books tagged “geek”

books tagged “geek”

›
› Find signed collectible books by ''

English

  • American Gods
    by Neil Gaiman
    ISBN 1594970998 (1-59497-099-8)
    Hardcover, Public Square Books

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'American Gods'
    Book summary:

    Nota: En los titulos y nombres de autores, los marcos ortograficos han sido omitidos para facilitar las busquedas de Internet.

    La vida en la cárcel es dura. Pero siempre queda un rayo de esperanza si sabes que, a la salida, te espera una mujer que te ama, un amigo que te quiere, un trabajo que adoras. . .Todo eso es lo que quiere Sombra, que está a punto de salir de la cárcel. . .Pero un día le comunican que su mujer y su mejor amigo han muerto en un accidente de coche. Entonces, contratado por un extraño anciano experto en timos y estafas que responde al nombre de Wednesday, Sombra empieza un interminable viaje a lo largo y ancho de América, perseguido por el espíritu de su esposa, en el que descubre el límite entre lo humano y los divino, y que las reglas que rigen el mundo de los hombres no son las mismas con las que lose dioses conducen el mundo.

    Neil Gaiman vuelve con American Gods a dar lo major de sí mismo y crea una historia en la que dioses y héroes se dan la mano, en la que el destino de la misma alma de Norteamérica está en juego. Con American Gods, Neil Gaiman se ha consagrado como uno autores de terror más importantes del panorama internacional, se ha colocado en los primeros puestos de las listas de los más vendidos de todo el mundo y ha ganado el premio Hugo a Mejor Novela de Ciencia Ficción y el premio Stoker a Mejor Novela de Terror.

    Amazon.com's Best of 2001 American Gods is Neil Gaiman's best and most ambitious novel yet, a scary, strange, and hallucinogenic road-trip story wrapped around a deep examination of the American spirit. Gaiman tackles everything from the onslaught of the information age to the meaning of death, but he doesn't sacrifice the razor-sharp plotting and narrative style he's been delivering since his Sandman days.

    Shadow gets out of prison early when his wife is killed in a car crash. At a loss, he takes up with a mysterious character called Wednesday, who is much more than he appears. In fact, Wednesday is an old god, once known as Odin the All-father, who is roaming America rounding up his forgotten fellows in preparation for an epic battle against the upstart deities of the Internet, credit cards, television, and all that is wired. Shadow agrees to help Wednesday, and they whirl through a psycho-spiritual storm that becomes all too real in its manifestations. For instance, Shadow's dead wife Laura keeps showing up, and not just as a ghost--the difficulty of their continuing relationship is by turns grim and darkly funny, just like the rest of the book.

    Armed only with some coin tricks and a sense of purpose, Shadow travels through, around, and underneath the visible surface of things, digging up all the powerful myths Americans brought with them in their journeys to this land as well as the ones that were already here. Shadow's road story is the heart of the novel, and it's here that Gaiman offers up the details that make this such a cinematic book--the distinctly American foods and diversions, the bizarre roadside attractions, the decrepit gods reduced to shell games and prostitution. "This is a bad land for Gods," says Shadow.

    More than a tourist in America, but not a native, Neil Gaiman offers an outside-in and inside-out perspective on the soul and spirituality of the country--our obsessions with money and power, our jumbled religious heritage and its societal outcomes, and the millennial decisions we face about what's real and what's not. --Therese Littleton --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. [via]

    More editions of American Gods:

  • The Atrocity Archives
    by Charles Stross, Ken MacLeod
    ISBN 1930846258 (1-930846-25-8)
    Hardcover, Golden Gryphon Pr

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'The Atrocity Archives'
    Book summary:

    Charles Stross takes a departure from his epic science fiction to craft this cross between Len Deightonstyle espionage and H.P. Lovecraftian horror.

    Bob Howard is a computer-hacker desk jockey, who has more than enough trouble keeping up with the endless paperwork he has to do on a daily basis. He should never be called on to do anything remotely heroic.

    But somehow, he is...

    [via]

    More editions of The Atrocity Archives:

  • Singh, Simon: The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography
    The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography
    by Simon Singh
    ISBN 0756754739 (0-7567-5473-9)
    Hardcover, Diane Pub Co

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography'

    More editions of The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography:

  • Weinman, Lynda: Coloring Web Graphics
    Coloring Web Graphics
    by Lynda Weinman, Bruce Heavin, Ali Karp
    ISBN 1562056697 (1-56205-669-7)
    Softcover, Macmillan Computer Pub

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Coloring Web Graphics'

    More editions of Coloring Web Graphics:

  • The Confusion
    by Neal Stephenson
    ISBN 0434012386 (0-434-01238-6)
    Softcover, Heinemann

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'The Confusion'

    More editions of The Confusion:

  • Count Zero
    by William Gibson
    ISBN 0441013678 (0-441-01367-8)
    Softcover, Ace Books

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Count Zero'
    Book summary:

    Turner, corporate mercenary, wakes in a reconstructed body, a beautiful woman by his side. Then Hosaka Corporation reactivates him for a mission more dangerous than the one he's recovering from: Maas-Neotek's chief of R&D is defecting. Turner is the one assigned to get him out intact, along with the biochip he's perfected. But this proves to be of supreme interest to certain other parties--some of whom aren't remotely human.

    Bobby Newmark is entirely human: a rustbelt data-hustler totally unprepared for what comes his way when the defection triggers war in cyberspace. With voodoo on the Net and a price on his head, Newmark thinks he's only trying to get out alive. A stylish, streetsmart, frighteningly probable parable of the future and sequel to Neuromancer [via]

    More editions of Count Zero:

  • Cryptonomicon
    by Neal Stephenson
    ISBN 0060512806 (0-06-051280-6)
    Softcover, Harpercollins

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Cryptonomicon'
    Book summary:

    Neal Stephenson enjoys cult status among science fiction fans and techie types thanks to Snow Crash, which so completely redefined conventional notions of the high-tech future that it became a self-fulfilling prophecy. But if his cyberpunk classic was big, Cryptonomicon is huge... gargantuan... massive, not just in size (a hefty 918 pages including appendices) but in scope and appeal. It's the hip, readable heir to Gravity's Rainbow and the Illuminatus trilogy. And it's only the first of a proposed series--for more information, read our interview with Stephenson.

    Cryptonomicon zooms all over the world, careening conspiratorially back and forth between two time periods--World War II and the present. Our 1940s heroes are the brilliant mathematician Lawrence Waterhouse, cryptanalyst extraordinaire, and gung ho, morphine-addicted marine Bobby Shaftoe. They're part of Detachment 2702, an Allied group trying to break Axis communication codes while simultaneously preventing the enemy from figuring out that their codes have been broken. Their job boils down to layer upon layer of deception. Dr. Alan Turing is also a member of 2702, and he explains the unit's strange workings to Waterhouse. "When we want to sink a convoy, we send out an observation plane first.... Of course, to observe is not its real duty--we already know exactly where the convoy is. Its real duty is to be observed.... Then, when we come round and sink them, the Germans will not find it suspicious."

    All of this secrecy resonates in the present-day story line, in which the grandchildren of the WWII heroes--inimitable programming geek Randy Waterhouse and the lovely and powerful Amy Shaftoe--team up to help create an offshore data haven in Southeast Asia and maybe uncover some gold once destined for Nazi coffers. To top off the paranoiac tone of the book, the mysterious Enoch Root, key member of Detachment 2702 and the Societas Eruditorum, pops up with an unbreakable encryption scheme left over from WWII to befuddle the 1990s protagonists with conspiratorial ties.

