The Hacker Ethic

Rating:
Summary: Excellent through ch 4, then loses focus
Review: I bought and read this book because I enjoy reading about hacker history and culture. When I started, I simply read and flipped pages, thinking I wouldn't find much of deep importance. After about 20 pages I was extremely interested in the book and started underlining the author's main points. By chapter 5, and especially in chapter 6, the author lost my attention and I ended up giving this book a three star review.

The valuable core of 'The Hacker Ethic' lies in its comparison with the Protestant work ethic. The author explains that philosophy's roots in monastic life, and contrasts it with the 'hacker ethic' and its roots in academic/scientific practices. As a history major I thought this comparison was fascinating and it made me examine my own work habits more closely. The author's illumination of time-centric vs. task-centric work was especially interesting.

Linux kernel inventor Linus Torvalds wrote the prologue, so the entire book approaches the free/open software world from an overtly Linux perspective. One mention of BSD appears in a citation of Eric S. Raymond's 'Cathedral and the Bazaar.' ESR criticizes the BSD development model ('carefully coordinated... by a relatively small, tightly knit group of people') in comparison with Linux, where 'quality was maintained not by rigid standards or autocracy but by the naively simple strategy of releasing every week and getting feedback.' I think 'naive' is the operative word here. Linux has certainly prospered, but companies like IBM, Novell, and others are playing increasingly bigger roles.

If you can read Linus' prologue and the first four chapters in a book store, I recommend doing so. I believe the author does a nice job making comparisons with the Protestant work ethic, but doesn't quite know where to go next. Reading four chapters should take a couple of hours, and you'll walk away appreciating the keen insights author Pekka Himanen has to offer on 'The Hacker Ethic.'

Rating:
Summary: Very bad and very simplistic
Review: I originally picked up this book more for amusement than anything else, considering it another one of those books about kids who stay up all night writing radical programs and their nocturnal habits. I was wrong. This book is best decribed in the prologue written by Linus Torvolds himself. He states that when he first met the author it was at a convention of 'sociologists talking about technology'. Well this book is written by just such a person... a sociologist. And one by my observation who decided to write a book about technology without any real knowledge of the spectrum of subcultures in the technology arena. In a way it seems like a sociological report one would make to his peers, who without any real background in the subject would deem well written,as previous reviews above have shown, but for the rest of us, there is much more interesting literature out there. And hopefully sometime in the very near future he will cease his contributing his, at best, amateur opinions on this subject to himself, and allow those with a true insight to document the culture. While I greatly respect Linus Torvalds and his contributions to the world, he only lends credibility to a book that no one else wouldeven consider without his name being mentioned.

Rating:
Summary: Insightful for those unfamiliar to the world.
Review: I would highly recommend this book to people in the MCSE or management crowd who want to understand what motivates people to work on complex software projects without receiving any monetary reward.

Although I would not classify myself as a hacker in the strictest sense of the definition, most people would consider me to be one. I find most of this information to be commonly known or discussed amongst the geek community, but it's great to have such keen insight packed in to this small book. Even if you're familiar with hacker culture, it's always insightful to look at subjects through the eyes of others.

Rating:
Summary: The book in it's self is contradictive to it's objective...
Review: I'm only 1/4 of the way through so far. I find it amusing that the author, obviously a believer in his writings, chooses to sell his book rather than provide it free of charge for all to download. This seems to go against the hacker ethic ;).

That aside, thus far it appears to be a worthy read. Reading the first three chapters has given me a slightly different perspective on my job and gave me a reason to be proud of my authority complex. Tomorrow I am going to revolt againt my bosses and tell them I'll work when I want to (If anybody reading this is looking to hire a developer with hacker ethics I will be needing a job tomorrow).

Rating:
Summary: The book in it's self is contradictive to it's objective...
Review: I'm only 1/4 of the way through so far. I find it amusing that the author, obviously a believer in his writings, chooses to sell his book rather than provide it free of charge for all to download. This seems to go against the hacker ethic ;).

That aside, thus far it appears to be a worthy read. Reading the first three chapters has given me a slightly different perspective on my job and gave me a reason to be proud of my authority complex. Tomorrow I am going to revolt againt my bosses and tell them I'll work when I want to (If anybody reading this is looking to hire a developer with hacker ethics I will be needing a job tomorrow).

Rating:
Summary: The Hacker Work Ethic...Or A New Play Ethic?
Review: I've never read a clearer, more erudite, more persuasive demolition of the old Protestant Work Ethic than Pekka Himanen's essay in this book. And that clarity comes from being part of a new constituency - the hacker community - who are redefining what it is to be a passionate, active, creative, tool-wielding human being (ie, it's much more than just being a "worker").

And rather than the Hacker Ethic being the usual pizza-stained celebration of digital anarchism you find in hacker commentary, Himanen begins to construct a real and tangible politics out of the self-organising energies of hackerdom. What might the hacker ethic mean for how we build educational institutions, as communities of inquiry rather than job factories? For how we generate technological innovation, in ways that don't always depend on the furies of the market? For how we might provide social services amongst ourselves, rather than waiting for politicians and bureaucrats to deliver?

