Hi, I’m Wynn.

I build engineering teams and create with code.
Folks call me @pengwynn.
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My Year in Books #

This year I racked up just over ten thousand pages across twenty-five books. Here are a few of my favorites.

Grant

Biography and military history continued to top my reading list for another year. At the top of both these categories was Grant, Ron Chernow's thousand page biography of the Civil War general and 18th U.S. President. As I mentioned in my review, it may be my favorite Chernow book so far.

Indianapolis

Seldom does such great storytelling meet such an epic story as in this book. In clear, descriptive language with military detail approaching any Clancy novel, the authors tell the story of Indy, her crew, their successful secret mission to deliver the world's first nuclear weapon, their loss at sea, and the pursuit of justice for their captain.

From sea to courtroom, it's an entertaining blend of action, adventure, courage, perseverance, love, heartbreak, loss, and redemption.

On Reading Well

A fantastic book from Karen Swallow Prior that shows us how to read literature and cultivate virtue.

You can check out all of the books I read in 2018 on Goodreads.

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2017 ThoughtWorks Technology Radar #

ThoughtWorks has released their latest technology radar (PDF), a semi-annual analysis of the industry landscape from their vantage point as software consultants.

I've enjoyed reading past issues as a way to mindfully keep up with trends and discover new tools. With topics broken down into techniques, tools, platforms, and languages & frameworks, past reports have helped clarify my thinking and given me a concrete way to talk about patterns and techniques already in use.

I'm excited to see Apex and Netlify get mentions this year.

I'm also a little puzzled how GraphQL fell off the radar without landing in the Adopt category. Maybe because it's already arrived.

Read more in the archives.