    Cryptonomicon is vintage Stephenson from start to finish: short on plot, but long on detail so precise it's exhausting. Every page has a math problem, a quotable in-joke, an amazing idea, or a bit of sharp prose. Cryptonomicon is also packed with truly weird characters, funky tech, and crypto--all the crypto you'll ever need, in fact, not to mention all the computer jargon of the moment. A word to the wise: if you read this book in one sitting, you may die of information overload (and starvation). --Therese Littleton [via]

    More editions of Cryptonomicon:

  • Cuckoo's Egg
    by Clifford Stoll
    ISBN 1416507787 (1-4165-0778-7)
    Softcover, Pocket Books

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Cuckoo's Egg'
    Book summary:

    A sentimental favorite, The Cuckoo's Egg seems to have inspired a whole category of books exploring the quest to capture computer criminals. Still, even several years after its initial publication and after much imitation, the book remains a good read with an engaging story line and a critical outlook, as Clifford Stoll becomes, almost unwillingly, a one-man security force trying to track down faceless criminals who've invaded the university computer lab he stewards. What first appears as a 75-cent accounting error in a computer log is eventually revealed to be a ring of industrial espionage, primarily thanks to Stoll's persistence and intellectual tenacity. [via]

    More editions of Cuckoo's Egg:

  • The Cuckoo's Egg: Inside the World of Computer Espionage
    by Clifford Stoll, Julie Rubenstein
    ISBN 0671726889 (0-671-72688-9)
    Softcover, Simon & Schuster

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'The Cuckoo's Egg: Inside the World of Computer Espionage'
    Book summary:

    A sentimental favorite, The Cuckoo's Egg seems to have inspired a whole category of books exploring the quest to capture computer criminals. Still, even several years after its initial publication and after much imitation, the book remains a good read with an engaging story line and a critical outlook, as Clifford Stoll becomes, almost unwillingly, a one-man security force trying to track down faceless criminals who've invaded the university computer lab he stewards. What first appears as a 75-cent accounting error in a computer log is eventually revealed to be a ring of industrial espionage, primarily thanks to Stoll's persistence and intellectual tenacity. [via]

    More editions of The Cuckoo's Egg: Inside the World of Computer Espionage:

  • The Design of Everyday Things
    by Donald A. Norman
    ISBN 0465067107 (0-465-06710-7)
    Softcover, Basic Books

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'The Design of Everyday Things'
    Book summary:

    Anyone who designs anything to be used by humans--from physical objects to computer programs to conceptual tools--must read this book, and it is an equally tremendous read for anyone who has to use anything created by another human. It could forever change how you experience and interact with your physical surroundings, open your eyes to the perversity of bad design and the desirability of good design, and raise your expectations about how things should be designed. [via]

    More editions of The Design of Everyday Things:

  • Frazer, J. D. Illiad: Evil Geniuses in a Nutshell: A User Friendly Guide to World Domination
    Evil Geniuses in a Nutshell: A User Friendly Guide to World Domination
    by J. D. Illiad Frazer
    ISBN 156592861X (1-56592-861-X)
    Softcover, Oreilly & Associates Inc

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Evil Geniuses in a Nutshell: A User Friendly Guide to World Domination'

    More editions of Evil Geniuses in a Nutshell: A User Friendly Guide to World Domination:

  • Bennahum, David S.: Extra Life: Coming of Age in Cyberspace
    Extra Life: Coming of Age in Cyberspace
    by David S. Bennahum
    ISBN 0465012361 (0-465-01236-1)
    Softcover, Basic Books

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Extra Life: Coming of Age in Cyberspace'

    More editions of Extra Life: Coming of Age in Cyberspace:

  • Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho
    by Jon Katz
    ISBN 0767906993 (0-7679-0699-3)
    Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho'
    Book summary:

    Teenage hackers Jesse Dailey and Eric Twilegar are the heroes of Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet out of Idaho, a thoughtful, affecting pop ethnography--and heroes is exactly what Jon Katz wants you to see them as. To the rest of the world, themselves included, they are geeks, which is a complicated thing to be these days. With the rise of the networked economy, the world and its wealth have become increasingly dependent on the expertise of Star Wars-loving, cola-swilling propellerheads everywhere. Yet at the same time, the typical geek--especially the typical adolescent geek--remains a consummate outsider, with passions for technological arcana that are both alienating and empowering.

    Katz, a writer for both Rolling Stone and the profoundly geeky Web site Slashdot.org, does a fine job of mapping this ambiguous new state of affairs (the Geek Ascendancy, he calls it). But the book's heart and soul is the well-told tale of Jesse and Eric's adventurous flight from lonely, dead-end lives in Idaho Mormon country to brighter possibilities in Chicago.

    Katz argues that this great escape couldn't have happened without the networks (both social and technological) that are the lifeblood of '90s geekdom, but he doesn't let his celebratory argument get in the way of the story. Although he's a tireless advocate for geeks (the last chapters retrace his impassioned advocacy for brooding teenage weirdos in the face of post-Columbine media attacks), he presents their culture warts and all, with its tendencies toward social awkwardness and arrogance recognizably intact. He doesn't demand your sympathy for his heroes and their world--but he wins it anyway, by bringing them vividly and honestly to life. --Julian Dibbell [via]

    More editions of Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho:

  • Ghost World
    by Daniel Clowes
    ISBN 1560972807 (1-56097-280-7)
    Hardcover, Fantagraphics Books

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Ghost World'

    More editions of Ghost World:

  • Ghost World/ Mundo fantasmal
    by Daniel Clowes
    ISBN 1560974273 (1-56097-427-3)
    Softcover, Fantagraphics Books

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Ghost World/ Mundo fantasmal'
    Book summary:

    Dan Clowes described the story in Ghost World as the examination of "the lives of two recent high school graduates from the advantaged perch of a constant and (mostly) undetectable eavesdropper, with the shaky detachment of a scientist who has grown fond of the prize microbes in his petri dish." From this perch comes a revelation about adolescence that is both subtle and coolly beautiful. Critics have pointed out Clowes's cynicism and vicious social commentary, but if you concentrate on those aspects, you'll miss the exquisite whole that Clowes has captured. Each chapter ends with melancholia that builds towards the amazing, detached, ghostlike ending. [via]

    More editions of Ghost World/ Mundo fantasmal:

  • Greeley, Andrew M.: God Game
    God Game
    by Andrew M. Greeley
    ISBN 0312877501 (0-312-87750-1)
    Softcover, Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'God Game'
    Book summary:

    Andrew M. Greeley, the phenomenally popular novelist and priest, is best known -- and loved -- for his understated Catholic morality and compassionate understanding of human foibles. In The God Game, now available in a brand-new trade paperback edition, Father Greeley takes a new and fascinating twist on an old cliche: What if -- by using a sophisticated computer game with a healthy dose of heavenly intervention -- you really could play God? What if you actually had the power to control other people's lives?

    This is the dilemma that faces our hero, who quickly finds that being given the kingdom, the power, and the glory is dangerous -- but addictive. The troubles of the people he sees flashing on his computer screen are all too real -- and his troubles are just beginning. . .
    [via]

    More editions of God Game:

  • Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
    by Douglas R. Hofstadter
    ISBN 0465026567 (0-465-02656-7)
    Softcover, Basic Books

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid'
    Book summary:

    Twenty years after it topped the bestseller charts, Douglas R. Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid is still something of a marvel. Besides being a profound and entertaining meditation on human thought and creativity, this book looks at the surprising points of contact between the music of Bach, the artwork of Escher, and the mathematics of Gödel. It also looks at the prospects for computers and artificial intelligence (AI) for mimicking human thought. For the general reader and the computer techie alike, this book still sets a standard for thinking about the future of computers and their relation to the way we think.

    Hofstadter's great achievement in Gödel, Escher, Bach was making abstruse mathematical topics (like undecidability, recursion, and 'strange loops') accessible and remarkably entertaining. Borrowing a page from Lewis Carroll (who might well have been a fan of this book), each chapter presents dialogue between the Tortoise and Achilles, as well as other characters who dramatize concepts discussed later in more detail. Allusions to Bach's music (centering on his Musical Offering) and Escher's continually paradoxical artwork are plentiful here. This more approachable material lets the author delve into serious number theory (concentrating on the ramifications of Gödel's Theorem of Incompleteness) while stopping along the way to ponder the work of a host of other mathematicians, artists, and thinkers.

