This is a good question. The title made me think of gritty skills and knowledge that help get the job done, but may not be considered best practices. The list, however, suggests I've misunderstood.

Of course, the author does state,

    > these are books to read so that you can cut motherfuckers with knives. 

Well, I'm not sure a VP would appreciate a tech kniving the prod server, but sometimes it's necessary.