Work
            </h3>
            <p className={utilStyles.bookReviewAuthor}>by Matthew Justice</p>
            <p>
              I have to admit I was initially going to give this book 3 stars.
              Last week however, I was struggling to understand something at work
              and then I remembered that the concept was discussed in the book! I
              was able to go back and use it as a reference! I love books that
              pull me back in after I’ve finished reading them. 4 stars!
            </p>
  
            <p>
              I learnt a number of things from this book. Mainly I learnt that I
              *definitely* want to stick to the software side of computers. The
              hardware just doesn’t interest me at all! I really struggled getting
              through the first half of the book because of this. It took me 2
              months to get through this book mainly because sitting down and
              reading through basically a textbook about ‘math with digital
              circuits’ made me want to cry.
            </p>
  
            <p>
              This book broadly covers concepts from basic electrical circuits,
              all the way up to modern technologies like blockchain. Each chapter
              includes projects to really help you understand but you need a
              raspberry pi set up to do these. Unfortunately I don’t have one so I
              had to skip the projects. As a result I don’t think I got as much
              out of the book as I could have.
            </p>
  
            <p>
              If you have lots of time, an interest in computer hardware, and own
              a raspberry pi (or are willing to buy one) then you will probably
              love this book! For me personally, I just found an occasional nugget
              of knowledge that was really valuable to my career as a software
              engineer / web dev. Also the next time my parents ask me what
              bitcoin mining is, I’ll have an answer!
            </p>
  
            <p>
              I think for the right target audience this book could be a really
              excellent resource and I’m super grateful to{" "}
              <a href="https://nostarch.com/">No Starch Press</a> for sending me
              this copy! Thank you! ❤️
            </p>
            <p>⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️</p>
            <a href="https://nostarch.com/how-computers-really-work">
              Purchase How Computers Really Work from No Starch Press
            </a>
          </section>
          <hr className={utilStyles.hr} />
          <section className={utilStyles.bookReview}>
            <img
              src="/bookImages/deep_work.jpg"
              className={utilStyles.bookReviewImage}
              alt="The audio book of Deep Work"
            />
            <h3 id="book-deepWork" className={utilStyles.bookReviewTitle}>
              Deep Work
            </h3>
            <p className={utilStyles.bookReviewAuthor}>by Cal Newport</p>
            <p>
              I’m giving this book a reluctant 4 stars. It’s reluctant because
              this book is full of long winded anecdotes about people who work
              deeply. Which is fine, but ironically it distracted me from the key
              takeaways of *how* to work deeply. To the point that I’m listening
              to it a second time because I feel like I tuned out a bit! 😅
            </p>
  
            <p>
              Saying all this however, this book has inspired me to improve my
              daily habits. Since starting this book I have become much better at
              time blocking and scheduling my day. I also removed all social media
              apps from my phone during the working week. It’s been *really* hard
              but I actually didn’t miss them as much as I thought I would.
            </p>
  
