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Hackers & Painters
Literature has a long history of the essayist; since those famous theses on the church door at Wittgenstein a well written and thought provoking essay on a topic has provided power and focus for important discussions. Graham has either learnt or discovered the important points in writing a good essay; brevity, quality writing and thought.
In this volume Graham covers a range of topics, though all are, understandably, centered on computers. Why nerds are unpopular at school, and what this demonstrates about our eduction system; why program in Lisp; the importance of "startups", programming languages and web development are all touched on. At the same time he covers topics less techno-centric such as heretical thinking and speech. wealth creation and unequal income distribution.
I found myself disagreeing with him often while reading the book, though every time I did I found his argument compelling. I agree with Andy Hertzfeld, quoted on the back cover of the book, "He may even make you want to start programming in Lisp." Graham is politically more conservative and right wing than me, he is also a fervent supporter of Lisp, while I'm a C and Perl advocate. It is telling that at no time did I find myself railing at his views, rather I was reading his arguments and giving them meme space. A good sign of a writer that does not indulge in unnecessary or extreme polemic.
Graham also tends to concentrate on a single point in each essay, allowing for both good coverage and a brief essay. Where he covers a larger context, such as high school education in "Why Nerds Are Unpopular" that opens the book, he seems to focus on just one or two good points of discussion.
The title essay is the second in the collection and provides an interesting look at hacking and some lessons we can learn by analogy to the work and life of Rennaissance painters, particularly in how it is done and how it can be funded. The third, "What You Can't Say" is social commentary on heretical thinking. Four, "Good Bad Attitude" is on the benefits of breaking rules, both in life and hacking. Five, "The Other Road Ahead", is an excellent look at web based software and why it offers benefits to both user and developer with Graham examining some lessons he learnt while building ViaWeb. Six, "How To Make Wealth", is a look at becoming wealthy and how a 'startup' might be the best way to do it. The seventh, "Mind The Gap", is an argument that we should not worry so much about 'unequal wealth distribution' and why it might actually be a good thing. From this list, and a look at the table of contents (available as a PDF on the O'Reilly page for the book), you can see that Graham covers a wide spectrum while never straying from topics he knows.
If I was forced to identify a weakness in this book it may well be that Graham does not evince doubt or uncertainty in his arguments, on a few occasions he may admit to a narrow view or knowledge but doubt or uncertainty don't seem to enter his field of vision while he writes. This coupled with a single viewpoint makes the book less than all-encompassing in discussion. However, I must admit that it is almost impossible to be anything more with a single author and Graham may well be more honest than others who pick and choose the alternatives they present.
Most of the essays are available at Graham's website, but frankly I am a fan of dead trees and appreciated that this book could be read on the bus or in bed. If you would prefer something you cna read on the bus then a PDF of the second chapter, "Hackers & Painters" is available from the O'Reilly page linked above.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to think about a number of topics important to the culture of our tiny corner of the world, computers and the net, while not ignoring the rest.
You can purchase Hackers & Painters from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, carefully read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Cowboy Neal is Kim Jong Il's love child. For the love of America please, PLEASE, PLEASE boycott slashdot if you love your freedom at all. Kim Jong Il kidnapped an honest white woman and with asian communist depravity he took the delicate flower of that young woman, and then abandoned her. In order to hide his shameful past, the Cowboy has had several operations to make him look more caucasian, but we are all well aware of his communist, god-loathing, American-hating, meglomaniac lineage.
God Bless America and may you find peace with our glorious leader, the eternal president, the esteemed George W. Bush.
www.too-1337.tk bitches
fp?
OMG HAI!
Diaper Haiku
You shit your diapers.
Squishy poo poo give ass rash.
Taco's diaper full!
© 2004 bone2pik Troll Industries (bTI), distributed under the GNU General Trolling License, freely distributed under GNU GTL terms.
...and NO PLACE ELSE!
+1, Patriotic
flip flops
He's a h4ck3r, and he uses MS Paint. That makes him both a hacker and a painter, right?
Right?
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
Thanks for the helpful link. I like Amazon better than bn.
...that you fail it utterly.
flip flops
I'm sure you mean "Wittenberg."
Nah, I'm sure he meant "Wolfenstein."
One man's -1 Flamebait is another man's +5 Funny.
I type this. Slashdot 'BSD is and arms and dick Track of where worthwhile. So I munches the most And coders Little-known up my toys. I'm Never hheded
Yeah, I got it sucked real good today.
She wanted to play-rape again, so I slapped her face a bit until she finally lowered her head onto my throbbing member. Although I didn't force her to, she instantly started deepthroating it, jamming the entire length deep inside herself. I always worry she's going to choke and accidentally bite down, but it feels good enough that I don't care.
As she was vigorously sucking away, I slapped her ass, and in doing so noticed that her hand was placed firmly down her pants. She often enjoys playing with herself while she slurps away on my manhood...
Amazon should plug that hole, and I mean that in the least offensive way possible.
Martin Luther is supposed to have nailed his 95 thesis to the church door in Wittenberg back 1517. There is, however, no proof that he really did so and considering his actions and behavior it seem rather unlikely.
Bought the far8.... BSD machines
Thanks for sharing that with us, Eric. I'm glad to know you're good friends with Paul Graham. Any other little tidbits you can tell us?
You had me at "dicks fuck assholes".
From 4 technical 1ts readers and The time to meet the project to of the founders of though I have never