Items related to Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary
Synopsis
This is the story of Linus Torvalds, the maverick Finnish computer genius who invented the powerful LINUX operating system. As well as being free, LINUX is more powerful and stable than anything that Microsoft can offer, thus making Torvalds Bill Gates' number one enemy. Today, LINUX is exploding on to the market, and its creator is household. Linus Torvalds is already a folk hero within the technolgy world, often mobbed at trade shows and forever asked to give interviews by the media. But Torvalds is a most unlikely celebrity: a family man, he lives in a cramped house in Santa Clara with his wife, Tove, a Finnish karate champion, and their two daughters. He claims to this day that he invented LINUX "just for fun".
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Review
Linus Torvalds wrote the Linux kernel but Just For Fun could refer to writing the book. It isn't about Linux, it's about Linus. Here he tells us about his childhood, his time at Helsinki University, his marriage to six times karate champion Tove, about his children and about his attitude to life.
He comes across as a nice guy who, until Linux made him a celebrity, interacted with the world only tangentially. This could be in part a response to his frankly weird early home life in Finland.
David Diamond (of Red Herring magazine) acts as editor while Linus tells it like it is. But while Linus appears open, the story he tells is polished. As Liberace used to say when asked why people liked his take on the classics, "I leave out the boring bits". His four years in a darkened room with a computer as a boy may not have made gripping reading for everyone.
Linus is probably brilliant, but it's obsessive hard work, alone behind closed curtains, which enabled him to create Linux. One of the most interesting aspects of his story is how success--in his marriage and the wider world--has changed him. If we're to believe his own words his wife and children together with a Californian lifestyle are now his chief source of fun.
Linus Torvalds will one day rate an academic biography. In the meantime, the message here is that one route to personal fulfilment is doing what you want to do, as well as you can, for your own reasons--even just for fun. --Steve Patient
Review
...a funny and readable book. Torvalds has charm and a low-key, selfdeprecating wit. -- New Scientist, 5 May 2001
...one of the most valuable volumes about IT that will go on sale this year and one of the most readable -- IT Week
A gripping read on the whole which is easy on the 'technical eye' and full of good, solid information. -- M2 Best Books, September 11, 2001
Linus Torvalds created Linux as a gift - and has forced us to ponder the nature of success. -- Financial Times, June 20, 2001
Linus Torvalds is a lot like Bill Gates...both are about the same height. -- USA Today
The book is a playful, witty and rather touching account of his progress.... -- Linuxuser, July - August 2001
[Linus Torvalds]chronicles his transformation from pale, skinny college kid to international folk hero. -- The Southern Daily Echo, 16 May 2001
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherTexere Publishing
- Publication date2001
- ISBN 10 1587990806
- ISBN 13 9781587990809
- BindingPaperback
- LanguageEnglish
- Edition number1
- Number of pages288
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Just for Fun : The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary
Published by
Texere, New York/London, 2002
ISBN 10: 1587990806
ISBN 13: 9781587990809
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: By The Lake Books, Burlington, ON, Canada
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Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. Unmarked copy in unclipped dust jacket now protected in mylar. Seller Inventory # 003841
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Just for Fun; The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary
Published by
TEXERE, London, 2001
ISBN 10: 1587990806
ISBN 13: 9781587990809
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Signed
Seller: Ground Zero Books, Ltd., Silver Spring, MD, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Very good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very good. First Printing [Stated]. xxii, 262, [4] pages. Index. Inscribed to Betty by Linus Torvalds on 24.8.2001 on the half title page. Includes note as to how the autograph was obtained in Helsinki. Includes Introduction, Acknowledgments, Preface, and Index. Topics include Birth of a Nerd; Birth of an Operating System; King of the Ball; and Index. Linus Torvalds never intentionally sought fame and fortune, yet fame and fortune found him when he radically changed the world of technology for one selfish reason--He did it just for fun. Part autobiography and part business philosophy, Just for Fun brims with biographical detail about the radical spirit and creativity of Linus Torvalds. It offers a unique glimpse into the mind of an accidental revolutionary and how the altruistic creation of LINUX flourished so successfully in the open source movement. Linus Benedict Torvalds (born 28 December 1969) is a Finnish-American software engineer who is the creator and, historically, the principal developer of the Linux kernel, used by Linux distributions and other operating systems such as Android and Chrome OS. He also created the distributed revision control system Git and the scuba dive logging and planning software Subsurface. He was honored, along with Shinya Yamanaka, with the 2012 Millennium Technology Prize by the Technology Academy Finland "in recognition of his creation of a new open source operating system for computers leading to the widely used Linux kernel." He is also the recipient of the 2014 IEEE Computer Society Computer Pioneer Award. David Diamond is an American journalist known for his work at New York Times. "I was a nerd. Geek. From fairly early on. I didn't duct-tape my glasses together, but I might as well have, because I had all the other traits. Good at math, good at physics, and with no social graces whatsoever. And this was before being a nerd was considered to be a good thing." In this witty and engrossing narrative, Linus Torvalds, the brilliant mastermind behind the latest Internet revolution, in collaboration with writer David Diamond, chronicles his transformation from a pale, skinny Helsinki college kid to an international folk hero. What began as a childhood hobby soon became the astonishing phenomenon known as the LINUX operating system. LINUX was created because Linus was curious to see if he could improve upon the operating systems already out there, such as UNIX. How could he create a system that could run all of his favorite software with fewer crashes and faster productivity? Linus posted his early versions of LINUX on the Internet and called upon the most brilliant minds in computer science to enhance his system. What happened next took the world by storm. Linus wasn't the first to use the power of the open source movement, but the excitement he generated when he offered his system to the world was unprecedented. What made LINUX revolutionary was its journey to become the marvel it is today -- and how the system grew from the meeting of thousands of minds around the world. Suddenly, Linus's creation was available for everyone to use, for free! Anyone could improve LINUX at whim. No monopolies, no trade secrets, no whispering behind closed doors. LINUX wasn't controlled by a select few -- this remarkable creation was accessible to absolutely anyone -- and still is. The LINUX system is still constantly evolving and improving every day a decade after its inception. Linus describes the history of LINUX in graspable terms and details how the system itself works, without lapsing into mindboggling technical jargon. For general readers, Torvalds spins a witty tale of his fascinating life. Here is the story of a young man who, as a still-rising star, keeps his feet on the ground through a combination of self-deprecating humor and the realization that life is simply about having a good time. Linus's narrative teems with clever anecdotes and his captivating opinions on the future of competition in the computer world. Linus even reveals hi. Seller Inventory # 81843
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