"Some birds aren't meant to be caged, their feathers are just too bright"- Morgan Freeman, Shawshank Redemption. This blog is from one such bird who couldn't be caged by organizations who mandate scripted software testing. Pradeep Soundararajan welcomes you to this blog and wishes you a good time here and even otherwise.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Secrets of a Buccaneer Scholar : Free Download Limited Period




About a couple of years back, I had an opportunity to read "How I learn stuff" from James Bach and was excited about it. I had a concern about it that it was not complete and kept asking James for his plan on it.

Little did I know then that it would turn out to be a great book for the community and not one that was accessible to those who work with James. When I learnt from James that Simon & Schuster have agreed to publish it, I was excited about it and my urge to read the complete stuff skyrocketed.
I must say that I had reviewed its initial draft and reading the book today is a fascinating experience.

I also thought I had enough money to gift it to all those people whom I care about. I certainly do care about those who read my blog and here is a gift that Simon & Shuster, James Bach has provided - It's free download till July 24th. The hard copy is going to be released on my birthday. ( Just a coincidence )


Why is this book one of the most important one's for software testers?


Learning


I recognize that learning and unlearning are skills that are absolutely important for any profession anyone is in. Today, I see a lot of testers struggling to learn the latest version of a tool when it is released, although they are aware of its earlier version. Learning requires mental modeling. If you have a model of learning then no tool or none of its version can intimidate you.
Secrets of a Buccaneer Scholar can be of help to you.


Scouting


We witness so many tools everyday that we didn't know earlier. When we discover a tool that could have solved our problems in our last project, we are worried about what tools we are missing to solve today's problem. If you learn how to scout, you wouldn't find it tough to find the tool you want for today's need. We are in the Google age and we don't get to know the right link although we search for it because Google is not kind to everyone. It is kind only to those who know how to scout. Secrets of a Buccaneer Scholar can be of help to you.


Competitiveness


All of us want to be the most competitive in our field but honestly, how many of us are putting in the work that requires to do so or how many of us know what to do to be able to get competitive.
Secrets of a Buccaneer Scholar can be of help to you.


Writing


I see that some testing bloggers mostly ape the way other successful bloggers write their posts. Doing that for sometime they are lost of what their original ways are and get into the rut of aping. While aping could be a way to start, it ain't the way to proceed.
Secrets of a Buccaneer Scholar can be of help to you.


Fear of unknown


When you ask someone why aren't they self employed, most often you would find that they fear the unknown. The unknown is always bad according to most of us. I meet credible testers in India and ask them, "Why do you think you can't be an independent consultant?" and they say, "Currently my job is secure". Recession times guys - there ain't anything called "secured job".
Secrets of a Buccaneer Scholar can be of help to you.


Value of reading


Most testers don't read books. What a great advantage they offer to people like me. Good for me but so bad for them. I am concerned about them. I wish they read just this book ( which is for free till July 24th ). I wish they read because I think after reading this, it might be influential enough to them to be able not offer me the advantage that I had.

To all those testers who don't have the practice of reading books: In case you come across this post or the book and you choose not to read the book, no one can stop you from remaining in your most stable state - ignorance.

15 comments:

Manjunatha Channaveerappa said...

I started reading the Book. I completed the first chapter and it is really impressive. It's not only for Testers but also for the people who have stopped their formal education in the middle (It could be a guide for them to advance in life through self educating and learning.)

Thanks for blogging on such a good book, Pradeep.

Pradeep Soundararajan said...

@Manjunatha C,

Indeed it is a great book. Gift the book to lot of others. You have just 5 days left.

Rizwan said...

Hi Pradeep,
This is Rizwan from Bangladesh, trying to download this book, while clicking on your provided link it is redirecting to URL and showing following message:

500 Internal Server Error

and hence I cannot download the book..:(!

Would you please check the URL?

Pradeep Soundararajan said...

@Rizwan,

I do not get the error that you have indicated. As you might have noticed - Manjunatha ( earlier commentor ) accessed the link and was able to download the book.

How about going to Simon & Schuster homepage and then trying to access this link by navigating through their website or searching for the book and downloading it?

Although 500 Internal Server Error doesn't appear to be a client side problem, you may want to try from a different browser or from a different time.

You have just 4 days left with you to get the book for free.

Ganesh said...

Hi Pradeep,

Thanks you so much for sharing this with everyone. I read it in one stretch over the weekend; I just could not stop reading it until I finished all the chapters.
A must read for all IT
professionals!!

Pradeep Soundararajan said...

@Ganesh,

Thanks. Please do share it with all you know. I have passed on the gift to you and now after reading it - its your responsibility to pass it on. That's how the gift works.

Abhinav said...

Unfortunately, this cannot be downloaded on Linux, as ebooks software seems to be on Windows / Mac only.

Pradeep Soundararajan said...

@Abhinav,

Woh! I didn't know that. Maybe you should write to them.

Алексей Лупан said...

Yes, ADE is designed only for Windows/Mac. Strange, but true.

And you will have impossibility to read it after such day. At one of may PC the dead date is set o 1 august 2009. At other - till 29 jul 2009.

Open this Adobe Digital Editions > James book > press Ctrl + I and check 'Permissions set by the publisher'.

And each file is licensed for being readed only on one PC. You cannot copy it from one and open on another.

Only a real bucaneer know how to disable this problem for future pleasant reading ;)

Pradeep Soundararajan said...

@Алексей Лупан,

Only a real bucaneer know how to disable this problem for future pleasant reading ;)

I was ROFL after reading the above. Thanks for the coolest comment.

Neha said...

Hi Pradeep,

Thank you very much for the wonderful gift!!! - when I first saw the book mentioned on Mr. Bach's blog, I got very excited about the book, as I wanted to know how he got into testing and how he continues to grow as a tester :) - Thank You once again :)

Cheers,
Neha

Pramod said...

Dear Pradeep,

Many thanks for sharing the book, also my sincere thanks for Mr. James Bach for authoring such a splendid experience...into a book.

I would hope the book is available in India/Bangalore, so that i can keep on reading them.

Thanks again, Pramod

Mahathi Ramya said...

Pradeep,

You mentioned free download will be available till July 24th, But today(july 24) when i tried to download, i got the message "Sorry, Free Download
Secrets of a Buccaneer-Scholar giveaway is over."

feeling bad to miss the opportunity :(

Pradeep Soundararajan said...

@Mahathi Ramya,

I am sorry to note that. They were supposed to keep it open till July 24th. Maybe they saw a lot of them download it and gave up on the free stuff.

However, the hard copy version will be out on Sep8th ( not in India, though ) and you can purchase an e-copy of the book from their website at 900 rupees, I guess.


Ajay also pointed out the same that you said, maybe I should update this post and let people know about it.

Jassi said...

Thanks Pradeep for the Link...was able to download just in Time......... :).