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Summary: Grosset & Dunlap edition is very cheaply made
Review: Others have written regarding content; I am simply alerting people that this edition (ISBN 0448421658) was more cheaply made than I expected; the cover is simply folded over (no glue). I doubt it will hold up to much use.
Rating:
Summary: Grosset & Dunlap edition is very cheaply made
Review: Others have written regarding content; I am simply alerting people that this edition (ISBN 0448421658) was more cheaply made than I expected; the cover is simply folded over (no glue). I doubt it will hold up to much use.
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Summary: Roboplegic Wrongcock?
Review: Ping has about it a studied innocence. Yes, a paradox. But NOT a paradox as well, which encapsulates its heuristic paradoxy in a nullity of versimilitude.Its follow up volume, "A Tale of Traceroute", is less successful. Its plot is predictable, and despite some star turns, it fails to live up to the clarity of vision present by the original. The final volume, "A Nonce on Netstat", is, of course, obscene and therefore of high moral rectaltude.
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Summary: Erin's Adventure with Ping
Review: Ping is a beautiful young duck that lives on the Yangtze River as told by the authors in this great fiction book. He lives with his family on the beautiful wide-eyed boat. Each morning they comb the banks of the river looking for good things to eat, but when the sun starts to set the race is on to get back to the boat, for the last duck to board the boat gets a spanking. When Ping finds himself to be the last duck he decides to hide in the tall grass on the bank and wait till tomorrow to board the boat. The next day while Ping searches for his family he finds himself aboard a houseboat ready to be duck stew. Will he escape and make it home or will he become duck stew? Ride along with Ping and discover that getting a spanking is much bette than getting in more trobule than you already are.Don't miss out on this great book and find out if the houseboat family gets their supper of duck stew.
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Summary: An adventure tale brings back wonderful childhood memories
Review: Ping is one of the many wonderful stories I was exposed to growing up watching Captain Kangaroo. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, Stone Soup, Caps For Sale, The Five Chinese Brothers -- these great books along with Ping really made an impact on me as a child. I not only discovered the magic of storytelling, I also learned the nearly-lost art of listening. Ping is one of those adventures you can really lose yourself in, as you imagine sailing on the Wide-Eyed Boat down the Yangtse River. I sat in rapt attention, knowing Ping had to decide whether to arrive late and take his spank, or let the boat go and face enormous uncertainty. Every parent owes it to their child to share storytime with terrific tales like Ping. Not only is it a great bonding opportunity, but it creates memories that will last a lifetime.
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Summary: Ping! I love that duck!
Review: PING! The magic duck! Using deft allegory, the authors have provided an insightful and intuitive explanation of one of Unix's most venerable networking utilities. Even more stunning is that they were clearly working with a very early beta of the program, as their book first appeared in 1933, years (decades!) before the operating system and network infrastructure were finalized. The book describes networking in terms even a child could understand, choosing to anthropomorphize the underlying packet structure. The ping packet is described as a duck, who, with other packets (more ducks), spends a certain period of time on the host machine (the wise-eyed boat). At the same time each day (I suspect this is scheduled under cron), the little packets (ducks) exit the host (boat) by way of a bridge (a bridge). From the bridge, the packets travel onto the internet (here embodied by the Yangtze River). The title character -- er, packet, is called Ping. Ping meanders around the river before being received by another host (another boat). He spends a brief time on the other boat, but eventually returns to his original host machine (the wise-eyed boat) somewhat the worse for wear. If you need a good, high-level overview of the ping utility, this is the book. I can't recommend it for most managers, as the technical aspects may be too overwhelming and the basic concepts too daunting. Problems With This Book As good as it is, The Story About Ping is not without its faults. There is no index, and though the ping(8) man pages cover the command line options well enough, some review of them seems to be in order. Likewise, in a book solely about Ping, I would have expected a more detailed overview of the ICMP packet structure. But even with these problems, The Story About Ping has earned a place on my bookshelf, right between Stevens' Advanced Programming in the Unix Environment, and my dog-eared copy of Dante's seminal work on MS Windows, Inferno. Who can read that passage on the Windows API ("Obscure, profound it was, and nebulous, So that by fixing on its depths my sight -- Nothing whatever I discerned therein."), without shaking their head with deep understanding. But I digress.
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Summary: A profound life-lesson wrapped inside an entertaining story
Review: Ping, the duckling who was late for the boatride home, discovers that accepting the consequences for his actions is better than being an outcast. An important life-lesson is wrapped up inside an entertaining story for young children. While the theme and presentation might not be considered "contemporary" in today's touchy-feely society, the message remains profound and eternal.
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Summary: From Another Era...and worthwhile.
Review: Poor Ping! No wonder the little Chinese Duck runs away from home, getting beaten like that. He learns his lesson though - it's better to stay with the little pat on the back rather than face the pot at dinner. I'm still wondering whether his cousins Traceroute and Netstat had to take their share of beatings, too. I guess we'll never find out. Actually, a very enjoyable book, with an excellent cadence and meter. The illustrations are simply yet richly done, and my kids and I thoroughly enjoy our time with little Ping.
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Summary: Worst children's book I've read yet
Review: Thank goodness I don't remember this book from my childhood! I'm so glad I read this book before I got a chance to share it with my 4 year old. It teaches some horrible lessons. Conformity at all costs. Corporal punishment. Animal cruelty. No matter how hard those ducks race to get on the boat, someone will always be last and will be hit with a stick. I realize this book is a classic and the illustrations are wonderful, but I think it is time to retire this one.
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Summary: A book on the futility of thought
Review: The Story About Ping is a beautiful allegory for the futility of free thought. While conforming may be painful [as shown by Ping's daily swat for being last and least of the conforming], it triumphs over the frightening world of the unknown. Leaving us with the message that overcoming adversity through intellectual superiority is impossible and in vain. A perfect story for the proletariat children of the future, or for a President supporting the PATRIOT Act, though the latter may have problems tackling its big words.
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