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Summary: quick and easy, linus is an interesting guy.
Review: i am not even a huge linux guy, just read it to pass the wretched time. funny, interesting, a breeze to read. linus may turn out to really have a huge influence on technology as linux spreads like wildfire. if you like linux or even if you are just bored like me, go ahead and read it.
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Summary: A Must Read For Techies and Penguin Lovers....
Review: Linus didn't set out to write an operating system. He never thought of ousting Microsoft. Heck, he never thought he'll be famous. This is a true story of the making of your run-of-the-mill truly lazy geek into the Bill Gates nemesis. What I thought the best part was that I, as a techie at heart, identified with lots of his motivations and rational/motivation behind his decisions. After reading the book, I was really happy that I'm not alone.
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Summary: It really is fun.. and interesting
Review: I thought this book was a great insight to the views and development of open source, where its headed, where it is, and what attitude to take torwards it. Linus makes the book fun with interesting and fun comments the whole way through.. some knowledge of open-source and understanding of computers make this an exceptional book.. but a good read for anyone
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Summary: Another book fizzles in California hot tub steam
Review: alas, Torvalds would have to fall for his ghost writer's penchant for boogie boarding and hot tubbing and not knuckle down to put at least a few 'serious' hours into hacking this book. too bad he didn't treat it as seriously as he treats the code he writes. Perhaps this book is a lesson in why there is such software engineering innovation coming out of northern europe these days, and less from california. the bits about Torvald's philosophy of 'fun' are really pretty embarassing, and one wonders if he excused himself totally from any literature and philosophy classes in school. oh well, at least he is truly home now, in the land where everyone is dedicated to amusing themselves to death.
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Summary: Please leave David Diamond's part out in the reprint
Review: This is one of the loveliest books on the myth of programming. While reading it I unconsiously also started a programming project that I had planned for many months.
The parts at the start and in between bij David Diamond can be left out as far as I'm concerned. After reading a few of them, I started skipping them to get more of Linus's text.
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Summary: must read
Review: this book has been one the best books i have ever read. it took me exactly where Linus had gone and I could see what he has been thorugh. Since i read the book, i admire his work more than ever.
Rating: 
Summary: Surely there's more
Review: I have to agree with the less flattering reviews. A well thought out search of some newsgroup and mailing list archives would yield pretty much the same or comparable results. Not that this book is wihtout value - it just would make more sense as an inexpensive paperback to read as a collection of anecdotes while on smoke breaks or something. Sadder still, I've seen enough Linus interviews, public speaking engagements, etc to believe he is a charming and genuinely interesting character, easily capable of populating 6 or 700 pages of a "Memoirs so far..." sort of thing with worthwhile reading.
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Summary: Looks Like a Penguin!
Review: This book is in fact the "bio" of Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, an operating system (OS) that has been described as an "alternative" to Windows for PC users. In it, Linus describes his early years, how he mostly loved to play with computers, spending hours and hours on an old Commodore, and then a Sinclair PC, and so forth. After saving up to buy a better PC, he describes how he tried to install Minix, a form of the Unix OS on his machine and ran into so many frustrations he decided to create his own OS, which eventually became Linux. He describes that process, as well as his "flame war" over the Internet that he encountered with Andrew Tannenbaum, the Minix creator. Another thing I noticed from this book is how Linus doesn't look at himself as any kind of "hero" or "amazing person" just because he created something so many computer folk use as their OS of choice. Essentially, Linus comes off for the most part as just another average guy, even if this "average guy" created something quite amazing and became the most famous example of "Open Source software." Interesting story from the "Linux creator" himself, as to how Linux first came to be and what it is today, as well as about the man himself.
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Summary: can i get my money back ?
Review: If you are a Linux user then you probably know everything in this book. very shallow and Linus spends the first part of the book talking how poor he is and the second part about how rich he is. he meets his wife and he goes from meeting to moving in w/ her in a paragraph, meetings w/ computer greats take one or two sentances. no insights and behind the scenes talk from the Linux world. does he like Alan Cox ? Caldera ? what about the new kernal ? why did he release it when he did ? was the work too much for him ? all in all very dissapointed in Linus for putting out such a poor book.
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Summary: Good biography and look at the open source movement
Review: I thought this book was both a good biography and a good look at the "open source movement". How can you not like the story of Linus Torvalds who is not trying to do anything great or get rich or achieve fame. He just wanted some better software. His curiousity about low level programming and desire to build something better led him to create Linux. His desire to have others help him build better software led him to give it away free. But he is no rigid idealist either. He enjoys the money that he will make later and buys a nice house and toys (e.g., BMW Z3). His guiding principle is just to have fun. How can you not like the guy? Also the book gives a good look at the "open source movement". It provides some insight into how and why "hackers" are motivated to work on projects that don't directly lead to paychecks. The book does this without being fanatical about open source.
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