The James Bach Challenge

**This is an initiative that I took upon myself and not supported in any way by James Bach**

A few years ago I attended a special session of Rapid Software Testing by James Bach. It was a special session because it didn't end after three days: we had two days extra to spend with him, ask questions, etc.

The training happened at a time that I started to lose a little of the enthusiasm that I used to have at my profession as a software tester. However, after this week I gained the passion back, and it is still here more than three years after. It is not only what I learned (which is a lot), but it was also the inspiration I gained from watching him. Besides his charisma, I felt that we have some similarities between us: we both have a very vast scope of interest besides testing, and we both love to learn new things and continue developing.

My primary intellectual interests - besides testing - are philosophy, fine literature, and history. During the training, James mentioned the book Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. I read it, and it became one of my favorites books, one that truly changed my perception. I understood that there are many kinds of books I wasn't aware of up to that time.

So what is the challenge? I am gathering reading recommendations by James, from lectures, blog, and his books. You can find the list here: http://a.co/1eQQqLD.

The interesting part is that while some of the books are directly related to testing, but some are not, at least not at first sight. But James can see the connection and from the little I read so far, so can I.

I plan to read most of them. Not all, and I might start a book and stop because it is not interesting. But still, I am going to give it a run.

Are you with me? #JamesBachChallenge