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What are some non-IT/Admin books every Admin should read?

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There's a similar question on StackOverflow with many relevant answers: stackoverflow.com/questions/38210/… – Charles Roper May 19 '09 at 11:34
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Since this is a poll type question, this probably should be set to community wiki. – Zoredache May 19 '09 at 15:08
Poll questions and questions with no clear answer should be in the community wiki. – T. Marshall Aug 21 '09 at 20:44
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23 Answers

up vote 16 down vote accepted

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The Mythical Man Month

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up vote 7 down vote

The non-technical sys admin bible as far as I'm concerned is: Tom Limoncelli's Time Management for System Administrators

Cover

http://www.amazon.com/Management-System-Administrators-Thomas-Limoncelli/dp/0596007833/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243425856&sr=8-1

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I'm blushing! (P.S. I'll abstain from voting for my own book) – TomOnTime Jun 16 '09 at 13:06
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up vote 6 down vote

I'd say anything along the lines of scripting. The more you know that can help you automate tasks the better.

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On the same note make sure you that when you pick up a scripting language you know about serverfault's sister site stackoverflow.com – Unkwntech May 19 '09 at 10:10
+1 Smartest thing I've ever done as Windows sysadmin was learn VBS. Bring on Powershell! – squillman May 19 '09 at 13:03
I don't think that qualifies at all as non-IT/Admin. – sparks May 19 '09 at 13:37
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up vote 4 down vote

The Code Book by Simon Singh

The Code Breakers by David Kahn

Great books that will help you understand encryption in more detail.

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up vote 4 down vote

"The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage", by Clifford Stoll. Stoll is an astrophysicist, but he was working as a systems manager at UC Berkeley in the 1980s when a seemingly-minor billing error eventually led to discovering and apprehending a cracker who had been intruding in his network.

It's definitely an IT book, and in some sense it's kind of an admin book, but since it's written like a novel it's nothing like all those reference texts we spend our days (and nights) poring over.

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+1 for a classic. – Avery Payne Jun 14 '09 at 21:57
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up vote 3 down vote
  • Good to Great by Jim Collins
  • 1984 by George Orwell
  • Time Management for System Administrators By Thomas A. Limoncelli
  • On War by Clauswitz
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up vote 2 down vote

I'd recommend "The Story About Ping", but it really is IT related.

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My mother read this book to me when I was very young. I always remember being terrified at the part where Ping watches the duck get hit even though it was just a friendly pat. Decades later when this book resurfaced I felt like I was the ONLY sysadmin in the world that had actual childhood memories of reading it. So lonely... just like little Ping! – TomOnTime Jun 16 '09 at 13:08
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up vote 2 down vote

Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

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up vote 2 down vote

Neal Stephenson In The beggining there was the Command Line

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Very interesting read! I read it about 6 months ago and loved it. – Logan Jun 11 '09 at 9:41
For anyone considering a future in cross-platform work, this should be in the top 3 books that must be read. – Avery Payne Jun 14 '09 at 21:56
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up vote 2 down vote

Completely non-IT? Then this is a very good book:

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Influence - the Psychology of Persuasion

Because once you have the admin-puzzle sorted out, you know how you want your systems to look. But you'll probably end up having to fight with upper management for money, and here is where psychology books comes in handy. Don't be the geeky tech who thinks that the money-people will see reason once you present it to them. It's a game, and you have to know how to play it!

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up vote 1 down vote

Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash. They're not IT books (directly), but pretty much every IT-guy I know loves them.

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up vote 1 down vote

Making Things Happen.

http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596517717/

In the updated edition of this critically acclaimed and bestselling book, Microsoft insider Scott Berkun offers a collection of essays on field-tested philosophies and strategies for defining, leading, and managing projects. Based on his nine years of experience as a program manager for Microsoft's biggest projects, Berkun explains to technical and non-technical readers alike what it takes to get through a large software or web development project.

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A HUUUUGE +1 to this book. – Sean Earp Jun 11 '09 at 14:28
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up vote 1 down vote

I might suggest asking or looking around the offices of the people whose business you're supporting to see if they have or can suggest any reading material that improves your understanding of the business you're working for.

'sides that...

  • Death March, Edward Yourdon
  • Everything I know about business I learnt from monopoly, Alan Axelrod
  • Slack, Tom DeMarco
  • The No asshole rule, Robert I. Sutton
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up vote 1 down vote

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, obviously.

And:

  • Code and other laws of Cyberspace (Lessig)
  • Just for fun (Torvalds)
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up vote 1 down vote

Getting Things Done as well as Ready for Anything, both by David Allen.

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up vote 0 down vote

A non-Admin (but IT) book could be something that helps you understand your usual customers.

If you work closely together with some developers in language X, try to gather information about language X and how you can improve the environment to help them do their job better.

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up vote 0 down vote

Eliyahu M. Goldratt's 'The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement' I think it places any enterprise SysAdmin in the mindset of 'how do all plates spinning lead to a company's common goal.' When I worked QA/Field Engineer work at an ERP software co., prior to getting into SysAdmin work, this was 'the bible.'

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up vote 0 down vote

Not so seriously - the chronicles of the Bastard Operator from Hell - either a how-to or how-not-to for dealing with users, depending on how you feel about them at the time...

bofh.ntk.net/Bastard.html

www.theregister.co.uk/odds/bofh/

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up vote 0 down vote

Any book that tells about body language. ie. how to detect that this customer doesn't want this thingamajig.

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up vote 0 down vote

Robert A. Heinlein Stranger in a Strange Land so that you know what "Grok" means.

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up vote 0 down vote

Since it looks like we're now talking about novels now...

I've throughly enjoyed the Ender's Saga Series by Orson Scott Card. On book 7 right now.

+1 for Snow Crash as well, I read it for the first time last year and have reread it again twice since then. Its a pretty fun book.

Citizen of the Galaxy by Robert Heinlein

Pretty much any Larry Niven book. I haven't gotten to read any of the rest of the ringworld series except the first one yet though. Niven's biggest problem though is he makes really wonderful environments but his character development sucks. If you can get over that, he's a great author.

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up vote 0 down vote

Influencer: The Power to Change Anything
Because sysadmins have responsibility, but rarely authority. How do you convince people to provide budget money, bosses to accept proposals, or users to accept your solution?

Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams
An oldie but a goodie, buy a copy for your boss as well as yourself.

Death March
If you are continually involved in projects with unrealistic deadlines, that are not fully resourced, that require 14 hour days for months, then get this book (another good one to buy a copy for your boss)

Smart and Gets Things Done: Joel Spolsky's Concise Guide to Finding the Best Technical Talent
What the title says... a concise guide on finding, hiring, and retaining smart technical people.

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