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Liked It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “A great collection of essays. He had me from chapter 1, "Why Nerds Are Unpopular," and continued to entertain and enlighten most of the way. A few chapters were laborious, but on the whole I heartily recommend.” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“Fantastic book; everyone should read the first chapter.”
Dustin H wrote this review Tuesday, November 10 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Good and sane reading for a SW engineer. Would be even better if the author were a bit less full of himself.”
Guy B wrote this review Thursday, October 8 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Full of wisdom and practicality. Paul is brilliant as a technical thinker that crosses over into areas of philosophy, even though I prefer his non-technical essays.”
Alex J. Mann wrote this review Wednesday, September 2 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“The first chapter reminded me a great deal of "Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers", with similar references to "Lord of the Flies" and the peer connected world of High Schoolers. Subsequent chapters (i.e. 2-5) are reminiscent of "Do It Wrong Quickly: How the Web Changes the Old Marketing Rules" where Paul Graham draws on his experience as a developer of server based services software for web-based stores to highlight the efficiencies of server-based sofware compared to desktop client-based software.
Banana King wrote this review Thursday, July 23 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
As a fellow nerd/hacker I haven't read much I disagree with, although there sure is a flood of books that only highlight the good aspects of server-based software and not the potential downsides (e.g. relinquishing control of your physical data to a 3rd party, establishing dependencies on companies/services that might disappear tomorrow and leave you high and dry, and losing data due to telecommunication faults or server timeouts while you take a coffee break). I would title this book "The world according to Paul Graham and how I succeeded in starting ViaWeb so that it was bought my Yahoo." He is a very straight shooter, so reading this book got some ideas into my head.”
0 of 65535 members found this review helpful“Paul Graham tells the inside story. He seems to have much experience with running a startup and creating cool software. The comparison of hacking with painting is very interesting and insightful.
Makkes wrote this review Monday, May 12 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
You don't have to read the whole book since every chapter is an independent essay about things like how to create wealth or why nerds are so unpopular.
I always believed that hacking was an art but Graham backs this statement with insightful proof.
Only downer: Paul Graham talks a bit too much about how cool and innovative he and his work is and how uncool the other's are. If you can live with that (or just ignore the author's profiling attempts) the book is real fun to read.”“Thumbs up goes to Paul Graham for Hackers & Painters. He's a hacker and a painter, and although most of his essays printed in the book are available online, I really recommend buying this book.”
Dániel M wrote this review Sunday, July 27 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“how can downlowd this book?”
yamen l wrote this review Thursday, May 29 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“If you like Graham's online writing, then you will enjoy this compilation of essays.”
bencasnocha wrote this review Monday, February 4 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
