Here are the best things I’ve discovered, learned, read, wrote, made, and accomplished in 2012. There’s no particular order and not everything on the list was conceived this year, even if they were a part of my life this year. Inspired by Fogus.
My favorite blog posts
- Learnable Programming by Bret Victor – A fantastic look at learning how to code and the best way to learn/teach programming
- Mastering Linear Algebra in 10 Days: Astounding Experiments in Ultra-Learning by Scott Young – The step-by-step guide about how to study and learn new things…that they never taught you
- The Secret Drinker’s Handbook by Clancy Martin – A harrowing, enthralling, and masterfully funny(?) look into alcoholism and addiction
- The Heretic by Tim Doody – Amazingly, eye-opening, and interesting piece about psychedelics and LSD studies, and their potential for therapy and exploring the mind
- 6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person by David Wong – Spot-on insights from Cracked, yet again. There are two reactions you can have to the article: it’ll either make you think or make you argue every point. If your instincts are for the latter, try for the former.
Most viewed blog posts by me
- Body Hacking: My Magnetic Implant
- Non-Developer’s iPhone App: From Idea to App Store
- Getting Busy and Being Social for the Socially Awkward
- 10 Tools, Tips, and Tricks to Hack Your Workflow
- Move Your Brain Online, Get A Bigger Hard Drive
Total number of blog posts written
One hundred, even
Number of books read
Sixteen – I usually like this number to be higher, but many of the books I chose this year were long and/or technical
Favorite non-technical books
- Wizard and Glass by Stephen King – I’ve only read up to Wizard and Glass in the Dark Tower series, but this one was, by far, my favorite yet
- The Launch Pad by Randall Stross – Fast and easy read with a great behind the scenes look at all the companies I’ve been reading about on HN
- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho – Very inspirational tale and the style reminds me of one of my favorite books, The Sand Child by Tahar Ben Jelloun
Favorite technical books
- How to Count by Steven Frank – By learning how computers count, I was able to think about numbers and counting in an entirely different light
- Programming in Objective-C by Steven Kochan – A programming book I was finally able to finish. This is the book that led me over the hump of not understanding to understanding what I don’t yet know
Books still in progress
- Data Structures & Algorithms in Java by Robert Lafore – Read in companion with my Software Engineering at Scale class at General Assembly
- The Pragmatic Programmer – by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas – Really enjoying this book so far, but have shelved it momentarily to focus on my software engineering class
Gadgets of choice
- 2011 13-inch Macbook Air – It’s everything I could ever want in a notebook, and more
- iPhone 4S – Skipping the 5, I’ll wait for the ‘5S’
- $69 Kindle with Special Offers – Why on earth would your book need a touch screen? Proper tech for proper usage, people
- iPad mini – Even with the lower screen resolution, the iPad mini trumps every generation of the larger-sized iPads
- Fitbit Zip – Attach to keys in pocket and forget
Number of books published
Zero
Number of books written
⅛
Number of apps published
Classes designed and taught
Musicians played most
Sleigh Bells[♫], Cold War Kids, The Faint, Bright Eyes, LCD Soundsystem, Thom Yorke, Florence and the Machine
Favorite TV shows
30 Rock, Single Long, Shark Tank, Seinfeld
2011 plans for 2012
- Learn to code – in progress
- Start freelancing – mild success
- Write a book – in progress
- Get out of retail – success
- Learn to cook and cook more – failure, more or less
Plans for 2013
- Finish writing my book
- Develop and teach two new Skillshare classes
- Build and launch a functioning dynamic website with Ruby on Rails
- Code and release updates for my two iOS apps
- Say ‘no’ more
- Start consulting in the mobile app space
- Meditate regularly
- Start doing yoga
Bring it on, 2013.