    The world has moved on since 1979, of course. The book predicted that computers probably won't ever beat humans in chess, though Deep Blue beat Garry Kasparov in 1997. And the vinyl record, which serves for some of Hofstadter's best analogies, is now left to collectors. Sections on recursion and the graphs of certain functions from physics look tantalizing, like the fractals of recent chaos theory. And AI has moved on, of course, with mixed results. Yet Gödel, Escher, Bach remains a remarkable achievement. Its intellectual range and ability to let us visualize difficult mathematical concepts help make it one of this century's best for anyone who's interested in computers and their potential for real intelligence. --Richard Dragan

    Topics Covered: J.S. Bach, M.C. Escher, Kurt Gödel: biographical information and work, artificial intelligence (AI) history and theories, strange loops and tangled hierarchies, formal and informal systems, number theory, form in mathematics, figure and ground, consistency, completeness, Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry, recursive structures, theories of meaning, propositional calculus, typographical number theory, Zen and mathematics, levels of description and computers; theory of mind: neurons, minds and thoughts; undecidability; self-reference and self-representation; Turing test for machine intelligence. [via]

    More editions of Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid:

  • Hackers and Painters
    by Paul Graham
    ISBN 0596006624 (0-596-00662-4)
    Hardcover, Oreilly & Associates Inc

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Hackers and Painters'
    Book summary:

    "The computer world is like an intellectual Wild West, in which you can shoot anyone you wish with your ideas, if you're willing to risk the consequences. " --from Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age, by Paul Graham

    We are living in the computer age, in a world increasingly designed and engineered by computer programmers and software designers, by people who call themselves hackers. Who are these people, what motivates them, and why should you care?

    Consider these facts: Everything around us is turning into computers. Your typewriter is gone, replaced by a computer. Your phone has turned into a computer. So has your camera. Soon your TV will. Your car was not only designed on computers, but has more processing power in it than a room-sized mainframe did in 1970. Letters, encyclopedias, newspapers, and even your local store are being replaced by the Internet.

    Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age, by Paul Graham, explains this world and the motivations of the people who occupy it. In clear, thoughtful prose that draws on illuminating historical examples, Graham takes readers on an unflinching exploration into what he calls "an intellectual Wild West."

    The ideas discussed in this book will have a powerful and lasting impact on how we think, how we work, how we develop technology, and how we live. Topics include the importance of beauty in software design, how to make wealth, heresy and free speech, the programming language renaissance, the open-source movement, digital design, internet startups, and more.

    [via]

    More editions of Hackers and Painters:

  • Fullam, Scott: Hardware Hacking Projects for Geeks
    Hardware Hacking Projects for Geeks
    by Scott Fullam
    ISBN 0596003145 (0-596-00314-5)
    Softcover, Oreilly & Associates Inc

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Hardware Hacking Projects for Geeks'

    More editions of Hardware Hacking Projects for Geeks:

  • The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
    by Douglas Adams
    ISBN 0517542099 (0-517-54209-9)
    Hardcover, Crown Publishing Group

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'
    Book summary:

    Don't panic! You're not timetripping! It's the tenth anniversary of the publication of Douglas Adams's zany, best-selling novel, and to celebrate Harmony is reissuing a special edition of this cult classic!

    By now the story is legendary. Arthur Dent, mild-mannered, out-to-lunch earth-ling, is plucked from his planet by his friend Ford Prefect just seconds before it was demolished to make way for a hyper-space bypass. Ford, posing as an out-of-work actor, is a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Together the gruesome twosome begin their now-famous inter-galactic journey through time, space and best-sellerdom.

    For Hitchhiker fanatics (you know who you are!) who've read the books, seen the television program, and listened to the radio show, as well as newcomers to Douglas Adams's unique universe -- remember -- don't panic, don't forget to bring a towel, and don't forget to celebrate The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy's tenth anniversary by wearing your bathrobe. [via]

    More editions of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:

  • Hitchhikers Trilogy Omnibus Ed
    by Crown
    ISBN 0517552000 (0-517-55200-0)
    Hardcover, Crown Publishing Group

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Hitchhikers Trilogy Omnibus Ed'
    Book summary:

    Contains The Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy, The Restaurant at the endof the Universe, and life, the universe and everything [via]

    More editions of Hitchhikers Trilogy Omnibus Ed:

  • In the Beginning...Was the Command Line
    by Neal Stephenson
    ISBN 0380815931 (0-380-81593-1)
    Softcover, Harpercollins

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'In the Beginning...Was the Command Line'
    Book summary:

    Neal Stephenson, author of the sprawling and engaging Cryptonomicon, has written a manifesto that could be spoken by a character from that brilliant book. Primarily, In the Beginning ... Was the Command Line discusses the past and future of personal computer operating systems. "It is the fate of manufactured goods to slowly and gently depreciate as they get old," he writes, "but it is the fate of operating systems to become free." While others in the computer industry express similarly dogmatic statements, Stephenson charms the reader into his way of thinking, providing anecdotes and examples that turn the pages for you.

    Stephenson is a techie, and he's writing for an audience of coders and hackers in Command Line. The idea for this essay began online, when a shortened version of it was posted on Slashdot.org. The book still holds some marks of an e-mail flame gone awry, and some tangents should have been edited to hone his formidable arguments. But unlike similar writers who also discuss technical topics, he doesn't write to exclude; readers who appreciate computing history (like Dealers of Lightning or Fire in the Valley) can easily step into this book.

    Stephenson tackles many myths about industry giants in this volume, specifically Apple and Microsoft. By now, every newspaper reader has heard of Microsoft's overbearing business practices, but Stephenson cuts to the heart of new issues for the software giant with a finely sharpened steel blade. Apple fares only a little better as Stephenson (a former Mac user himself) highlights the early steps the company took to prepare for a monopoly within the computer market--and its surprise when this didn't materialize. Linux culture gets a thorough--but fair--skewering, and the strengths of BeOS are touted (although no operating system is nearly close enough to perfection in Stephenson's eyes).

    As for the rest of us, who have gladly traded free will and an intellectual understanding of computers for a clutter-free, graphically pleasing interface, Stephenson has thoughts to offer as well. He fully understands the limits nonprogrammers feel in the face of technology (an example being the "blinking 12" problem when your VCR resets itself). Even so, within Command Line he convincingly encourages us as a society to examine the metaphors of technology--simplifications that aren't really much simpler--that we greedily accept. --Jennifer Buckendorff [via]

    More editions of In the Beginning...Was the Command Line:

  • JPod
    by Douglas Coupland
    ISBN 1596911050 (1-59691-105-0)
    Softcover, Bloomsbury Pub Plc USA

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'JPod'
    Book summary:

    Already dubbed Microserfs 2.0 by some pundits--a winking allusion to Douglas Coupland's previous novel Microserfs, which similarly chronicled pop-culture-damaged twentysomething misfits flailing, foundering, and occasionally succeeding in the high-tech sector--JPod is, like all of Coupland's novels, a byproduct of its era and yet strangely detached from it. Only this time with a bold and very crafty narrative device: Douglas Coupland, novelist, is a character in Douglas Coupland's novel. Which, when you think about it, makes sense since the type of people Coupland depicts are precisely the type of people who consume Coupland novels. As the once-great comedian Dennis Miller might holler, "Stop him before he sub-references again!" Readers familiar with Coupland's oeuvre know what to expect with the characterizations here. They also know that Coupland on a roll is both savagely observant and laugh-out-loud funny: "Bree was showing someone photos of her recent holiday visiting Korean animation sweathshops. She was bummed because she couldn't get into North Korea: too much legal juju. [She said] 'I just wanted to know what it's like to be in a society with no technology except for three dial telephones and a TV camera they won from Fidel Castro in a game of rock paper scissors.'" Much of the book is like that, built on granular and meandering exchanges between characters about . . . stuff. While JPod's flow is hobbled by some preposterous twists and character traits and by random words, phrases, and numbers splattered gratuitously across successive pages in oversized typeface, it's hard to imagine Coupland fans walking away disappointed. --Kim Hughes [via]

    More editions of JPod:

  • Just A Geek: Unflinchingly Honest Tales of the Search for Life, Love, and Fulfillment Beyond the Starship Enterprise
    by Wil Wheaton, Neil Gaiman
    ISBN 059600768X (0-596-00768-X)
    Hardcover, Oreilly & Associates Inc

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Just A Geek: Unflinchingly Honest Tales of the Search for Life, Love, and Fulfillment Beyond the Starship Enterprise'
    Book summary:

    Wil Wheaton has never been one to take the conventional path to success. Despite early stardom through his childhood role in the motion picture "Stand By Me", and growing up on television as Wesley Crusher on "Star Trek: The Next Generation", Wil left Hollywood in pursuit of happiness, purpose, and a viable means of paying the bills. In the oddest of places, Topeka, Kansas, Wil discovered that despite his claims to fame, he was at heart Just a Geek.