            <p>Other key takeaways from the book:</p>
            <ul>
              <li>
                Have a consistent cut off time to finish work for the day (rest is
                important for deep work!)
              </li>
              <li>Deep work takes *lots* of practise</li>
              <li>
                Even the most successful people can’t do more than 4 hours of deep
                work per day.
              </li>
              <li>
                Productive meditation is important: using the time when you’re
                physically busy but mentally not (eg. walking the dog for me) to
                mull over a problem
              </li>
            </ul>
            <p>
              If you love stories and anecdotes of successful people and how they
              work, you’ll probably love this book! If you don’t, it will be more
              of a struggle but it’s definitely a good kick in the pants to take
              some action towards improving your focus.
            </p>
            <p>
              I'm quite keen to check out Cal's book on 'Digital Minimalism'
              sometime soon.
            </p>
            <p>⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️</p>
            <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/deep-work-cal-newport/book/9780349411903.html">
              Purchase Deep Work from Booktopia
            </a>
          </section>
          <hr className={utilStyles.hr} />
          <section className={utilStyles.bookReview}>
            <img
              src="/bookImages/indistractable.png"
              className={utilStyles.bookReviewImage}
              alt="The audio book Indistractable"
            />
            <h3 id="book-indistractable" className={utilStyles.bookReviewTitle}>
              Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life
            </h3>
            <p className={utilStyles.bookReviewAuthor}>by Nir Eyal, Julie Li</p>
            <p>
              My unplanned bonus book of January. If you’ve never read anything at
              all, ever, about distraction or habits or focus then this is
              probably a good place to start! But there’s nothing really new or
              groundbreaking. One chapter felt like a summarised version of Atomic
              Habits (which I’ve already read and loved!). Others chapters were
              common sense, eg. remove apps and notifications from your phone.
            </p>
            <p>
              There were some good tips in there but it wasn’t anything I hadn’t
              heard before. Also, a great question came from @hilarycallaghan who
              asked me if I thought it would apply to neurodiverse folk: I highly
              doubt it.
            </p>
            <p>⭐️⭐️</p>
            <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/indistractable-nir-eyal/book/9781526610201.html">
              Purchase Indistractable from Booktopia
            </a>
          </section>
          <hr className={utilStyles.hr} />
          <section className={utilStyles.bookReview}>
            <img
              src="/bookImages/technically_wrong.png"
              className={utilStyles.bookReviewImage}
              alt="The book Technically Wrong"
            />
            <h3 id="book-technicallyWrong" className={utilStyles.bookReviewTitle}>
              Technically Wrong
            </h3>
            <p className={utilStyles.bookReviewAuthor}>
              by Sara Wachter-Boettcher
            </p>
            <p>
              I *loved* this book! Definitely one of my favourites that I’ve read
              lately!
            </p>
            <p>
              If you’ve read Invisible Women it does touch on a lot of similar
              concepts but this book is way shorter, way less intense, and won’t
              leave you feeling emotionally drained. It also raises broader issues
              in the tech industry. It touches on the myth of meritocracy as most
              of these types of books do, but it looks more closely at tech
              companies and examples of when things have gone wrong.
            </p>
            <p>
              There’s examples from Twitter, Facebook, Uber, Reddit, Google,
              Tumblr, etc. that prove time and time again what happens when the
              people who are designing and building products all look the same,
              all think the same. They’re famous examples so if you keep on top of
              this sort of news, many of them won’t be a surprise to you - but if
              you’re new to tech like I am it’s very interesting to read about!
            </p>
            <p>
              There’s also a great concept in the book about designing with
              “stress cases” in mind rather than “edge cases”.
            </p>
            <p>
              If you work in the tech industry and haven’t yet begun researching
              the types of impact badly designed technology can have (let alone
              the tech industry itself), I highly recommend this book as a great
              place to start.
            </p>
            <p>⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️</p>
            <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/technically-wrong-sara-wachter-boettch/book/9780393356045.html">
              Purchase Technically Wrong from Booktopia
            </a>
          </section>
          <hr className={utilStyles.hr} />
          <section className={utilStyles.bookReview}>
            <img
              src="/bookImages/digital_minimalism.jpg"
              className={utilStyles.bookReviewImage}
              alt="The book Digital Minimalism"
            />
            <h3
              id="book-digitalMinimalism"
              className={utilStyles.bookReviewTitle}
            >
              Digital Minimalism
            </h3>
            <p className={utilStyles.bookReviewAuthor}>by Cal Newport</p>
            <p>
              Having now read two of Cal’s books (
              <a href="#book-deepWork">Deep Work</a> was my first), I’ve now come
              to the firm decision that his way of writing is probably not for me.
              However, the content is right up my alley!
            </p>
            <p>
              While some of the content in Deep Work was great and useful, most of
              it was rambling stories of people who have successfully worked
              deeply in the past. Digital Minimalism is much more practical and
              although it still explores background information to back up each
              suggestion, I found I wasn’t tuning out as much as I had with Deep
              Work. It is a definite improvement!
            </p>
            <p>
              For the month of March I’ve been undertaking the suggested “digital
              declutter”. I created rules for the digital products that I would be
              taking a break from, and for most part so far I have stuck to them.
              I’m interested to see how I feel after the end of the month when I’m
              “allowed” to return to these services. I’m hoping to put some of the
              suggestions in this book into practise to limit my social media
              usage.
            </p>
            <p>Key takeaways:</p>
            <ul>
              <li>
                Do a 30 day “digital declutter”. Make sure you define the rules,
                take a 30 day break, and then reintroduce only the technologies
                that add a lot of value to your life.{" "}
              </li>
              <li>
                Replace time on digital products with high quality leisure
                activities
              </li>
              <li>Make things (I’ve started crocheting again)</li>
              <li>Join something (I’ve joined a dog obedience club)</li>
              <li>
                Delete social media from your phone - desktop only (this is hard
                for Instagram!)
              </li>
              <li>Don’t click ‘like’ - have conversations with people instead</li>
              <li>Plan for and block out time for your leisure activities</li>
            </ul>
            <p>
              I’m giving this one 4 stars as well, but it’s a strong 4 stars
              rather than the reluctant 4 stars I gave Deep Work. I like Cal’s
              content, but I appreciated the more direct practical advice of
              Digital Minimalism.
            </p>
            <p>⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️</p>
            <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/digital-minimalism-cal-newport/book/9780241453575.html">
              Purchase Digital Minimalism from Booktopia
            </a>
          </section>
          <hr className={utilStyles.hr} />
          <section className={utilStyles.bookReview}>
            <img
              src="/bookImages/deep_work.jpg"
              className={utilStyles.bookReviewImage}
              alt="The audio book of Deep Work"
            />
            <h3 id="book-deepWork" className={utilStyles.bookReviewTitle}>
              Deep Work
            </h3>
            <p className={utilStyles.bookReviewAuthor}>by Cal Newport</p>
            <p>
              I’m giving this book a reluctant 4 stars. It’s reluctant because
              this book is full of long winded anecdotes about people who work
              deeply. Which is fine, but ironically it distracted me from the key
              takeaways of *how* to work deeply. To the point that I’m listening
              to it a second time because I feel like I tuned out a bit! 😅
            </p>
  
