Rating: 
Summary: Funny, Frank, and Very Open
Review: Linus Torvalds does a great job of setting the record straight in his account of his life and the development of Linux. With wit, charm, and grace, not usually associated with programmers, he explains his vision in a no holds barred manner. I agreed with most of his insights (even if I do have two Macs and I still haven't loaded Linux on my Sony VAIO desktop), and I look forward to what the future has in store.
Rating:
Summary: Very interesting and amusing, a great book
Review: I bought this book Wednesday night (May 9) and had finished reading it by Friday morning; I stayed up until the early hours of Friday reading because I couldn't put it down. The book is highly entertaining and thought provoking. It begins with Linus' thoughts on the meaning of life and ends with an elaboration of his thoughts on the subject. Between these two bookends, Linus discusses such things as life in Finland, coming to the United States, developing the Linux kernel, and the future of Open Source and Free Software. As the book progresses, it focusses less on Linus' life and more on Linux and Open Source. Linus is very witty and entertaining and he makes you enjoy reading about his life. David Diamond also discusses what it is like to be around Linus and even interviews Linus' mother and sister in Finland. I highly recommend this book both for people who are already interested in Linux, and also for those who are just wondering what Linux and Open Source are all about. If you weren't excited about Linux before, you will be after reading this book.
Rating: 
Summary: It's OK, but nothing new
Review: I read the excellent "Rebel Code" and thought that reading "Just for Fun" would be a nice idea, to know more about Linux and its author through his own words. The problem is that Linus and the journalist who helped him failed to make the book interesting, so it becomes a sequence of chapters like "yeah I needed a new driver for my modem, so...well I did it"In one page he's doing Linux version 0.01 alone in his bedroom in Helsinki, 15 pages later he's talking about having 10 million users, and leaves no clue HOW it happened, or who was involved (guys like Dave Miller and Alan Cox, so important to the Linux community, didn't get one single mention) So if you want to really understand not only WHAT happened but HOW it happened, I recommend "Rebel Code" instead. And it covers not only Linux, but the whole open-source movement.
Rating: 
Summary: Light But Interesting Read
Review: Well the title was right. The book is "Just for Fun". It is a lighthearted look at Linus' short life so far. Sharing both
his Finnish heritage (and experiences in Finland) as well as well as his Silicon Valley life I found some connection to his
experiences. I laughed at his frank description of the lack of any life in San Jose. Although his childhood and adolescent
experiences in dealing with his geekiness was amusing they were just a bit much. If was a bit surprising that the author was
has written for Red Herring magazine was a little light on the technical side of things.
Two things spoke to me however. His personal observations on the Open Source Movement versus commercial software development; and his detailed account of why work has to be fun.
He talks about how work climbs the evolutionary latter from being neccasary for survival, to the need to be a part of a greater social cause and then just for plain fun. The three part evolutionary process helps to explain how dedicated hackers
help to create Linux while not directly benefiting financially.
The most interesting discussion I took from this book however was his opinions on the Open Source versus the Commercial software industry (Redmond, Washington). He gives some great examples of the US market for cell phones compared with Europe. He states that because the Europeans cooperated on an agreement on standards first this led to levels of innovation far greater than that experienced here. I also found his example of the music industry compelling. His claim is that the MP3 standard (as well as file swapping services) started in reaction to the user UN-friendly policies of the music industry of pushing one hit song CDs down the consumers throat. To get around buying a CD with only one or two songs that are worth hearing, consumers have circumvented the system by swapping only those one or two songs that are any good.
A light read with some interesting insights. If you want to read more about the Open Source Movement however there are books out there which present it in greater detail.
Rating:
Summary: Funny reading.
Review: This book is exactly what I expected it to be.
Linus don't give us a detailed explanation on why he did things this way but frankly, this is not an error for a book of this category.This book is an auto biografy, not a kernel hacker's book.
Reading this book you will feel how the Torvald's life is going on.
It's true. Reading this you will undertand Torvalds is tired about Linux.Yes. Linux is now a job, no more an hobby. Linux is responsability.With great surprise you'll discover that Torvalds has nothing against Microsoft. This book is fun. I like the Tovald's way of writing. Very informal. I read this book three times and I consider it one of the best autobiographies I ever read.Higly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: More details needed. Expected more, but interesting.
Review: I picked this up to read during a 10-hour plane ride. Having been using both Linux and FreeBSD for my business, this book struck my interest.
I'm not really even sure what this book is supposed to be or who the intended audience is. The book is dumbed down and details are skimmed over, which is frustrating for any Linux user. Only a Linux user would want to read this anyway and they would want a technical book.
Most of the book is written by Linus. While the history of his life is interesting, the lack of details and technical know-how is left out. I was hoping for more under-the-hood details and OS vs OS discussion. Instead of the "my way is better", I was hoping for more of a discussion on architecture views. Clearly, other OS authors don't think they are writing anything less than their best either.
Sadly, Linus seems to have lost the passion for his OS. I was expecting an uplifting sales pitch or a "we will do anything in our power to make Linux the best it can be". Instead you are faced with him stating that he doesn't know what the future will bring. That is a bit scary coming from the one that controls the kernel. Money has clearly gone to his head. There is nothing wrong with money, just the attitude that usually comes along with it.
Linus seems to use this book as a means for venting. Bashing everything to other operating systems (normally with no argument to back it up) to root beer. Hey, I like root beer! The venting includes some big names in the industry some of whom he walked out on.
Other important open source contributors and biggest names in Linux development are left out. The open source movement happened because a lot of people worked together, not just on this project but many other important ones such as X, Perl, Apache, KDE, Gnome, etc, etc.
The co-author really makes the book frustrating. Extra chapters a sprinkled in with recaps of visits with Linus. He follows him around like a lost puppy and observes him as a comic book hero. Instead of adding anything to the story of Linux, he only sheds light on visits, observations, and family details. To make matters worse, the guy uses a MAC. Why is this guy writing the book?
Highlights include a bit more background on Linus's personal life, a rapidly skipped-over timeline of Linux OS, his Finnish-to-America transition, some details on Java, and some interesting takes on the open-source movement.
Frustrations include Linus's constant complaining, lack of technical detail, poor co-author that doesn't use or know anything about Linux, unnecessary opinions about the meaning of life among other things, and lack of passion for Linux.
This book could have been so much better, but it is still worth reading if these topics interest you.
Linus, you are a good guy but you aren't my hero.
Rating: 
Summary: Good capuccino, excellent operating system
Review: I had the recent pleasure of meeting Linus Torvalds and he does indeed make a mean capuccino. In fact he's a pretty shy, unassuming host. Hard to get him to talk unless you ask him about some of the latest kernel bugs. Doesn't really understand or care too much about what's going on in "user space." You wouldn't think he's the guy who would lead an open source revolution. And that's precisely why he is able to do it. You're probably already familiar with his story: Nice guy Finnish college student works in his closet sized apartment for a few years, writes an operating system, gives it away free and in the process gets more market share than Unix, Macintosh and OS/2 combined. But make no mistakes, Linus is not some kind of rabid anti-commercial software communist. He's a just a very talented and diligent programmer who is doing this for fun. Not for money, not for fame. Ok, maybe a bit of fame. And a few stuffed penguins. And a BMW. Nonetheless, it's an interesting story and in many ways a nice contrast with the usual egotistical biographies of Silicon Valley technologists.
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