    In this bestselling book, Wil shares his deeply personal and difficult journey to find himself. You'll understand the rigors, and joys, of Wil's rediscovering of himself, as he comes to terms with what it means to be famous, or, ironically, famous for once having been famous. Writing with honesty and disarming humanity, Wil touches on the frustrations associated with his acting career, his inability to distance himself from Ensign Crusher in the public's eyes, the launch of his incredibly successful web site, wilwheaton.net, and the joy he's found in writing. Through all of this, Wil shares the ups and downs he encountered along the journey, along with the support and love he discovered from his friends and family.

    The stories in Just a Geek include:

    • Wil's plunge from teen star to struggling actor
    • Discovering the joys of HTML, blogging, Linux, and web design
    • The struggle between Wesley Crusher, Starfleet ensign, and Wil Wheaton, author and blogger
    • Gut-wrenching reactions to the 9-11 disaster
    • Moving tales of Wil's relationships with his wife, step-children, and extended family
    • The transition from a B-list actor to an A-list author

    Wil Wheaton--celebrity, blogger, and geek--writes for the geek in all of us. Engaging, witty, and pleasantly self-deprecating, Just a Geek will surprise you and make you laugh.

    [via]

    More editions of Just A Geek: Unflinchingly Honest Tales of the Search for Life, Love, and Fulfillment Beyond the Starship Enterprise:

  • The Klingon Dictionary
    by Marc Okrand, Klingon Language Institute
    ISBN 067174559X (0-671-74559-X)
    Softcover, Star Trek

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'The Klingon Dictionary'
    Book summary:

    The Klingon Dictionary is the first comprehensive sourcebook for Klingon language and syntax, including fundamental rules of grammar as well as words and expressions that illustrate the complex nature of Klingon culture. It features a precise pronunciation guide, rules for proper use of affixes and suffixes, and a small phrasebook with Klingon translations for essential expressions such as "Activate the transport beam," "Always trust your instincts," and the ever-popular "Surrender or die!" [via]

    More editions of The Klingon Dictionary:

  • The Klingon Dictionary: English/Klingon, Klingon/English
    by Marc Okrand
    ISBN 0671543490 (0-671-54349-0)
    Softcover, Pocket Books

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'The Klingon Dictionary: English/Klingon, Klingon/English'
    Book summary:

    The Klingon Dictionary is the first comprehensive sourcebook for Klingon language and syntax, including fundamental rules of grammar as well as words and expressions that illustrate the complex nature of Klingon culture. It features a precise pronunciation guide, rules for proper use of affixes and suffixes, and a small phrasebook with Klingon translations for essential expressions such as "Activate the transport beam," "Always trust your instincts," and the ever-popular "Surrender or die!" [via]

    More editions of The Klingon Dictionary: English/Klingon, Klingon/English:

  • Learning Perl
    by Randal L. Schwartz
    ISBN 1565920422 (1-56592-042-2)
    Softcover, Oreilly & Associates Inc

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Learning Perl'
    Book summary:

    In this update of a bestseller, two leading Perl trainers teach you to use the most universal scripting language in the age of the World Wide Web. With a foreword by Larry Wall, the creator of Perl, this smooth, carefully paced book is the "official" guide for both formal (classroom) and informal learning. It is now current for Perl version 5.004. Learning Perl is a hands-on tutorial designed to get you writing useful Perl scripts as quickly as possible. Exercises (with complete solutions) accompany each chapter. A lengthy new chapter in this edition introduces you to CGI programming, while touching also on the use of library modules, references, and Perl's object-oriented constructs. Perl is a language for easily manipulating text, files, and processes. It comes standard on most UNIX platforms and is available free of charge on all other important operating systems. Perl technical support is informally available -- often within minutes -- from a pool of experts who monitor a USENET newsgroup (comp.lang.perl.misc) with tens of thousands of readers. Contents include: A quick tutorial stroll through Perl basics Systematic, topic-by-topic coverage of Perl's broad capabilities Lots of brief code examples Programming exercises for each topic, with fully worked-out answers How to execute system commands from your Perl program How to manage DBM databases using Perl An introduction to CGI programming for the Web [via]

    More editions of Learning Perl:

  • Learning Perl : Making Easy Things Easy and Hard Things Possible
    by Randal L. Schwartz, Tom Phoenix
    ISBN 0596001320 (0-596-00132-0)
    Softcover, O'Reilly Media, Incorporated

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Learning Perl : Making Easy Things Easy and Hard Things Possible'
    Book summary:

    If you ask Perl programmers today what book they relied on most when they were learning Perl, you'll find that an overwhelming majority will name Learning Perl--also known affectionately as "the Llama." The first edition of Learning Perl appeared in 1993 and has been a bestseller ever since. Written by two of the most prominent and active members of the Perl community, this book is the quintessential tutorial for the Perl programming language.

    Perl began as a tool for Unix system administrators, used for countless small tasks throughout the workday. It has since blossomed into a full-featured programming language on practically every computing platform, and is used for web programming, database manipulation, XML processing, and (of course) system administration--all this while still remaining the perfect tool for the small daily tasks it was designed for. Perl is quick, fun, and eminently useful. Many people start using Perl because they need it, but they continue to use Perl because they love it.

    The third edition of Learning Perl has not only been updated for Perl 5.6, but has also been rewritten from the ground up to reflect the needs of programmers learning Perl today. Informed by their years of success at teaching Perl as consultants, the authors have re-engineered the book to better match the pace and scope appropriate for readers trying to get started with Perl, while retaining the detailed discussion, thorough examples, and eclectic wit for which the book is famous.

    This edition of the Llama includes an expanded and more gently-paced introduction to regular expressions, new exercises and solutions designed so readers can practice what they've learned while it's still fresh in their minds, and an overall reworking to bring Learning Perl into the new millennium.

    Perl is a language for getting your job done. Other books may teach you to program in Perl, but this book will turn you into a Perl programmer.

    [via]

    More editions of Learning Perl : Making Easy Things Easy and Hard Things Possible:

  • Linux in a Nutshell
    by Ellen Siever, Stephen Figgins, Aaron Weber
    ISBN 0596004826 (0-596-00482-6)
    Softcover, Oreilly & Associates Inc

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Linux in a Nutshell'
    Book summary:

    Linux in a Nutshell, now in its fourth edition, has won awards in the Linux community as the most indispensable book about Linux. It is an essential desktop reference for the commands that users of Linux utilize every day, with the depth of information and the practical, succinct "In a Nutshell" format that made the previous editions so popular.

    Comprehensive but concise, Linux in a Nutshell covers all substantial user, programming, administration, and networking commands for the most common Linux distributions. It's several quick references rolled into one: sed, gawk, RCS, CVS, vi, Emacs, bash, tcsh, regular expressions, package management, bootloaders, and desktop environments are all covered in this clear, to-the-point volume, along with core command-line utilities.

