OT: best book in years

[Alan James Salmoni]

Hi Patrick,

"When wizards stay up late" (Hafner & Lyon) - about the "birth" of the
internet and the people around it. I managed to read it twice in a
couple of months, and it describes a bit of computing history that has
had a profound effect on all of us. Call this extremely geeky, but I
love the idea of tinkering around with the old machines described in
that book. I'll have to search for a simulator when I get a spare few
hours! I found it full of detail (not too technical, but lots of
historical info), but fascinating to read, especially that J.C.R.
Licklider was a psychophysicist! :)

Or of course, "the art of computer programming" by Donald Knuth, which
is the classic text about our field. Knuth strikes me as one of the
best programmers to have existed. Anyone who can write something as
complex and useful as TeX and have as few bug reports, well, they've
got to be respected! And there are 3 volumes, so there's plenty to get
through. I must confess that I haven't read it myself (again, so
little time), but it's supposed to be one of the seminal texts, and I
must get around to it...

Hope your hospital stay isn't too long!

Alan James Salmoni
SalStat Statistics
http://salstat.sunsite.dk

Patrick Useldinger <p.useldinger at myrealbox.com> wrote in message news:<opruzmelopdd8opo at news.vo.lu>...
> Hi All,
> 
> I am going to stay in hospital for a week or so (nothing serious), and am 
> trying to find a book or two to read there. As I have not come across 
> anything spectacular recently (except Python in a Nutshell), I would like 
> to know what *you* consider to be the best book you have read in the last 
> few years, about Python or IT in general.
> 
> -Patrick