About
Techshelf is here to highlight books and their authors that appeal to, well, techie nerds (like me).
Story time:
Techshelf.com originated in January 1999 with the intent to cover computer books and the industry. At the time I was working at McGraw-Hill (the ‘Osborne’ part of the organization) and thought I could use this new Internet thing to bolster my career. Nobody was interested and I went back to making “tipsheets” for the sales reps.
Tipsheets allow for only so much creativity, so later that year (November/December-ish) I went on to work for the computer book group at John Wiley & Sons. That was brief stay (before the big ‘Dummies’ acquisition – doh!) and I was sucked back to McGraw-Hill with a pretty good position in their computer book group (Osborne, again).
The weird part of the story is that I was one of the only folks that read the books. Cover to cover, and on a bunch of different topics. At the time, I don’t think the editors knew the content as well as I did. In fact, I started building websites and doing tech consulting/coaching to individuals and small businesses on the side while working days in publishing. I even got an A+ Certification, so if anyone needs a pentium PC built up, let me know.
In 2003, I left the publishing biz and went full-time nerd.
In February 2005, David Pogue wrote in his The Ne w York Times blog, “I wish that someone, somewhere, would establish a popular, critical, complete computer-book review site, one that became so trusted and complete, it became one-stop shopping for computer-book buyers.” I remembered ‘techshelf.com’ and then got back to work. Later in 2008, I found myself with a stack of computer books on Rails and couldn’t find a place to tell me which was the one to hit first. Again, ‘techshelf.com’ blipped up on the radar.
So, in 2009, what’s different? Not much. Still building websites and running a small hosting business in NYC. Also, I’ve run a small fan site for the podcast, MacBreak Weekly (http://mbwpicks.com), for a few years now and really enjoy it. Love it that a few thousand people a week stop by and check out the posts. One of the most popular parts of the show is “the picks” where they go over their favorite hardware and software, and, thanks to their sponsor, books. Apparently Audible knows its market because the listeners are super-responsive to books. Constantly looking for the right one, or a good recommendation, new or old. Again, techshelf — blip… blip… blip.
So, with all the signs around me, a domain that’s collecting dust, and hopefully still enough connections in the publishing business, I’m rolling out the Techshelf.com blog. I have a composition book here full of notes of things I’d like it to become, but the foundation is spotlighting the best computer books and books nerds might like.
If you have suggestions, comments, or questions, don’t hesitate to fire them off on the posts, or hit me direct at techshelf at gmail dot com. I’m also on twitter here: @paulmayson. And here: @techshelf