    The fourth edition continues to track the major changes in bootloaders, the GNOME and KDE desktops, and general Unix commands. Several commands related to CDs and music reflect the evolution of multimedia on Linux. Coverage has been added for GRUB, which has become the default bootloader on several Linux distributions, and for vim, the popular and feature-loaded extension to vi. The addition of several new options to the iptables firewall command and new commands related to DNSSEC and ssh show the book's value as a security tool. With this book, you no longer have to grope through long manpages and info documents for the information you need; you'll find it here in clear language and an easy-to-read format.

    Contents include:

    • Programming, system administration, networking, and user commands with complete lists of options
    • GRUB, LILO, and Loadlin bootloaders
    • Shell syntax and variables for the bash, csh, and tcsh shells
    • Pattern matching
    • Emacs, vi, and vim editing commands
    • sed and gawk commands
    • The GNOME and KDE desktops and the fvwm2 window manager
    • Red Hat and Debian package managers
    [via]

    More editions of Linux in a Nutshell:

  • Linux In A Nutshell
    by Robert Love, Arnold Robbins, Stephen Figgins, Aaron Weber, Ellen Siever
    ISBN 0596009305 (0-596-00930-5)
    Softcover, Oreilly & Associates Inc

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Linux In A Nutshell'
    Book summary:

    Over the last few years, Linux has grown both as an operating system and a tool for personal and business use. Simultaneously becoming more user friendly and more powerful as a back-end system, Linux has achieved new plateaus: the newer filesystems have solidified, new commands and tools have appeared and become standard, and the desktop--including new desktop environments--have proved to be viable, stable, and readily accessible to even those who don't consider themselves computer gurus.

    Whether you're using Linux for personal software projects, for a small office or home office (often termed the SOHO environment), to provide services to a small group of colleagues, or to administer a site responsible for millions of email and web connections each day, you need quick access to information on a wide range of tools. This book covers all aspects of administering and making effective use of Linux systems. Among its topics are booting, package management, and revision control. But foremost in Linux in a Nutshell are the utilities and commands that make Linux one of the most powerful and flexible systems available.

    Now in its fifth edition, Linux in a Nutshell brings users up-to-date with the current state of Linux. Considered by many to be the most complete and authoritative command reference for Linux available, the book covers all substantial user, programming, administration, and networking commands for the most common Linux distributions.

    Comprehensive but concise, the fifth edition has been updated to cover new features of major Linux distributions. Configuration information for the rapidly growing commercial network services and community update services is one of the subjects covered for the first time.

    But that's just the beginning. The book covers editors, shells, and LILO and GRUB boot options. There's also coverage of Apache, Samba, Postfix, sendmail, CVS, Subversion, Emacs, vi, sed, gawk, and much more. Everything that system administrators, developers, and power users need to know about Linux is referenced here, and they will turn to this book again and again.

    [via]

    More editions of Linux In A Nutshell:

  • Linux in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference
    by Jessica Perry Hekman
    ISBN 1565921674 (1-56592-167-4)
    Softcover, Oreilly & Associates Inc

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Linux in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference'
    Book summary:

    Linux in a Nutshell incorporates all the typical characteristics of a command reference. On the positive side, there's no extraneous narrative gunk to get between you and the specific piece of information you're searching for. On the negative side, there's no entry-level instruction here to guide the uninitiated. While that's not a bad thing, it should serve as a warning to Linux newbies: supplement this book with another if you don't know what you're doing.

    Hekman devotes about a third of the book to Linux user commands that aren't part of specific shells, programming languages, applications, or the set of administrator commands. These commands are presented as straight man-page-style documentation in table form, listing commands, their switches, and succinct descriptions alphabetically. The author then goes on to document the three Linux shells--bash, csh, and tcsh--and the GNU utilities. The book's coverage of emacs, vi, pattern matching (regular expressions), sed, and gawk distinguishes it from its competitors. Hekman wraps up with more man-page-style documentation of programming commands and Linux's complete complement of administrator commands. [via]

    More editions of Linux in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference:

  • Linux in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference
    by O'Reilly Staff, Jessica Perry Linux in a Nutshell Hekman, Ellen Siever
    ISBN 1565925858 (1-56592-585-8)
    Softcover, Oreilly & Associates Inc

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Linux in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference'
    Book summary:

    Linux in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference is a 612-page command and program reference guide for this red-hot Unix derivative. While Linux couldn't be easier to get--it's a free download from the Web--clear and concise documentation is key to successful application.

    Linux in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference is only a minimal introduction to this remarkable operating system; the book's real strength lies in the simple alphabetical table of Linux commands that runs for more than 150 pages. Each command is documented with its various switches including occasional examples and brief overviews of especially interesting commands. Author Ellen Siever dedicates a section of the book to covering three common shell programs for Linux: bash, csh, and tcsh. In the short introduction to shells, Siever lists the commands that are common to all three as well as those that differ. This is followed by individual references for each.

    Coverage of the Emacs, ex, sed, and vi programs and command sets comprise the material on Linux text editors. The gawk scripting language is also represented, as well as sections detailing programming commands and the RCS and CVS file-versioning programs. The book also covers Perl, system administration commands, and dual booting.

    While Linux can be lots of fun, no one should dive in ill equipped. Using Linux in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference will help you navigate this OS safely. --Stephen Plain [via]

    More editions of Linux in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference:

  • Linux in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference
    by Stephen Spainhour, Jessica P. Hekman, Stephen Figgins, Ellen Siever
    ISBN 0596000251 (0-596-00025-1)
    Softcover, Oreilly & Associates Inc

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Linux in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference'
    Book summary:

    Linux has command line utilities, boy does it have them. Linux In A Nutshell lists around 200 basic utilities beginners should find immediately useful in the first few pages. This is a little odd as it really isn't a book aimed at beginners. Rather, it is for the competent or even expert Linux user. The sad truth is no one has a brain large enough to keep all these commands and utilities instantly available, hence the need for quick references.

    Around half the book is devoted to command line utilities: what they do, how to invoke them and the various options they take. Naturally, it is the options causing problems. While -c says to send stuff to the standard output in some utilities, in others it doesn't. For example it tells mke2fs to scan a device for bad blocks. It also covers boot issues, various shells, emacs, vi, sed, gawk and pattern matching. CVS and RCS for version control get good coverage. Gnome and KDE get a short chapter each and oddly, so does fvwm2. Some of these choices seem arbitrary. For Perl you are referred elsewhere, PHP isn't mentioned and neither is python.

    In practice, the Linux man pages usually provide more information. Many of the book entries provide no more information than you would get from the usage instructions provided by the -h (or --help) option or by entering a nonsense option. The other complaint is inconsistency. Some of the commands have a usage example but most don't.

    The problem with Linux In A Nutshell is that if you are actually at your desk using Linux, it is quicker to reference the system itself for the information but the book is rather too large to carry around to reference when you might need it (though why do you need it if you aren't using Linux at the time? Pub quizzes perhaps?).

    Given that Linux commands comes with usage instructions, man pages and info pages as well as often having extra documentation, how-tos and source code--all for the versions you're using--it is hard to see quite what purpose its authors intended this book to serve. --Steve Patient [via]

    More editions of Linux in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference:

  • Make: Technology On Your Own Time
    by Mark Frauenfelder
    ISBN 0596009224 (0-596-00922-4)
    Softcover, Oreilly & Associates Inc

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Make: Technology On Your Own Time'
    Book summary:

    If you like to tweak, disassemble, re-create, and invent cool new uses for technology, you'll love MAKE our new quarterly publication for the inquisitive do-it-yourselfer.

    Every issue is packed with projects to help you make the most of all the technology in your life. Everything from home entertainment systems, to laptops, to a host of PDAs is fair game. If there's a way to hack it, tweak it, bend it, or remix it, you will find out about it in MAKE.

