<![CDATA[Hackers and Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age]]>

false <![CDATA[Hackers and Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1169755441m/41793.jpg 41793 2 "The computer world is like an intellectual Wild West, in which you can shoot anyone you wish with your ideas, if you're willing to risk the consequences. " --from Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age, by Paul Graham We are living in the computer age, in a world increasingly designed and engineered by computer programmers and software designers, by people who call themselves hackers. Who are these people, what motivates them, and why should you care? Consider these facts: Everything around us is turning into computers. Your typewriter is gone, replaced by a computer. Your phone has turned into a computer. So has your camera. Soon your TV will. Your car was not only designed on computers, but has more processing power in it than a room-sized mainframe did in 1970. Letters, encyclopedias, newspapers, and even your local store are being replaced by the Internet. Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age, by Paul Graham, explains this world and the motivations of the people who occupy it. In clear, thoughtful prose that draws on illuminating historical examples, Graham takes readers on an unflinching exploration into what he calls "an intellectual Wild West." The ideas discussed in this book will have a powerful and lasting impact on how we think, how we work, how we develop technology, and how we live. Topics include the importance of beauty in software design, how to make wealth, heresy and free speech, the programming language renaissance, the open-source movement, digital design, internet startups, and more. And here's a taste of what you'll find in Hackers & Painters: "In most fields the great work is done early on. The paintings made between 1430 and 1500 are still unsurpassed. Shakespeare appeared just as professional theater was being born, and pushed the medium so far that every playwright since has had to live in his shadow. Albrecht Durer did the same thing with engraving, and Jane Austen with the novel. Over and over we see the same pattern. A new medium appears, and people are so excited about it that they explore most of its possibilities in the first couple generations. Hacking seems to be in this phase now. Painting was not, in Leonardo's time, as cool as his work helped make it. How cool hacking turns out to be will depend on what we can do with this new medium." Andy Hertzfeld, co-creator of the Macintosh computer, says about Hackers & Painters: "Paul Graham is a hacker, painter and a terrific writer. His lucid, humorous prose is brimming with contrarian insight and practical wisdom on writing great code at the intersection of art, science and commerce." Paul Graham, designer of the new Arc language, was the creator of Yahoo Store, the first web-based application. In addition to his PhD in Computer Science from Harvard, Graham also studied painting at the Rhode Island School of Design and the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence. 41309 18 5 2004 Hackers and Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age total:219|5:82|4:91|3:34|2:10|1:2| 219 898 391 28 2 0 false false Mon Jan 05 17:40:58 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 05 18:00:57 -0800 2009
Graham is at his best when he sticks to what he knows: programming and business technol...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Dec 27 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 09 19:46:15 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 09 19:51:50 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Nov 04 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 04 01:55:50 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 04 01:57:15 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Fri Aug 10 14:13:09 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 27 12:59:33 -0700 2007 Hackers and Painters is a collection of Paul Graham's essays, which are all available online. The essays pontificate on a wide range of subjects, among them: business, technology, nerds, art, money, and heresy.

Graham created Viaweb, which was bought by Yahoo and now lives as Yahoo Sto...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Sat Feb 28 14:05:47 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 28 14:06:37 -0800 2009
A little boring, far from a page turner, but otherwise entertaining book that let you rethink that nerds are a creative species but that creative people aren't necessarily nerds. Programming goes beyond a profession, it is a devotion.
]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jan 15 09:18:50 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 15 09:20:19 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Thu Apr 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Tue Apr 10 06:57:41 -0700 2007 Tue Apr 10 07:05:25 -0700 2007
It is a good book and you should read it. It really goes deserve 5 stars but I am not going to do it. Not because of the book, but because I'm [old and] stubborn.

I'm alw...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Fri Apr 24 12:41:45 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 24 12:42:38 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Tue Jun 23 09:18:31 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 23 09:19:23 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Oct 04 10:58:46 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 04 10:58:46 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Apr 03 01:43:41 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 03 01:44:32 -0700 2009 blog Paul Graham]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jul 09 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Sep 17 13:20:32 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 17 13:23:50 -0700 2009 1 0 false false Sat Dec 29 20:40:20 -0800 2007 Sun Aug 10 21:35:41 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue May 29 13:30:04 -0700 2007 Thu Sep 13 10:07:13 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Aug 15 11:27:59 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 15 11:28:24 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Fri Mar 28 03:14:15 -0700 2008 Fri Mar 28 03:16:27 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Jun 10 14:18:13 -0700 2007 Sun Jun 10 14:23:40 -0700 2007 3 0 false false Fri Aug 15 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 14 23:16:09 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 14 23:20:22 -0700 2008 5 0 true false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 01 19:15:08 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 01 19:51:11 -0700 2007 3 0 false false Sat Jul 21 20:15:48 -0700 2007 Sat Jul 21 20:16:58 -0700 2007 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=41793