189 ratings | 76 reviews | avg rating: 4.16

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Tim O'Reilly

goodreads author profile

born

June 06, 1954

gender

male

place of birth

Cork, Ireland

website

http://tim.oreilly.com

member since

October 2007

about this author

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books by Tim O'Reilly

avg rating: 4.14 | 97 ratings | 23 reviews | 23 distinct works | 25 fans

	UNIX Power Tools by Jerry Peek, Mike Loukides (Goodreads author) , Tim O'Reilly (Goodreads author) avg rating 4.50 — 30 ratings — published 1993 2 editions	my rating:
	The Twitter Book by Tim O'Reilly (Goodreads author), Sarah Milstein avg rating 3.91 — 23 ratings — published 2009	my rating:
	Unix Power Tools, Third Edition by Shelley Powers, Tim O'Reilly (Goodreads author) avg rating 4.46 — 13 ratings — published 2002	my rating:
	Travelers' Tales: The Road Within: True Stories of Transformation by Tim O'Reilly (Goodreads author) avg rating 3.55 — 11 ratings — published 1997 2 editions	my rating:
	Frank Herbert by Tim O'Reilly (Goodreads author) avg rating 4.50 — 4 ratings — published 1981	my rating:
	Managing UUCP and Usenet by Grace Todino-Gonguet, Tim O'Reilly (Goodreads author) avg rating 4.00 — 2 ratings — published 1992	my rating:
	Windows 98 in a Nutshell by Tim O'Reilly (Goodreads author), Walter Glenn, Troy Mott avg rating 3.00 — 1 rating — published 1998 2 editions	my rating:
	termcap & terminfo by John Strang, Linda Mui, Tim O'Reilly (Goodreads author) avg rating 4.00 — 2 ratings — published 1988	my rating:
	The Twitter Book by Tim O'Reilly (Goodreads author), Sarah Milstein avg rating 5.00 — 1 rating — published 2009	my rating:
	Web 2.0 Report by John Musser, Tim O'Reilly (Goodreads author) avg rating 5.00 — 1 rating — published 2006	my rating:
	X Toolkit Intrinsics Prog Vol 4M: Motif Edition by Adrian Nye, Tim O'Reilly (Goodreads author) avg rating 3.00 — 1 rating — published 1992	my rating:
	X Users Guide Motif R5: Motif Edition by Valerie Quercia, Tim O'Reilly (Goodreads author) avg rating 3.00 — 1 rating — published 1994	my rating:
	X Toolkit Intrinsics Reference Manual by Tim O'Reilly (Goodreads author), Mark Langley avg rating 0.0 — 0 ratings — published 1920 3 editions	my rating:
	Managing UUCP And Usenet (Nutshell Handbooks) by Tim O'Reilly (Goodreads author), Grace Todino-Gonguet avg rating 0.0 — 0 ratings — published 1990	my rating:
	X Window Sys Users Gd by Tim O'Reilly (Goodreads author), Valerie Quercia avg rating 0.0 — 0 ratings — published 1988 2 editions	my rating:
	DOS Meets Unix: A Departmental Computing Perspective (Nutshell Handbooks for Beginning and Advanced Users) by Dale Dougherty, Tim O'Reilly (Goodreads author) avg rating 0.0 — 0 ratings — published 1988	my rating:
	Managing UUCP and Usenet by Grace Todino, Tim O'Reilly (Goodreads author) avg rating 0.0 — 0 ratings — published 1992	my rating:
	Volume 3: X Window System User's Guide (X Window System User's Guide Vol. 3) by Valerie Quercia, Tim O'Reilly (Goodreads author) avg rating 0.0 — 0 ratings — published 1993	my rating:

More books by Tim O'Reilly…

Tim is currently reading

	07/17 Tim gave to: To the Lighthouse CD (Naxos Complete Classics) by Virginia Woolf bookshelves: currently-reading, favorite	my rating:
	read in July, 2009 Tim said: "Unbelievable. I'm listening to this now. If the audiobook wasn't so good, I'd rush to finish it in print. I've never read Virginia Woolf, and I don't know whether to kick myself for waiting so long, or pat myself on the back for still having her t...more " add a comment
	12/27 Tim gave to: Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic (Paperback) by Tom Holland bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating:
	read in December, 2007 Tim said: "I've long been fascinated with parallels between the late Roman Republic and contemporary America. This is a great refresher on the history. I've just started it, and it's a really engaging read. The parallels between Rome's "pirate...more " add a comment

Tim's recent updates (rss)

October 06

Tim gave

to:
The Last of the Mohicans (Kindle Edition)
by James Fenimore Cooper

my rating:

read in October, 2009

Tim said: "I first read this book when I was a boy, and decided to re-read it to see how it held up. The answer: very well.

In fact, I'd say that this book is a "must-read" for any American. Despite the fact that it's in no-way an accurat...more I first read this book when I was a boy, and decided to re-read it to see how it held up. The answer: very well.

In fact, I'd say that this book is a "must-read" for any American. Despite the fact that it's in no-way an accurate depiction of native American culture, it's a great reminder of what our landscape was like when our country was young. (If you're from California, Two Years Before the Mast performs a similar function.) Written in 1826, it was already 75 years past the events depicted in the story, but upstate New York was still in places very wild. Reading this book, I had a keen sense of what America was once like to the Europeans who were working so hard to turn the wilderness into the kind of world with which they were familiar.

Also fascinating is the book's struggle with racism. Hawkeye keeps referring to himself as being "without a cross." I thought he was referring to some kind of non-Christian deism until late in the book, when I realized it was his way of saying he was of "pure" white blood, despite living with and like the Indians. In this way, the book reminded me a bit of Trollope's Can You Forgive Her, a book that still has the sensibilities of its time, but is struggling to transcend them. As Trollope could see that there was a way of thinking about the rights of women that he couldn't quite support, Cooper sees that there is something special in the ways of the native American, even as he condescends to it.