            <p>
              Saying all this however, this book has inspired me to improve my
              daily habits. Since starting this book I have become much better at
              time blocking and scheduling my day. I also removed all social media
              apps from my phone during the working week. It’s been *really* hard
              but I actually didn’t miss them as much as I thought I would.
            </p>
  
            <p>Other key takeaways from the book:</p>
            <ul>
              <li>
                Have a consistent cut off time to finish work for the day (rest is
                important for deep work!)
              </li>
              <li>Deep work takes *lots* of practise</li>
              <li>
                Even the most successful people can’t do more than 4 hours of deep
                work per day.
              </li>
              <li>
                Productive meditation is important: using the time when you’re
                physically busy but mentally not (eg. walking the dog for me) to
                mull over a problem
              </li>
            </ul>
            <p>
              If you love stories and anecdotes of successful people and how they
              work, you’ll probably love this book! If you don’t, it will be more
              of a struggle but it’s definitely a good kick in the pants to take
              some action towards improving your focus.
            </p>
            <p>
              I'm quite keen to check out Cal's book on 'Digital Minimalism'
              sometime soon.
            </p>
            <p>⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️</p>
            <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/deep-work-cal-newport/book/9780349411903.html">
              Purchase Deep Work from Booktopia
            </a>
          </section>
          <hr className={utilStyles.hr} />
          <section className={utilStyles.bookReview}>
            <img
              src="/bookImages/indistractable.png"
              className={utilStyles.bookReviewImage}
              alt="The audio book Indistractable"
            />
            <h3 id="book-indistractable" className={utilStyles.bookReviewTitle}>
              Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life
            </h3>
            <p className={utilStyles.bookReviewAuthor}>by Nir Eyal, Julie Li</p>
            <p>
              My unplanned bonus book of January. If you’ve never read anything at
              all, ever, about distraction or habits or focus then this is
              probably a good place to start! But there’s nothing really new or
              groundbreaking. One chapter felt like a summarised version of Atomic
              Habits (which I’ve already read and loved!). Others chapters were
              common sense, eg. remove apps and notifications from your phone.
            </p>
            <p>
              There were some good tips in there but it wasn’t anything I hadn’t
              heard before. Also, a great question came from @hilarycallaghan who
              asked me if I thought it would apply to neurodiverse folk: I highly
              doubt it.
            </p>
            <p>⭐️⭐️</p>
            <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/indistractable-nir-eyal/book/9781526610201.html">
              Purchase Indistractable from Booktopia
            </a>
          </section>
          <hr className={utilStyles.hr} />
          <section className={utilStyles.bookReview}>
            <img
              src="/bookImages/technically_wrong.png"
              className={utilStyles.bookReviewImage}
              alt="The book Technically Wrong"
            />
            <h3 id="book-technicallyWrong" className={utilStyles.bookReviewTitle}>
              Technically Wrong
            </h3>
            <p className={utilStyles.bookReviewAuthor}>
              by Sara Wachter-Boettcher
            </p>
            <p>
              I *loved* this book! Definitely one of my favourites that I’ve read
              lately!
            </p>
            <p>
              If you’ve read Invisible Women it does touch on a lot of similar
              concepts but this book is way shorter, way less intense, and won’t
              leave you feeling emotionally drained. It also raises broader issues
              in the tech industry. It touches on the myth of meritocracy as most
              of these types of books do, but it looks more closely at tech
              companies and examples of when things have gone wrong.
            </p>
            <p>
              There’s examples from Twitter, Facebook, Uber, Reddit, Google,
              Tumblr, etc. that prove time and time again what happens when the
              people who are designing and building products all look the same,
              all think the same. They’re famous examples so if you keep on top of
              this sort of news, many of them won’t be a surprise to you - but if
              you’re new to tech like I am it’s very interesting to read about!
            </p>
            <p>
              There’s also a great concept in the book about designing with
              “stress cases” in mind rather than “edge cases”.
            </p>
            <p>
