Sex, Drugs and Rocking Code

 Sex, Drugs and Rocking Code: The Uncensored Autobiography of an Anonymous Programmer, Paul W Carter, Capraro Press, 2020

Written by an anonymous IT programmer (for good reasons), this book looks at one person's search for the true meaning of work and life, while working sixteen-hour days.

On the subject of relationships, is your internal software compatible with hers? Are your sine waves in phase? (Are you compatible with each other?) Learn the art of compromise. Occasionally, do things that she wants to do, but you don't want to do. Not learning to say "No" will turn you into a doormat, in business and in life. 

Achieving a state of "flow" is when you become one with your task, whether it is writing code for several hours, or something like snowboarding. Music is usually a good tool to get there. Find music that works for you, whether it is ambient, chill-out music, or heavy metal. Boredom is part of daily life. How a person deals with boredom, at home, or at work, is what, figuratively, separates the men from the boys. It's OK to do something silly, but do something. Don't just sit in a chair, staring out the window.

Stress and strife are also parts of daily life. A little bit of stress can actually be good for a person; continuous stress is not good. The book explores how to use such negativity to your advantage. After several days, or weeks, working on a coding project, you will be burned out. Find out what works for you when you can't take it anymore. For some people remedy may involve finding an isolated spot in the forest, or overlooking the ocean. For others, the remedy may involve staying home with your phone unplugged.

This book is short, honest and really well written. For anyone in the IT field, or of millennial age, this is very much recommended. It's recommended for everyone else, too.

The Like Economy: How Businesses Make Money With Facebook

The Like Economy: How Businesses Make Money With Facebook, Brian Carter, Que Publishing, 2012

This book shows that it really is possible for any business to increase their revenue through Facebook.

Among the first things a business owner should decide is just what they want from Facebook. Do they simply want "Likes" and popularity? Alternatively, do they want Facebook to drive people to the company's e-commerce website to buy something? If the latter, then it should be obvious that the buying process on the website should be as easy as possible.

Before you create your ads, you need to decide on your target audience. Please be much more specific than, for instance, "women 25-54." Plan your ads accordingly. Even the best ad is good for only a period of time, not forever. There are ways to keep your ads fresh.

Now it's time to come up with some ads to be tested (it's OK to test more than one ad at the same time). There are ways to analyze their performance; look at things like Cost per Click and Click-Through Rate. It's also necessary to break down an ad into separate parts (headline, color, photos, text, etc). Don't be afraid to delete the parts that performed badly. It's also tempting to come up with a cute and creative ad to show the world how "cool" and "cutting edge" you are. Forget it. How can you make your customer's life easier? How can your product or service fulfill a need that they don't even know they have?

Monitoring your Facebook page is an important part of customer service. Depending on your corporate response, an upset customer can either turn into an evangelist for your company, or be the beginning of an online "boycott" of your company.

This book is not Facebook for Business for Beginners. It does not specifically say it, but the book assumes that the reader has a working Facebook for Business page, and knows how to make changes to it. This is well worth reading for any business owner, small or large.

The Murder Diaries: Seven Times Over

The Murder Diaries: Seven Times Over, David Carter, Trackerdog Media, 2011

The northwestern England town of Chester (near the Welsh border) is being menaced by a serial killer. Inspector Walter Darriteau is on the case.

If there is such a thing as a "quiet" serial killer, that is the situation in Chester. There are no cases of multiple stab wounds, or blood all over the walls. A woman is drugged, and her head is completely wrapped in brown tape until she suffocates. Her body is stuffed in a suitcase, and dumped in an abandoned quarry. An old fisherman is pushed into a canal and drowns. An elderly woman is drugged and taken to a quiet patch of forest. The car is left running, and the exhaust is pointed back into the car with the windows rolled up. The police don't know if they are dealing with one or more killers, or their gender. There are the usual taunting letters, specifically intended for Darriteau. The killer/killers have a specific grudge against Darriteau, a native of Jamaica who is nearing retirement age, and wants him to suffer. A fellow member of the police department is attacked at the local race track. Is Darriteau next?

This is also the story of a boy named Armitage, more interested in singing, dancing and flower arranging than in the usual activities enjoyed by boys. Dad runs a failing car dealership, and Donna, his second wife, who handles the finances, has been embezzling thousands of pounds from the company. She also hates Armitage. When he is 11 years old, they are killed in a car accident. Armitage assumes that he will live with Mrs. Greenaway, the owner of the local florist shop, but she says that she does not have the space, or the desire, for Armitage. He spends the rest of his childhood in an orphanage. After he is released, he drifts from job to job. At one job, he crosses paths with Desiree, and falls instantly in love. She feels the same way.

Desiree is a brilliant student, and beautiful, who has been recruited to work at one of those super-secret research installations. She begins to have real doubts about her work, which involves experiments on live people. She starts bringing home samples of her work, and keeps a copy of her files off-site. Paranoia starts to set in. Desiree comes to an untimely demise.

Published in England, this is a kind of "quiet" novel, but a really good novel. The reader will stay interested until the end. Here is a first-rate piece of writing.