Yes, the characters are cartoons (apart from Hawkeye, who has a strong "through line"), the plot is sentimental, and the view of native American culture is stereotypical, but there's still a lot here. After all, the point of a book like this isn't its realism, but its ability to mirror the mindset of a time, as experienced by the author and his readers. There is enormous value in a chronicle like this precisely because it shows the prejudices and attitudes and knowledge of its day.

The writing is far better than in The Deerslayer, which I also re-read recently, even though the Deerslayer was written 25 years later (though the events in it take place earlier.) In places, the writing is quite lovely. It's a paean to the glories of early America.

This is also a great, though understated, love story, a story of a love that cannot be accepted by white society.

But most of all, this book is a reminder of the tragedy of America's settlement, that in building our "new world", we destroyed the old world we came to. The image of Chingachgook, last of his tribe, is poignant and powerful. Every American should remember, feel sorrow, and responsibility to make something good to replace what we destroyed.

(less) "

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Tim took the Never-Ending Book Quiz.

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Tim gave

to:
The Lost Symbol (Robert Langdon, #3)
by Dan Brown

my rating:

read in September, 2009

Tim said: "Worth reading for its tour of the Masonic symbolism all over Washington DC, but as a thriller: not. Formulaic, weak writing, weak characters, idiot plot (defined by Roger Ebert as a plot that only works as long as all the characters act like idiots)....more "

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September 12

Tim gave

to:
Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto (Hardcover)
by Stewart Brand

my rating:

read in September, 2009

Tim said: "This book is a tour-de-force of persuasion, using the urgency of climate change to re-examine environmental orthodoxy. Stewart's conclusion: there is no “natural.” Cities are green, nuclear power is green, genetically modified crops are green. ...more "

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September 08

Tim gave

to:
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Paperback)
by Stephen R. Covey

my rating:

read in January, 1998

Tim said: "Good review of why virtue matters in business.

I hated Covey's definition of a habit, since Aristotle's is so good, but overall, pretty good for a business book. "

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Tim gave

to:
The SPEED of Trust : The One Thing that Changes Everything (Audio CD)
by Stephen M.R. Covey

my rating:

read in September, 2009

Tim said: "The bulk of this short book might be characterized as "moral philosophy 101." It will be informative for moral imbeciles and those (many, by the measure of apparent business ethics) who don't believe that personal and business ethics have ...more The bulk of this short book might be characterized as "moral philosophy 101." It will be informative for moral imbeciles and those (many, by the measure of apparent business ethics) who don't believe that personal and business ethics have any connection. It's a basic outline of how to extend and create trust, and how to reciprocate when you receive it. Formulaic pop psychology.

The value of the book for me was in the first chapter. It makes the case for trust as a business value, that high trust increases speed and decreases cost. Covey gives the example of the acquisition of a $20 billion dollar business from Walmart by Warren Buffett, done in a two hour meeting, and with complete legal approval in less than a month, as a demonstration of just what a difference trust can make. On the reverse side, he points out the increased cost and inconvenience of air travel since 9/11 as an object lesson in the costs and penalties of reduced trust.

I remember when we started O'Reilly's publishing business. We would take orders on the phone, tell people to send us a check, and send out the books immediately, without waiting to receive payment. We did get stiffed a few times, but overall, it was a good plan.

Today, we offer our ebooks without DRM for the same reason: we trust our users not to screw us. It's good business.

Interestingly, I first heard about this book from Dave Wennergren, the CIO of the Department of Defense. It's an idea that really resonates here for government, and it's one that I've been passing on in my talks about gov 2.0.

In that regard, there's a great quote about Craigslist in the latest issue of Wired:

“If most people are good and their needs are simple, all you have to do to serve them well is build a minimal infrastructure allowing them to get together and work things out for themselves. Any additional features are almost certainly superfluous and could even be damaging.”
--Gary Wolf, Wired Magazine, Sept 2009

Even though I gave this book only three stars, it's worth reading for the first chapter.(less) "

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Tim gave

to:
The Twitter Book (Paperback)
by Tim O'Reilly (Goodreads author)

my rating:

Tim said: "I co-authored this book, so I'm biased, but I think we did a great job on putting together a quick read that teaches a whole lot, quickly, and does a decent job of spanning the range from novices to experienced users. "

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September 01

Tim gave

to:
Les Miserables (photoplay edition)
by Victor Hugo

my rating:

read in January, 1995

Tim said: "This is one of my all-time favorite books. I love the richness of the story, the grandness and generosity of the sentiments, and the deep human insight. I find this old translation to be just lovely. I can open it to many a page and just read, like...more "

1 comment

August 31

Tim gave

to:
The Outlaw of Iceland (Hardcover)
by Victor Hugo

my rating:

read in August, 2009

Tim said: "Robert Bly once said of a poem by Wallace Stevens that "it was as bad a poem as it is possible for a genius to write." I thought of that when reading this book. After Les Miserables and Notre Dame de Paris, it's hard to imagine that this wo...more "

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August 27

Tim gave

to:
Lord of Light (Paperback)
by Roger Zelazny

my rating:

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quotes by Tim O'Reilly

"The nice thing about twitter is the architecture of visibility. Email is invisible unless you reach out to someone directly. With Twitter, anyone can follow you and this is one of the big changes that was really introduced by Flickr, was this wonderful idea that you can follow somebody without their permission. Recognizing that relationships are asymmetrical, unlike facebook where we have to acknowledge each other otherwise we can’t see each other."
— Tim O'Reilly

tags: internet, technology

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