              If you work in the tech industry and haven’t yet begun researching
              the types of impact badly designed technology can have (let alone
              the tech industry itself), I highly recommend this book as a great
              place to start.
            </p>
            <p>⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️</p>
            <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/technically-wrong-sara-wachter-boettch/book/9780393356045.html">
              Purchase Technically Wrong from Booktopia
            </a>
          </section>
          <hr className={utilStyles.hr} />
          <section className={utilStyles.bookReview}>
            <img
              src="/bookImages/algorithms_of_oppression.png"
              className={utilStyles.bookReviewImage}
              alt="Audio book of Algorithms of Oppression"
            />
            <h3
              id="book-algorithmsOfOppression"
              className={utilStyles.bookReviewTitle}
            >
              Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism
            </h3>
            <p className={utilStyles.bookReviewAuthor}>by Safiya Umoja Noble</p>
            <p>
              This book is definitely not a fun, light and easy read. Even
              listening to the audiobook, it was difficult to focus at times. But
              many parts were so interesting! ⁣
            </p>
            <p>This book covers so many topics, including:</p>
            <ul>
              <li>search algorithms being biased</li>
              <li>the racism and sexism that is in search results</li>
              <li>
                the lack of diversity in decision making positions in big tech
                companies that create these products
              </li>
              <li>the history of discrimination in media</li>
              <li>
                the laws around bias in media and how that applies to the internet
              </li>
              <li>Google’s position having a monopoly on information</li>
              <li>and so much more!</li>
            </ul>
            <p>
              It raises large concerns around biased information being interpreted
              as accurate & objective. A huge takeaway for me was how most people
              believe the results they get from a Google search are unbiased. Many
              don’t even realise they’re being advertised to. Is it any wonder the
              world is currently so divided when people on opposing sides see the
              information they’re provided with on the internet as unbiased when
              it is anything but?
            </p>
            <p>
              It asks a huge question - if Google is not responsible for the
              results of their own algorithm, then who is?
            </p>
            <p>
              Definitely worth a read! I would have given it 5 stars had it
              included more research on the algorithms themselves - but of course,
              this is difficult since they’re kept under wraps by the big
              companies!
            </p>
            <p>⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️</p>
            <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/algorithms-of-oppression-safiya-umoja-noble/book/9781479837243.html">
              Purchase Algorithms of Oppression from Booktopia
            </a>
          </section>
          <hr className={utilStyles.hr} />
          <section className={utilStyles.bookReview}>
            <img
              src="/bookImages/invisible_women.png"
              className={utilStyles.bookReviewImage}
              alt="The book Invisible Women on a desk"
            />
            <h3 id="book-invisibleWomen" className={utilStyles.bookReviewTitle}>
              Invisible Women
            </h3>
            <p className={utilStyles.bookReviewAuthor}>
              by Caroline Criado Perez
            </p>
            <p>
              Okay, technically I reviewed this late 2020 but it's too good not to
              include here. It was a tough read but so important. Definitely not
              the sort of book you read to relax...
            </p>
            <p>
              It will make you feel anger, sadness, disappointment, and just
              complete outrage. Or at least, it should. If you’re a woman it will
              also be full of “mmmhmmm!” moments of validation.
            </p>
            <p>
              ⁣ It covers data bias in technology, urban planning, medicine, the
              myth of meritocracy, politics, disasters, even snow clearing, and
              much more. ⁣
            </p>
            <p>
              I honestly think this book should be required reading in all schools
              and I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t read it yet. Just be
              prepared for a hard and emotional read (especially if you are a
              woman). 😓
            </p>
            <p>⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️</p>
            <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/invisible-women-caroline-criado-perez/book/9781784706289.html">
              Purchase Invisible Women from Booktopia
            </a>
          </section>
        </section>
      </Layout>
    );
  }
  