Solutions Architect's Handbook
Writing is hard, and writing books is even more challenging. Every time I read a book, I appreciate an enormous effort made by an author or group of authors...
Writing is hard, and writing books is even more challenging. Every time I read a book, I appreciate an enormous effort made by an author or group of authors despite the final result. However, the more you read, the more you recognize common writing patterns and related issues.
One pattern with self-published books, such as those you can get at Packt publisher, is that they have a variable content quality compared to O'Relly or Manning. This is clearly visible in books where multiple people are contributors. They split the book into chapters, and each person writes their own parts, and as a result, the style could be more consistent, and the content often overlaps.
Another typical pattern is the declining length and depth of chapters. Early sections tend to be more verbose, while later chapters often devolve into mere lists of tools or frameworks with limited explanation because the enthusiasm and energy of the authors diminish with time.
And the last one is depth vs width. They often go too deep into general knowledge, such as JSON/SOAP, but barely mention advanced topics.
I wholeheartedly ask for an apology from the authors because I have no intention of diminishing their knowledge or experience. I like the book's first third because it focuses on what is to be an SA, and the last ~150 pages (from chapter 13) cover Machine Learning, IoT, Quantum Computing, etc.
If you are looking for an overview of what is going on in the software world, or better to say, what became the industry de facto, mainly AWS tools, this book may help you to get the insight.
Solutions Architect's Handbook. (Second Edition; Saurabh Shrivastava, Neelanjali Srivastav, 2022, 590 pages)