A
quasi-autobiography by
Linus Torvalds, co-written by
David Diamond. Very well written, considering
Linus isn't a professional writer at all. While not horrendously engaging for the average reader, anyone interested in
Linux will probably find it to be an enjoyable read.
The first several chapters deal with his
childhood, concentrating mostly on his
social life (or rather,
lack thereof) and his interests in
computers. The middle deals mostly with his
university life, which also includes the development of
Linux. The latter chapters deal with
Open Source,
Intellectual Property, and about
Linus' reaction to becoming a
big, world-famous superstar. It also begins and ends with a chapter on
The Meaning of Life. There are also short segments between every other chapter or so describing
David's ongoing
interview with
Linus "God" Torvalds.
As I said before, the book, while not a
Masterpiece of 20th century literature (It doesn't count as
21st century to
me because most of it was written before 2001, to my knowledge), is a delightful bit of textual art that is much more interesting if you know more about
computers than the
average user and are at least somewhat interested in
Linux.