Episode 26 - Andy Hunt on Pragmatic Thinking and Learning

Andy Hunt is co-founder (along with Dave Thomas) of the Pragmatic Programmers.  Their seminal book, The Pragmatic Programmer, gave every developer a nudge, and started their publishing company, The Pragmatic Bookshelf.

Andy's latest book (his seventh) is Pragmatic Thinking and Learning, Refactoring your Wetware.  His keynote at 2009 Philly Emerging Tech covered topics from the book, and was a fantastic walk down memory lane (sorry, couldn't resist).  Seriously, folks, his talk was all about maximizing your ability to learn and retain knowledge.  Here are some great books he mentioned:

1. Andy Hunt:  Pragmatic Thinking and Learning
2. Mihaly Csikszent: Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (P.S.) 
3. Dan Pink: Whole New Mind
4. Betty Edwards: Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

You can find Andy's writing on the Pragmatic Bookshelf or on his blog, toolshed.com. For a mind map of his key topics, click here.

The second part of the podcast includes audio from the Destruction Zone.  Pictures were posted at our ETE Flickr Group.  The company, Wondergy, allowed us to tear apart old fax machines, printers, computers and cell phones, and worked with Chariot to line up green recyclers to haul it all away.  You'll hear a little audio, although distorted, of the bashing of a copier, as well as an interview with Wondergy's Ken Fink, on how the project came together.