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Just For Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary
 
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Just For Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary (Paperback)

by Linus Torvalds (Author), David Diamond (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
RRP: £18.99
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Customers buy this book with I, Woz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon - Getting to the Core of Apple's Inventor by Steve Wozniak

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Product details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Texere Publishing,US; New edition edition (9 Nov 2002)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1587991519
  • ISBN-13: 978-1587991516
  • Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 419,332 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #74 in  Books > Biography > Science, Mathematics & Technology > Computers

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk 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 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.



Review

Time Magazine/Time Inc Some people are born to lead millions. Others are born to write world-changing software. Only one person does both. Torvalds. Financial Times, June 20, 2001 Linus Torvalds created Linux as a gift - and has forced us to ponder the nature of success. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating insight into the person behind Linux, 6 Jul 2001
This review is from: Just For Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary (Hardcover)
Linus turned out to be that strange combination of what you expected and what you didn't. He is certainly a geek who spent a large amount of time hidden away working at his computer. However I found his views on Open Source refreshing and his general outlook on the industry and life, to be unexpected. Following his travels from Finland to California revealed alot about why he has succeeded and how it has changed him.

Linus in certainly unlike the rest of the key figures in the computer industry and I hope that we get many more like him.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Alomost a good book, 15 Sep 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Just For Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary (Hardcover)
It's nice to hear a more personal account of Linux and Linus from the man himself, however it was badly written. There are lots of places where things have been repeated in the book (sometimes literally the same thing has been written in more than one chapter).

If they had spent more time editing the book to get it right, I would have given it four stars maybe.

If you're going to buy two open source books this year buy this one, if you are only going to buy one, make in Glyn Moody's 'Rebel Code'.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Nice but insubstantial, 15 April 2003
By Magne Bergland (Bergen, Norway) - See all my reviews
This book is partly a biography and partly the autobiography of Linus Torvalds. But it is not really detailed enough to qualify as a very good biography. (I suppose writing the life of a 32-year-old is a bit premature anyway.)

It is also partly the story of Torvalds' brainchild, the Linux operating system. Again, though, it is not really detailed enough, neither in the technical description of Linux' birth and growth nor in the discussion of the system's role in today's computer industry, to seem complete.

So you don't really get the full picture of the man, nor the full picture of Linux. What do you get? Well... Something about Linus' childshood and familiy, the image of a lonely hacker behind drawn curtains in a tiny Helsinki bedroom, something of Linus' thoughts about Linux; the whys, whens and (sometimes too few of these) hows, and quite lot about Linus' allegedly very prominent nose.

I didn't care very much for the first parts of this book. The switches between Linus' own account and David Diamond's narration are not very smooth. Also there is far too much of the story of the story. (I'm not really interested in what car David and Linus drove down what California highways.)

The strenght of the book is that although the autobiographical parts may leave something to be desired, they draw a sort of picture of a clever and strong-minded person, and a very nice guy thet you feel you know a little better after this read.

BTW, the book has no pictures whatsoever, not even a portrait of Linus' with his much-described nose on the cover.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice read, somewhat inspiring!
I read this book because I wanted to learn more about the history of the Linux kernel and Linus Torvalds. This is an excellent book, very easy to read and amusing. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Marquez Pablo

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful!
In Just for Fun, Linus Torvalds, the Finnish creator of the Linux operating system, mixes his personal story, told in both narrative and e-mail dispatches, with the saga of his... Read more
Published on 10 Jun 2004 by Rolf Dobelli

4.0 out of 5 stars Hacking Away in the Frozen Tundra and Silicon Valley
Summary: This book would be a totally unremarkable memoir about a man who just loves to write software code . . . Read more
Published on 8 May 2004 by Professor Donald Mitchell

4.0 out of 5 stars A Legend Life on Paper

A great book it is indeed, I haven't read any autobiographies before -- so I cannot really comment on how well it does at being one. Read more
Published on 23 Oct 2003 by Owen E. Campbell-Kelly

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny and real..
If the plethora (and I use the word knowing its negative nuance) of autobiographies of 20-year old popstars and their angst over clothes/ cars/ clubs has made you wonder about the... Read more
Published on 20 Oct 2003 by S. Yogendra

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful!
In Just for Fun, Linus Torvalds, the Finnish creator of the Linux operating system, mixes his personal story, told in both narrative and e-mail dispatches, with the saga of his... Read more
Published on 15 Oct 2003 by Rolf Dobelli

5.0 out of 5 stars The rise of optimism
This book tells us about the ordinary life of an... outstanding person. From that, it becomes easy for the reader to identify him/herself to Linus. Read more
Published on 7 Aug 2002 by Denis Arnaud

5.0 out of 5 stars It makes you happy!
I read finnish translation of this book and it made me realy happy, this is best book in the whole world. Read more
Published on 1 Feb 2002 by pkoistin@cs.hit.fi

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