Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google?: Trick Questions, Zen-like Riddles, Insanely Difficult Puzzles, and Other Devious Interviewing Techniques You ... Know to Get a Job Anywhere in the New Economy

by William Poundstone
rating: 3 star Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:35:43 -0800

In my case the answer is probably "no", though I did somehow get hired at Google.

The title of the book is a little misleading: much of the book is not so much about Google as it is about high tech hiring in general. In fact, I felt that the first half of the book was misleading in putting such emphasis on tricky puzzle questions. It wasn't until around page 100 that I came across a question that I had actually been asked. For the most part, technical interviews at Google involve writing code on a whiteboard, and though the problems may be somewhat odd or even a little tricky, Google interviewers don't really stake the interview outcome on whether or not the candidate has a clever insight.

But Poundstone does give good advice on general problem solving tactics, and if you are interested in working at Google it couldn't hurt to work through the many questions and puzzles in this book.

But if you really want to succeed at the interview your best bet is to really prepare on the fundamentals of software and engineering: if you claim to be a C++ programmer then you had better know the language inside and out and be able to prove your knowledge by writing a non-trivial chunk of code on the whiteboard. You should have good facility with common algorithms and data structures and know how to apply them. If you claim to be a Linux guru then you had better be able to demonstrate that. When I say you should 'really prepare' I mean you should cram like you might have done in college. Being rusty at the skills you claim on your resume just won't cut it - not at Google or at any other reputable software company.

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In a Dog's Heart

by Jennifer Arnold
rating: 4 star Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:10:35 -0800

Despite the title, this is a quite practical and down to earth book for dog owners. It offers an antidote to the dominance and control model of Cesar Millan, a model that has probably done untold damage to lots of dogs and dog owners. Arnold's approach is to recognize that a) dogs depend on us for their well-being, and b) dogs know that they depend on us, so when they piss us off or misbehave it's not because they want to piss us off or misbehave. And getting into a pissing contest with a dog is a no-win situation.

Most of the book is aimed at practical considerations for choosing the right dog, ensuring the dog's safety and well-being, caring for the dog, etc. Lots of good information.

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Hector & the Secrets of Love (Hector's Journeys)

by Fran ois Lelord
rating: 3 star Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Hector once again travels the world, this time in search of the meaning of love. This time, Hector is hired as a consultant by the CEO of a large pharmaceutical company, and soon finds that his girlfriend is having an affair with the CEO. Oops. He has been hired to find a psychologist who invented a love drug for the company, but who has absconded with his research. Along the way Hector keeps running into a personable but shady character with a great many skills most likely learned in the secret service. It's all a good deal of fun.

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Nemesis

by Lindsey Davis
rating: 4 star Sun, 24 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0700

This is the 20th in the Marcus Didius Falco series of mystery novels set in post-Augustan Rome (1st century A.D.). This installment begins with the death of Falco's father and of his newborn son and ends with ... well, I shouldn't tell you that.

Falco takes on the case of the murder of a merchant from Antium, a bug infested swampland south of Rome, and the disappearance of the merchant's wife. Suspicion soon falls on the Claudii, an extended family of freedmen who terrorize their neighbors and travelers. When an apparent copycat murder occurs north of Rome, Falco is pulled off the case by Anacrites, the chief spy. Falco has had numerous run-ins with Anacrites in the past so he and his friend Petro are naturally suspicious of the chief spy's motives and, naturally, continue to pursue the case.

Without giving too much away, Falco is Nemesis to Anacrites' Hubris, and it is this conflict that drives the novel forward. Davis does a good job of slowly revealing Anacrites' role in the murder, which begins to look like merely the last in a string of serial murders.

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Science in 100 Key Breakthroughs

by Paul Parsons
rating: 4 star Sun, 29 Jan 2012 22:24:54 -0800

A history of science in 100 chronologically arranged discoveries or technical breakthroughs, each assigned four pages of text and illustrations.

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Programming Pearls (2nd Edition)

by Jon Bentley
rating: 4 star Wed, 01 Jan 1986 00:00:00 -0800

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Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001

by Steve Coll
rating: 3 star Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

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1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus

by Charles C. Mann
rating: 4 star Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 -0800

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The Design of Everyday Things

by Donald A. Norman
rating: 4 star Sat, 01 Jan 2005 00:00:00 -0800

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The Big Sleep

by Raymond Chandler
rating: 4 star Mon, 01 Jan 1973 00:00:00 -0800

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