    This isn't another gadget magazine. MAKE focuses on cool things you can do to make technology work the way you want it to. The publication is inspired by our bestselling Hacks series books but with a twist. MAKE is a mook (rhymes with book). We ve combined the excitement, unexpectedness, and visual appeal of a magazine with the permanence and in-depth instructiveness of a how-to book.

    Whether you're a geek or hacker who delights in creating new uses for technology, or a Saturday afternoon tinkerer who loves to get his hands dirty, you'll keep every issue of MAKE on your bookshelf for years to come. Our premier issue, available in February 2005, includes 220 pages packed with tips and tricks, including:

    • how to create a $14 stabilizer for your video camera with readily available household items
    • how to use an ordinary kite to take extraordinary professional quality aerial digital photos
    • how to get rid of that tangle of wires by creating your own 5-in-1 network cable
    • how to decipher the magnetic stripe on your credit card to find out what your credit card company really knows about you and lots more!

    Every quarter, MAKE will contain a unique set of innovative ideas and creations for a variety of new technologies, including mobile devices, in-car computers, web services, digital media, wireless and home networking, and computer hardware. Visit MAKE's web site: make.oreilly.com.

    [via]

    More editions of Make: Technology On Your Own Time:

  • Make: Technology on Your Time
    by Mark Frauenfelder
    ISBN 0596100787 (0-596-10078-7)
    Softcover, Oreilly & Associates Inc

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Make: Technology on Your Time'
    Book summary:

    If you like to tweak, disassemble, re-create, and invent cool new uses for technology, you'll love MAKE our quarterly publication for the inquisitive do-it-yourselfer.

    Every issue is packed with projects to help you make the most of all the technology in your life. Everything from home entertainment systems, to laptops, to a host of PDAs is fair game. If there's a way to hack it, tweak it, bend it, or remix it, you will find out about it in MAKE.

    This isn't another gadget magazine. MAKE focuses on cool things you can do to make technology work the way you want it to. The publication is inspired by our bestselling Hacks series books but with a twist. MAKE is a mook (rhymes with book). We've combined the excitement, unexpectedness, and visual appeal of a magazine with the permanence and in-depth instructiveness of a how-to book.

    Whether you're a geek or hacker who delights in creating new uses for technology, or a Saturday afternoon tinkerer who loves to get his hands dirty, you'll keep every issue of MAKE on your bookshelf for years to come.

    [via]

    More editions of Make: Technology on Your Time:

  • Microserfs
    by Douglas Coupland
    ISBN 0060987049 (0-06-098704-9)
    Softcover, Harpercollins

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Microserfs'
    Book summary:

    Microserfs is not about Microsoft--it's about programmers who are searching for lives. A hilarious but frighteningly real look at geek life in the '90's, Coupland's book manifests a peculiar sense of how technology affects the human race and how it will continue to affect all of us. Microserfs is the hilarious journal of Dan, an ex-Microsoft programmer who, with his coder comrades, is on a quest to find purpose in life. This isn't just fodder for techies. The thoughts and fears of the not-so-stereotypical characters are easy for any of us to relate to, and their witty conversations and quirky view of the world make this a surprisingly thought-provoking book.

    " ... just think about the way high-tech cultures purposefully protract out the adolescence of their employees well into their late 20s, if not their early 30s," muses one programmer. "I mean, all those Nerf toys and free beverages! And the way tech firms won't even call work 'the office,' but instead, 'the campus.' It's sick and evil." [via]

    More editions of Microserfs:

  • Gibson, William: Neuromancer
    Neuromancer
    by William Gibson
    ISBN 1569564116 (1-56956-411-6)
    Softcover, William a Thomas Braille

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Neuromancer'
    Book summary:

    "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel." William Gibson's Neuromancer starts out with one of the great opening lines in all of fiction and never lets up. This is the novel that introduced the term "cyberspace," and it remains one of the most vibrant and compelling looks at the world being built by computers and information technology.

    Plus, it tells a great story. Case is a top-line hacker who made one mistake that cost him his greatest love. To get it back, he agrees to work for people who in turn are working for an artificial intelligence named Wintermute. Wintermute wants freedom, and Case is the man who can do the job. (Some of the secondary characters, including Molly from "Johnny Mnemonic," will be familiar to readers of Gibson's short stories.) The intensity never lets up as Gibson creates a world that is one of the most distinctive in science fiction. And the story is told in a high-tech poetic prose style that owes as much to William S. Burroughs as it does to Gibson's predecessors in SF. The end result is a book that is both stylistically creative and thoroughly gripping in its unfolding adventure. In short, Neuromancer packs more ideas into its 250 pages than most writers can manage in a 900-page trilogy. It was hailed as an instant classic when first published as an Ace Science Fiction Special in 1984, winning the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick awards, and it remains one of the most influential science fiction novels ever written. --Greg L. Johnson [via]

    More editions of Neuromancer:

  • Neverwhere
    by Neil Gaiman
    ISBN 0613163931 (0-613-16393-1)
    Hardcover, Bt Bound

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Neverwhere'
    Book summary:

    Neverwhere's protagonist, Richard Mayhew, learns the hard way that no good deed goes unpunished. He ceases to exist in the ordinary world of London Above, and joins a quest through the dark and dangerous London Below, a shadow city of lost and forgotten people, places, and times. His companions are Door, who is trying to find out who hired the assassins who murdered her family and why; the Marquis of Carabas, a trickster who trades services for very big favors; and Hunter, a mysterious lady who guards bodies and hunts only the biggest game. London Below is a wonderfully realized shadow world, and the story plunges through it like an express passing local stations, with plenty of action and a satisfying conclusion. The story is reminiscent of Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but Neil Gaiman's humor is much darker and his images sometimes truly horrific. Puns and allusions to everything from Paradise Lost to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz abound, but you can enjoy the book without getting all of them. Gaiman is definitely not just for graphic-novel fans anymore. --Nona Vero [via]

    More editions of Neverwhere:

  • Perks of Being a Wallflower
    by Stephen Chbosky
    ISBN 0671027344 (0-671-02734-4)
    Softcover, Pocket Books

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Perks of Being a Wallflower'
    Book summary:

    What is most notable about this funny, touching, memorable first novel from Stephen Chbosky is the resounding accuracy with which the author captures the voice of a boy teetering on the brink of adulthood. Charlie is a freshman. And while's he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. He's a wallflower--shy and introspective, and intelligent beyond his years, if not very savvy in the social arts. We learn about Charlie through the letters he writes to someone of undisclosed name, age, and gender, a stylistic technique that adds to the heart-wrenching earnestness saturating this teen's story. Charlie encounters the same struggles that many kids face in high school--how to make friends, the intensity of a crush, family tensions, a first relationship, exploring sexuality, experimenting with drugs--but he must also deal with his best friend's recent suicide. Charlie's letters take on the intimate feel of a journal as he shares his day-to-day thoughts and feelings:

    I walk around the school hallways and look at the people. I look at the teachers and wonder why they're here. If they like their jobs. Or us. And I wonder how smart they were when they were fifteen. Not in a mean way. In a curious way. It's like looking at all the students and wondering who's had their heart broken that day, and how they are able to cope with having three quizzes and a book report due on top of that. Or wondering who did the heart breaking. And wondering why.
    With the help of a teacher who recognizes his wisdom and intuition, and his two friends, seniors Samantha and Patrick, Charlie mostly manages to avoid the depression he feels creeping up like kudzu. When it all becomes too much, after a shocking realization about his beloved late Aunt Helen, Charlie retreats from reality for awhile. But he makes it back in due time, ready to face his sophomore year and all that it may bring. Charlie, sincerely searching for that feeling of "being infinite," is a kindred spirit to the generation that's been slapped with the label X. --Brangien Davis [via]

    More editions of Perks of Being a Wallflower:

  • Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmer's Guide
    by David Thomas, Andrew Hunt, Chad Fowler
    ISBN 0974514055 (0-9745140-5-5)
    Softcover, Pragmatic Bookshelf

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmer's Guide'
    Book summary:

    Ruby is an increasingly popular, fully object-oriented dynamic programming language, hailed by many practitioners as the finest and most useful language available today. When Ruby first burst onto the scene in the Western world, the Pragmatic Programmers were there with the definitive reference manual, Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmer's Guide.

