My best of 2012

By Dann Berg

Published or Updated on December 28, 2012

This post originally appeared on Novice No Longer.

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.

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

Two

Classes designed and taught

One

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.