Unix: A History and a Memoir, by Brian Kernighan

#1

Post by f2f » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 2:30 AM UTC

Unix: A History and a Memoir, by Brian Kernighan
cs.princeton.edu

Re: Unix: A History and a Memoir, by Brian Kernighan

#2

Post by f2f » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 2:58 AM UTC

Currently #1 in "Best Sellers in Computing Industry History" on amazon, which is somewhat of a weird category :)

Re: Unix: A History and a Memoir, by Brian Kernighan

#3

Post by vymague » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 3:10 AM UTC

Probably not true. But it's fun to imagine that even Brian Kernighan were not able to find a publisher, and needed to resort to self-publishing.

Re: Unix: A History and a Memoir, by Brian Kernighan

#4

Post by tomhoward » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 3:10 AM UTC

f2f wrote: post #2

Currently #1 in "Best Sellers in Computing Industry History" on amazon, which is somewhat of a weird category :)

It's almost as if the more "best seller" lists there are, the more authors will make efforts to get onto them :)

Re: Unix: A History and a Memoir, by Brian Kernighan

#5

Post by Myrmornis » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 3:12 AM UTC

Anyone able to comment on his recent non-programming-language books? For example, how's "Understanding The Digital World"?

http://kernighan.com/udw.html

Re: Unix: A History and a Memoir, by Brian Kernighan

#6

Post by sritchie » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 3:16 AM UTC

vymague wrote: post #3

Probably not true. But it's fun to imagine that even Brian Kernighan were not able to find a publisher, and needed to resort to self-publishing.

I can report that this is not true in this case - Brian wrote his book over the summer and, I think, wanted to get it out for the Unix 50 event at Bell Labs this past week.

Re: Unix: A History and a Memoir, by Brian Kernighan

#7

Post by Aloha » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 3:18 AM UTC

I bought the book, and read it, enjoying it greatly.

Amusingly, Alexa notified me when it arrived, and the notification was "Your purchase UNIX has arrived."

Re: Unix: A History and a Memoir, by Brian Kernighan

#8

Post by iamjk » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 3:21 AM UTC

You'd think he would have found someone to design a nicer cover for him.

Re: Unix: A History and a Memoir, by Brian Kernighan

#9

Post by gorgoiler » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 3:26 AM UTC

iamjk wrote: post #8

You'd think he would have found someone to design a nicer cover for him.

A utilitarian hack seems apt for the subject material.

Re: Unix: A History and a Memoir, by Brian Kernighan

#10

Post by unlinked_dll » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 3:30 AM UTC

I find a lot of books on subjects I'm interested in are quite dry. Is this a departure from that? I'd like something I'd enjoy, and something I can buy as a gift for some family members who enjoy nonfiction on topics they aren't necessarily versed in.