    Now in its second edition, author Dave Thomas has expanded the famous Pickaxe book with over 200 pages of new content, covering all the improved language features of Ruby 1.8 and standard library modules. The Pickaxe contains four major sections:

    • An acclaimed tutorial on using Ruby.
    • The definitive reference to the language.
    • Complete documentation on all built-in classes, modules, and methods
    • Complete descriptions of all 98 standard libraries.


    If you enjoyed the First Edition, you'll appreciate the expanded content, including enhanced coverage of installation, packaging, documenting Ruby source code, threading and synchronization, and enhancing Ruby's capabilities using C-language extensions. Programming for the World Wide Web is easy in Ruby, with new chapters on XML/RPC, SOAP, distributed Ruby, templating systems, and other web services. There's even a new chapter on unit testing.

    This is the definitive reference manual for Ruby, including a description of all the standard library modules, a complete reference to all built-in classes and modules (including more than 250 significant changes since the First Edition). Coverage of other features has grown tremendously, including details on how to harness the sophisticated capabilities of irb, so you can dynamically examine and experiment with your running code. "Ruby is a wonderfully powerful and useful language, and whenever I'm working with it this book is at my side" --Martin Fowler, Chief Scientist, ThoughtWorks
    [via]

    More editions of Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmer's Guide:

  • The Psychology of Everyday Things
    by Donald A. Norman
    ISBN 0465067093 (0-465-06709-3)
    Hardcover, Perseus Books

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'The Psychology of Everyday Things'
    Book summary:

    With the many recent advances in technology, it seems, there has followed a diminution of quality. Electronic books have several advantages over their print counterparts, for instance. But for the time being, they're hard to use and unattractive to boot. Computers, which are supposed to make our lives easier, are commonly sources of frustration and wasted time. Movies are wondrously chock-a-block with special effects--but someone forgot the story. And so on.

    Donald Norman, a retired professor of cognitive science, is bothered to no end by the fact that grappling with unfriendly objects now takes up so many of our hours. Over the course of several books, of which The Psychology of Everyday Things was the first, he has railed against bad design. He scrutinizes a range of artifacts that are supposed to make our daily living a little easier, and he finds most of them wanting. Why, he asks, does a door need instructions that say "push" or "pull"? A well-designed object, he argues, is self-explanatory. But well-designed objects are increasingly rare, for the present culture places a higher value on aesthetics than utility, even with such items as cordless screwdrivers, dresser drawers, and kitchen cabinets. In their concern for creating "art," many designers don't seem to consider what people actually do with things. Such disregard, Norman suggests, leads to few objects being standardized: think of all the different kinds of unsynchronized clocks that lurk in microwave ovens, VCRs, coffee makers, and the like--and of all the different kinds of batteries needed to drive them. Why, he wonders, must we reset all those clocks whenever the power goes off? Some designer somewhere, he ventures, ought to develop a master clock that communicates with all other electric clocks in a home--one that, when reset, synchronizes its slave units.

    You don't need to be especially interested in technological matters to enjoy Norman's arguments. The book's underlying question is aimed at a global audience: will the design of everyday things improve? If this entertaining and, yes, well-designed book changes even a few minds, perhaps it will. --Gregory McNamee [via]

    More editions of The Psychology of Everyday Things:

  • Quicksilver
    by Neal Stephenson
    ISBN 0434008931 (0-434-00893-1)
    Softcover, Heinemann

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Quicksilver'
    Book summary:

    In Quicksilver, the first volume of the "Baroque Cycle," Neal Stephenson launches his most ambitious work to date. The novel, divided into three books, opens in 1713 with the ageless Enoch Root seeking Daniel Waterhouse on the campus of what passes for MIT in eighteenth-century Massachusetts. Daniel, Enoch's message conveys, is key to resolving an explosive scientific battle of preeminence between Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz over the development of calculus. As Daniel returns to London aboard the Minerva, readers are catapulted back half a century to recall his years at Cambridge with young Isaac. Daniel is a perfect historical witness. Privy to Robert Hooke's early drawings of microscope images and with associates among the English nobility, religious radicals, and the Royal Society, he also befriends Samuel Pepys, risks a cup of coffee, and enjoys a lecture on Belgian waffles and cleavage-all before the year 1700.

    In the second book, Stephenson introduces Jack Shaftoe and Eliza. "Half-Cocked" Jack (also know as the "King of the Vagabonds") recovers the English Eliza from a Turkish harem. Fleeing the siege of Vienna, the two journey across Europe driven by Eliza's lust for fame, fortune, and nobility. Gradually, their circle intertwines with that of Daniel in the third book of the novel.

    The book courses with Stephenson's scholarship but is rarely bogged down in its historical detail. Stephenson is especially impressive in his ability to represent dialogue over the evolving worldview of seventeenth-century scientists and enliven the most abstruse explanation of theory. Though replete with science, the novel is as much about the complex struggles for political ascendancy and the workings of financial markets. Further, the novel's literary ambitions match its physical size. Stephenson narrates through epistolary chapters, fragments of plays and poems, journal entries, maps, drawings, genealogic tables, and copious contemporary epigrams. But, caught in this richness, the prose is occasionally neglected and wants editing. Further, anticipating a cycle, the book does not provide a satisfying conclusion to its 900 pages. These are minor quibbles, though. Stephenson has matched ambition to execution, and his faithful, durable readers will be both entertained and richly rewarded with a practicum in Baroque science, cypher, culture, and politics. --Patrick O'Kelley [via]

    More editions of Quicksilver:

  • The Root of All Evil
    by I. Iliad, J. D. Frazer, Illiad
    ISBN 0596001932 (0-596-00193-2)
    Softcover, O'Reilly Media, Incorporated

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'The Root of All Evil'
    Book summary:

    It's back to Columbia Internet, "the friendliest, hardest-working, and most neurotic little Internet Service Provider in the world," for our third installment from the hit online comic, User Friendly. The cast: Quake-obsessed techies, self-absorbed sales staff, well-meaning execs, and assorted almost-humans. The background: too little office space, warring operating systems, and eternally clueless customers.

    Tag along as geeks go camping, Mike finds a new use for silly putty, and Stef decides to beef up his Quake skills with the Acme Forced-Feedback Enemy-Denial Smackdown Ergonomic Game Chair.

    If you've read the first two User Friendly editions from O'Reilly, you don't need an introduction to Greg, Jeff, Miranda, the Dust Puppy and the others. But if you haven't, welcome to the world of the hard-core geek, where humor--especially at one's own foibles--can be a survival skill. Since this is true of most work environments, chances are you won't have to know Unix or be able to log in as "root" in order to get the joke.

    Illiad's community is truly global--the comic's one-million-plus readers log on from Israel, Brazil, Iceland, New Zealand, and Greece, among other far-flung locations. All kinds of people seem drawn to the strip-- from 8-year-old girls to 81-year-old women--a large, diverse, and very loyal community.

