that I found on Gutenberg - right after reading most of the comments in this discussion - titled "The Man of Letters as a Man of Business" http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3388/ by William Dean Howells http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Dean_Howells/ certainly resonates with my own felings and observations - from what I have read thus far - on the entire realm that this discussion addresses.
From the book:
"Literature is Business as well as Art."
"Public whose taste is so crude that they cannot enjoy the best."
I believe military history and military science have something to help us illuminate this issue.
I am a reader of military history, and I recall reading about the German 81mm mortar in WWII - about how the allies conducted studies into its design after the war, as they wanted to find out what the German "secret" for such an effective weapon system was . . . the secret was, there was nothing special about the 81mm mortar - its crews were simply well trained, highly motivated, and well led.
The Germans did more with less, beat materially superior opponents consistently, and maintained tactical superiority up until the last moments of the war - I believe there is something to be said for all this (moral/political/personal opinions aside) and one of their core philosophies was that it's not the weapons, it's the men.
Now, the historical points I have brought up are debatable, however, I am convinced that the fundamental idea stands:
Dad bought it for me when I turned 14, and it was fascinating. Played F-117, Silent Service, and Kampfgruppe to my heart's content . . .
I fell in love with the command line (to this day, it feels "real") and computer manuals in general, yet it wasn't until years later that I developed my fascination with programming - I somehow intuited that there was somethingwrong with BASIC . . . just felt wrong. Glad I felt that way too, after reading what Dijkstra wrote about that language.
Now I want to know what CowBoy Neal had as a kid . . .
Free (and legal) online version of
"The Secret Guide to Computers" by Russ Walter:
http://www.secretguide.net/ Author's site:
http://www.angelfire.com/nh/secret/ Guy has a great sense of humor, and has been publishing the book (now in its 29th Edition) for several years.
MRH
Slashdot Mirror
that I found on Gutenberg - right after reading most of the comments in this discussion - titled "The Man of Letters as a Man of Business" http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3388/ by William Dean Howells/ certainly resonates with my own felings and observations - from what I have read thus far - on the entire realm that this discussion addresses.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Dean_Howells
From the book:
"Literature is Business as well as Art."
"Public whose taste is so crude that they cannot enjoy the best."
MRH
A most excellent post - thank you.
Well said - thank you.
An outstanding post - thank you.
I believe military history and military science have something to help us illuminate this issue.
I am a reader of military history, and I recall reading about the German 81mm mortar in WWII - about how the allies conducted studies into its design after the war, as they wanted to find out what the German "secret" for such an effective weapon system was . . . the secret was, there was nothing special about the 81mm mortar - its crews were simply well trained, highly motivated, and well led.
The Germans did more with less, beat materially superior opponents consistently, and maintained tactical superiority up until the last moments of the war - I believe there is something to be said for all this (moral/political/personal opinions aside) and one of their core philosophies was that it's not the weapons, it's the men.
Now, the historical points I have brought up are debatable, however, I am convinced that the fundamental idea stands:
It's the Men, not the Weapons.
MRH
I can't think of anything Taco & Crew could have done that would peg higher on the outrageous meter.
Oh GAWD - make it STOP already . . .
[user background audio]
Honey, I smell something burning!
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***USER JACKEDOUT***
Dad bought it for me when I turned 14, and it was fascinating. Played F-117, Silent Service, and Kampfgruppe to my heart's content . . .
I fell in love with the command line (to this day, it feels "real") and computer manuals in general, yet it wasn't until years later that I developed my fascination with programming - I somehow intuited that there was something wrong with BASIC . . . just felt wrong. Glad I felt that way too, after reading what Dijkstra wrote about that language.
Now I want to know what CowBoy Neal had as a kid . . .
Moe
Free (and legal) online version of "The Secret Guide to Computers" by Russ Walter:
http://www.secretguide.net/
Author's site:
http://www.angelfire.com/nh/secret/
Guy has a great sense of humor, and has been publishing the book (now in its 29th Edition) for several years.
MRH