The Hacker Ethic

 Review "Pekka Himanen's theory of the hacker culture as the spirit of informationalism is a fundamental breakthrough in the discovery of the world unfolding in the uncertain dawn of the third millennium." -Manuel Castells, from the Epilogue "The Hacker Ethic is one of the most significant political ideas and value systems in history. Hackers are the warriors, explorers, guerrillas, and joyous adventurers of the Digital Age, and the true architects of the new economy. Demonized and often misunderstood, they are changing the world and the way it works. Pekka Himanen explains how and why in a book that is essential reading for anybody who wants to live, work or do business in the twenty-first century." -Jon Katz, columnist for slashdot.org and author of Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho "At last we have a book about the ethics of true hackers . . .not the criminals and vandals that the press calls hackers today, but the idealistic pioneers whose ethics of openness, enablement and cooperation laid the cornerstone for our new economy." -Danny Hillis, Co-Founder, The Long Now Foundation and Co-Chairman & CTO, Applied Minds, Inc. By A Customer I've recently had the chance to read this book, and though I feel it is a fine read as far as the style and lanaguage go, it's somewhat of a rehash of other writings on the subject. I am a hacker in the sense that I have the knowledge of mathematics and programming, the understanding of computer organization, and I subscribe to the "hacker ethic". Now on to the book. This book appears largely to be based on a gathering of the old writings of The Mentor but rewritten for a specific audience (for those of you not familiar with the handle, The Mentor was one of the first hackers, and one of the most prolific. He laid down the fundamentals by which hackers live, and wrote the famous Hacker's Manifesto). Yes, many new ideas were added to this book, but there is quite a bit that sounds like a tweaked, and less offensive, rehash of The Mentor's writing as well as the essays of various other hackers. That's not to say the writing isn't original in some sense, but mostly it's been done before. I wouldn't suggest it unless you are new and unfamiliar with the hacking field, and are looking for some insight into it, without being flamed or being confused by "buzz words". Also, this book should not be expected to be a tech manual, it's more of a look into the hacker's psyche, and it essentially praises hackers and supports them, so it might make a good picker-upper if you're a hacker down on your luck . # 256 pages # Publisher: Random House; 1 edition (January 30, 2001) # Language: English # ISBN-10: 0375505660 # ISBN-13: 978-0375505669 Code: http://rapidshare.com/files/87529743/The.Hacker.Ethic.pdf