Sparkbox Reads

We use Slack to communicate with each other at Sparkbox, which gives us a place to have conversations and share what we’re learning. One way we prompt these conversations is by having our chat bot stir up our chatroom by asking, “Have you read anything good lately?”

I pulled together a list of our responses over the past year, and confirmed that here at Sparkbox, we have a healthy, varied, reading diet. You can learn a lot about somebody by what they read (which is why I’ve always been fascinated by the reading lists of notable people).

So in case you were curious, here’s some of what we’ve been reading:

Web Technology

• How we use web fonts responsibly, or, avoiding a @font-face-palm

• Javascript Modules the ES6 Way

News

• The Shape of Things to Come: How an industrial designer became Apple’s greatest product

• Overcast’s 2014 sales numbers

Industry Trends / Culture

• Why are women leaving the tech industry in droves?

• The future is mobile and apps, except that it isn’t.

• Is Google making the web stupid?

Lifestyle / Productivity

• Where do you find the time for side projects?

• Shipping Trumps Serendipity

• I have no idea how to do this: Figuring things out is part of our job

• After Class is Over

• Rekindling Your Passion For Web Design

Books

• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking

• In Praise of Slowness: How a worldwide movement is challenging the cult of speed

• Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness

• The Guns of August

• Ready Player One

• The Book of Five Rings

Other

• Anthony Bourdain Boosts Xi’an Famous Foods

• Ten Reasons Why Mary Poppins is a Time Lord

We’ve enjoyed asking the question among ourselves, so now we ask it to you. Have you read anything good lately? Feel free to share your reads with us by mentioning @hearsparkbox on Twitter.