Slashdot Mirror
How We Got Here - Stuff To Read
A reader writes:"Ever wonder why Michael Faraday, steam engines, Ezra Cornell, the Van de Beurses family and the Edison Effect were so important to today's computer business. Andy Kessler has a free download of a PDF of his new book, How We Got Here: A Slightly Irreverent History of Technology and Markets. It's a James Burke-style connect-the-dots of events and people from 1642 to this morning. Kessler's site takes you through a "poor man's DRM" process to get your very own PDF." Yeah, yeah - DRM. But the PDF/book is worth reading for understanding the history to tech. Speaking of good things to read, I also read this little ditty Not Proud, which was good. It's stuff from NotProud.com collected in dead tree form.
I probably use mailinator more than my regular e-mail, great free anonymous e-mail receiving service.
My (Anonymous Coward) copy went to slashdot@mailinator.com, if anyone is interested....
I have to admit, I Like the idea of offering a free download of the book. For this, I have no problem providing my email, at least some company gets a clue as to how to market. If I have to clean junkmail out of my mailbox, at least give me something tangible, like a PDF :)
This is a paradox we're stuck in. On one hand, we have Darwin's theory. On the other hand, we have the controvery over the Intelligent Design movement. Now you're telling me that we have to give our e-mail address, just to find out the rest??? The world is still round, right?
We all dance, we all sing.
-The Streets
Kudos to the guy for offering it for free. Even if he signs me up for spam and I have to delete a hundred useless messages, 100 deletions x 1 sec/deletion x wage of 0.5c/sec > probable price of paper book.
I myself will be signing up to read it.
I don't know how accurate all of the info in this PDF is, but is seems interesting and informative. It is written in a very readable style and gives you some background on the history of some tech inovation. Not bad, use an email already flodded with junk we all have those...
Onward to the Aether Sphere!
A "ditty" is a short song, like a jingle.
Research shows that 67% of those who use the term "research shows", are just making shit up.
How on earth does NotProud.com possibly relate to the topic of the book?!
The editor's comments imply that there is DRM on the PDF. On the contrary, there is no DRM. To quote the last pages of the book:
your file is not crippled with any Digital Rights Management (DRM) restrictions.
You are free to print copies of our books for yourself, copy the PDF file onto your laptop, your
desktop, your cell phone or your PDA, and pretty much enjoy our book any way you
likejust as you would an ordinary paperback book.
As for the book, I just finished re-reading it about an hour ago (coincidence!). Having read his first two books, I expected much of the same from this book. Unfortunately, I found the first few chapters to read more like a history book (not terribly exciting). I did find the last chapter to be interesting.
Also noticed a few passages cut and paste from previous books.
That being said, the book is entirely true to its name - it tells of how we got here. For those who want to know where we are going, you might be a little disappointed.
I'd say, given the circumstances, one hour is a very optimistic estimate!
we couldn't measure capacitance.
Actually I'm old enough to barely remember when they were called 'condensors'.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
I've purchased a handful of ebooks from the Pragmatic Programmers. Their books do not employ any DRM whatsoever. Not even a so called "poor man's" DRM. When you purchase an ebook, all they do is personalize it with your information in it. That's all they're doing here.
From their FAQ (emphasis added by me):
Are the PDF files restricted?
There is no copy protection or functionality restrictions in the PDF files. You may view or print them for personal use as you see fit.
You may not give your PDF version to other people. For your protection, the PDF file you order is personalized with your name and other identifying information.
You can buy multiple licenses of a PDF file for your team or organization, in which case the PDF will be stamped with the number of allowed licenses. We'll only send you one, so as to conserve everyone's bandwidth.
It's not DRM to ask for an email address.
NO. Honestly. Do you ever wonder how important water is for drinking?
So you cannot circulate the copy, or you will get caught (unless you used a hotmail email addy, of course).
James Burke presented a BBC series (and a subsequent dead-tree version which can be hard to find) back in the early '80s called "Connections" tracing the evolution of technology.
Very well done, and definitely worth hunting out.
I read one of Kessler's previous books (Running Money) and found that he was an extremely clueless investor who just happened to get lucky. He started up a hedge fund in '95 or with a 5 year time horizon (so it closed right at the peak of the market in 2000). You could have picked practically any stock and done outstanding if you would have been in the market for those five years. He even admits one of the companies that made him the most money was out of pure luck.
The books are fairly interesting if you want to see how people actually operate. But, if you want to learn something I'd steer clear. He's one of the many people who mistake luck for skill.
Gee - how did our predecessors ever accomplish anything without the magic of CMM, RUP, and/or UML.
:-)
Tristan Yates
Why don't you just follow the link? It's just another case of slashdot's "editors" stirring things up to raise controversy. Read some more comments, there is absolutely no drm on the pdf, just the e-mail you give them.
Mother is the best bet and don't let Satan draw you too fast.
By the way, every single Office app other than MS Office and every single OS other than Windows include some kind of free PDF printing capability. And, of course, there are free PDF making tools for Windows
Mother is the best bet and don't let Satan draw you too fast.
To be even more precise:
The "Edison Effect" upon which vacuum tubes rely was indeed discovered by Edison - he was attempting to lengthen the life of a light bulb by putting a second wire next to the filament. This did not succeed in lengthening the life of the bulb, but Edison did note there was a small current from the filament to the extra wire. He noted it, patented it, but had no idea of how to make money from it.
It was later that Fleming then discovered the ability to rectify current via this effect. Later, DeForest developed the first triode which could modulate the current via a grid control.
Hence why it is called "The Edison Effect" even though Edison didn't capitalize upon it.
www.eFax.com are spammers
so your mailinator link was super useful. Thanks! What's the point of DRM'ing stuff if the additional load it creates on your server means that no one can get a copy at all?
Sorry to say but due to high volume, Verio.com, the world's largest hosting provider has disabled our fulfillment system without notice.
But don't worry, it's not gone permanently. We will be offering this PDF again as soon as we can. Keep an eye out on our website at pragmaticprogrammer.com or just sign up for our low-volume announcement newsletter and we'll let you know when and when where we can offer it again.
thanks for your support.
No, No, No.
We ripped off the indians. We threw a tea party for the British.
This sig has been removed pending an investigation.
I just downloaded it here
If you disagree with me on social issues, then it's pretty clear that you are a narrow-minded bigot.
thanks,
And he has already made a huge mistake saying Pascal invented probability because he was a gambler.
Pascal was almost too strongly **not** a gambler. It was a gambler's request that made him think about it, though.
If that's the kind of fact-checking the book has, it's going to be right mostly by coincidence.
Also, the tone of the first part (the "I have been blah blah blah" piece) is extremely annoying. Let's hope it picks up a little, at least.
Written in a easy conversational style, but full of gross over simplification. .
e.g check page 19, he makes it sound like the first methods of working iron were introduced by the British in the 15th century. Um hello, iron working techniques have been around since quite a few centuries B.C. This type of stuff makes me take this book with a grain of salt.
From the site "5/2/05 VERIO HAS BEEN SPOOKED BY HIGH TRAFFIC FROM /. (ISN'T THAT THEIR BUSINESS?) WE'VE DISABLED EMAIL ENTRY AND FOR TODAY ONLY, YOU CAN DOWNLOAD A GENERIC PDF OF THE BOOK. ENJOY."
You can get to the download here