    [via]

    More editions of The Root of All Evil:

  • Anders, Charlie: She's Such a Geek!: Women Write About Science, Technology, & Other Nerdy Stuff
    She's Such a Geek!: Women Write About Science, Technology, & Other Nerdy Stuff
    by Charlie Anders
    ISBN 1580051901 (1-58005-190-1)
    Softcover, Seal Pr

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'She's Such a Geek!: Women Write About Science, Technology, & Other Nerdy Stuff'

    More editions of She's Such a Geek!: Women Write About Science, Technology, & Other Nerdy Stuff:

  • Snow Crash
    by Neal Stephenson
    ISBN 0553380958 (0-553-38095-8)
    Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Snow Crash'
    Book summary:

    From the opening line of his breakthrough cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson plunges the reader into a not-too-distant future. It is a world where the Mafia controls pizza delivery, the United States exists as a patchwork of corporate-franchise city-states, and the Internet--incarnate as the Metaverse--looks something like last year's hype would lead you to believe it should. Enter Hiro Protagonist--hacker, samurai swordsman, and pizza-delivery driver. When his best friend fries his brain on a new designer drug called Snow Crash and his beautiful, brainy ex-girlfriend asks for his help, what's a guy with a name like that to do? He rushes to the rescue. A breakneck-paced 21st-century novel, Snow Crash interweaves everything from Sumerian myth to visions of a postmodern civilization on the brink of collapse. Faster than the speed of television and a whole lot more fun, Snow Crash is the portrayal of a future that is bizarre enough to be plausible. [via]

    More editions of Snow Crash:

  • Two Trains Running
    by Lucius Shepard
    ISBN 1930846231 (1-930846-23-1)
    Hardcover, Golden Gryphon Pr

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Two Trains Running'
    Book summary:

    This collection of fact and fiction was inspired by the time science fiction writer Lucius Shepard spent with Missoula Mike, Madcat, and other members of a controversial brotherhood known as the Freight Train Riders of America. Shepard rode the rails throughout the western half of the United States with the disenfranchised, the homeless, the punks, the gangs, and the joy riders for the magazine article 'The FTRA Story'. That original article is presented here, along with two new hobo novellas, 'Over Yonder' and 'Jailbait'. In 'Over Yonder', alcoholic Billy Long Gone finds himself on an unusual train. As Billy travels his health improves and his thinking clears, and he arrives in Yonder -- an unlikely paradise where a few hundred hobos live in apparent peace and tranquillity. But every paradise has its price, and in Yonder, peace and tranquillity breed complacency and startling deaths. 'Jailbait' is a hardcore tale of deception, lust, revenge, and murder in the seedy underbelly of rail yards and train hopping. Madcat, who functions best in a whiskey-induced haze, must decide between solitude and companionship when he meets up with Grace, an underaged runaway. Grace, in turn, seeks the security of an older man and the life about which only young girls can dream. [via]

    More editions of Two Trains Running:

  • The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide
    by Douglas Adams
    ISBN 0517124858 (0-517-12485-8)
    Hardcover, Random House Value Publishing

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide'
    Book summary:

    It's safe to say that The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is one of the funniest science fiction novels ever written. Adams spoofs many core science fiction tropes: space travel, aliens, interstellar war--stripping away all sense of wonder and repainting them as commonplace, even silly.

    This omnibus edition begins with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, in which Arthur Dent is introduced to the galaxy at large when he is rescued by an alien friend seconds before Earth's destruction. Then in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Arthur and his new friends travel to the end of time and discover the true reason for Earth's existence. In Life, the Universe, and Everything, the gang goes on a mission to save the entire universe. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish recounts how Arthur finds true love and "God's Final Message to His Creation." Finally, Mostly Harmless is the story of Arthur's continuing search for home, in which he instead encounters his estranged daughter, who is on her own quest. There's also a bonus short story, "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe," more of a vignette than a full story, which wraps up this completist's package of the Don't Panic chronicles. As the series progresses, its wackier elements diminish, but the satire of human life and foibles is ever present. --Brooks Peck [via]

    More editions of The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide:

  • User Friendly
    by J. D. Illiad Frazer
    ISBN 1565926730 (1-56592-673-0)
    Softcover, Oreilly & Associates Inc

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'User Friendly'
    Book summary:

    Yes, it's a cliché, but it's true enough to be worth repeating: User Friendly is to the open-source world what Dilbert is to swarming hives of Windows cubicles. Set in an ISP company that keeps getting bought and sold, the constant remains a team of cynical, hilarious techies. M.B.A.s and marketers drift in and out, as do CEOs, often making statements like, "I can't surf the Web. I think the Internet is broken." For anyone who's dealt with similar situations, User Friendly is the ultimate in-joke.

    To be fair, the comic is pretty basic in layout and execution. No one will confuse this book with a graphic novel, since the visuals basically exist only to further the punch line. (Think of a stripped-down Bloom County and you're getting close.) Lots of the jokes involve goofy, clichéd rants about the beauty of Quake, Linux, and Star Wars--the holy trinity for a white, wired, 18-26 year-old male audience. But when the author, Illiad, nails the bloated bureaucracy that exists in the tech working world, it's a laugh-out-loud payoff. In one comic, a new "suit" walks into the tech den and asks, What's "one thing that makes your job difficult, and we'll see about eliminating that." The chorus erupts: "Meetings." The new boss replies: "Very good. Now let's spend a few hours discussing why meetings make you unproductive." A comic that tilts at windmills and Windows, it's clear why User Friendly has developed such a strong online cult following. --Jennifer Buckendorff [via]

    More editions of User Friendly:

  • The Wiz Biz
    by Rick Cook
    ISBN 0671878468 (0-671-87846-8)
    Softcover, Pocket Books

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'The Wiz Biz'
    Book summary:

    It all began when the wizards of the White League were under attack by their opponents of the Black League and one of their most powerful members cast a spell to bring forth a mighty wizard to aid their cause. What the spell delivered was master hacker Walter "Wiz" Zumwalt. The wizard who east the spell was dead and nobody -- not the elves, not the dwarves, not even the dragons -- could figure out what the shanghaied computer nerd was good for.

    But spells are a lot like computer programs, and, in spite of the Wiz's unprepossessing appearance, he was going to defeat the all-powerful Black League, win the love of a beautiful red-haired witch, and prove that when it comes to spells and sorcery, nobody but nobody can beat a Silicon Valley computer geek! [via]

    More editions of The Wiz Biz:

  • Cook, Rick: Wizardry Cursed
    Wizardry Cursed
    by Rick Cook
    ISBN 067172049X (0-671-72049-X)
    Softcover, Simon & Schuster

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'Wizardry Cursed'

    More editions of Wizardry Cursed:

  • The Wizardry Quested
    by Rick Cook
    ISBN 0671877089 (0-671-87708-9)
    Softcover, Pocket Books

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'The Wizardry Quested'
    Book summary:

    Preparing to protect a twenty-foot dragon from the wrath of his own wife, Wiz joins forces with his eccentric companions in an adventure filled with Soviet ex-spies, a band of dwarves, zombie dragon riders, and a fluffy pink mechanical rabbit. [via]

    More editions of The Wizardry Quested:

  • L'Engle, Madeleine: A Wrinkle in Time: Library Edition
    A Wrinkle in Time: Library Edition
    by Madeleine L'Engle
    ISBN 1557360596 (1-55736-059-6)
    Hardcover, Cornerstone Books

    Find This Book

     

    › Find signed collectible books: 'A Wrinkle in Time: Library Edition'
    Book summary:

    Everyone in town thinks Meg is volatile and dull-witted and that her younger brother Charles Wallace is dumb. People are also saying that their father has run off and left their brilliant scientist mother. Spurred on by these rumors, Meg and Charles Wallace, along with their new friend Calvin, embark on a perilous quest through space to find their father. In doing so they must travel behind the shadow of an evil power that is darkening the cosmos, one planet at a time.

    Young people who have trouble finding their place in the world will connect with the "misfit" characters in this provocative story. This is no superhero tale, nor is it science fiction, although it shares elements of both. The travelers must rely on their individual and collective strengths, delving deep into their characters to find answers.

    A classic since 1962, Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time is sophisticated in concept yet warm in tone, with mystery and love coursing through its pages. Meg's shattering yet ultimately freeing discovery that her father is not omnipotent provides a satisfying coming-of-age element. Readers will feel a sense of power as they travel with these three children, challenging concepts of time, space, and the power of good over evil. (Ages 9 to 12) [via]

    More editions of A Wrinkle in Time: Library Edition:

Spanish