I suppose the only problem I have - and it's one I'm trying to answer with my own project, The Play Ethic (on the web) is this: why do we need to keep describing unalienated human productivity and creativity (which is what hackerdom, and other forms of modern behaviour, are) as "work"? Isn't this the last legacy of Calvin and Knox, still shaping our minds through controlling our vocabulary? Why not call it "play", and be done with it - that's play as defined by Sartre, "that action we do when we apprehend that we are truly free": or Schiller's, meaning that activity we do when we are (as adults) "fully human"?

Play also extends beyond the hacker community (still, as Pekka admits, predominantly male), and touches upon all the other "arts of living" that evade the patriarchal work ethic - in emotions, parent-child relationships, New Age spirituality, gender androgyny, ecological sensibilities. There is also a whole world of non-Christian theologies and traditions out there which place human creativity at their core, which could have been mentioned. (And what about Harold Bloom's cry for an American gnosticism in Omens of Millenium? That's just waiting for Richard Stallman and his cultic robes!)

But hell, that's the book *I'm* writing... In the meantime, The Hacker Ethic is the worst news that the New Economy's work ethic could ever have - which means, the best for all us. Put a copy on your pal's desk: the one with the nervous twitch and the grey pallor. And watch the passion come back into his/her face.

Rating:
Summary: Insightful for those unfamiliar to the world.
Review: I've recently had the chance to read this book, and though I feel it is a fine read as far as the style and lanaguage go, it's somewhat of a rehash of other writings on the subject.

I am a hacker in the sense that I have the knowledge of mathematics and programming, the understanding of computer organization, and I subscribe to the "hacker ethic".

Now on to the book. This book appears largely to be based on a gathering of the old writings of The Mentor but rewritten for a specific audience (for those of you not familiar with the handle, The Mentor was one of the first hackers, and one of the most prolific. He laid down the fundamentals by which hackers live, and wrote the famous Hacker's Manifesto). Yes, many new ideas were added to this book, but there is quite a bit that sounds like a tweaked, and less offensive, rehash of The Mentor's writing as well as the essays of various other hackers. That's not to say the writing isn't original in some sense, but mostly it's been done before. I wouldn't suggest it unless you are new and unfamiliar with the hacking field, and are looking for some insight into it, without being flamed or being confused by "buzz words". Also, this book should not be expected to be a tech manual, it's more of a look into the hacker's psyche, and it essentially praises hackers and supports them, so it might make a good picker-upper if you're a hacker down on your luck ;).

Rating:
Summary: What is Hacker's Ethic?
Review: Pekka Himanen has written an extended essay on theme he thinks is the changing force and imperative within the creators of the information society. He calls it the Hacker Ethic to contrast the Protestant Ethic made famous in Max Weber's classic text.

I think the theme the book is about is extremely important and most people in our society do not understand its effects and functions at all. To some degree Himanen is on the ball and makes the picture clearer to a layman. The first part of the book is about the work ethic where Himanen defines what Hacker's Ethic is about. This is the best part of the book.

Himanen starts defining Hacker's Ethic as a general attitude towards work in the information society. For example a car mechanic can be a "hacker" in his field of expertise. Described by Himanen, in the center of hacker ethic is information sharing. It is held as a duty to share interesting information with like-minded people. In some sense the hacker ethic is a counterforce to the market culture. Hackers enter into information creation and exchange motivated by enthusiasm, joy and passion, not just money. Working times of a hacker are individual and optimized. In overall, hierarchies and rules from above are not driving creative individuals in the information centric fields of our society.

Great stuff. But in some directions Himanen's essay is unfortunately not very profound and lacks touch of reality. This comes in part two which is about "money ethic". To me there is no insight or originality in his thoughts. I believe the worst writings about money I've ever encountered originate from philosophers, idealists, elitists and other guys who are somehow closer to higher superstition than the raw reality of street-level business world. - Brainstorming in the third and last part named "the nethic" is somewhere between the first and the second part. Personally, I don't find it very convincing.

How great hacker Himanen may be, his book is sold as one interesting product of commercial culture, which hopefully entertains and attracts the short attention-window of its target consumers. If you were an average american consumer interested in current societal issues would you buy a book from Pekka Himanen. - From who? No problem, on the cover of the book are printed the names Linus Torvalds and Manuel Castells. Torvalds has actually written a short intro to the book - that has no connection to Himanen's essay. Castells for his part has made a short summary of the main points from his three volume The Information Age (1996-1998) in the end.

Rating:
Summary: Provocative, Maybe Ground Breaking, Expecting More
Review: The Hacker Ethic is a late 1990s Information Age treatise. The author, a gifted and young sociologist, posits that the Protestant Ethic is gradually giving away to a new paradigm, and that the new paradigm will be much more effective and functional than the old paradigm. Seems simplistic, but much of Himanen's treatise is excellent and hard to ignore.

If I can fault the work, it would be along the lines that it can misinterpreted by slackers as a way of mindlessly rebelling against employers and western culture altogether. Too many Generation X advocates will take this like Charles Manson took the White Album. This is a solid, introductory work not to be read by nihilists.

Overall, I think Himanen is a very promising figure in the Information Age and will probably make a great long-term contribution to global society. I expect bigger and better things from him in the future.

Rating:
Summary: This is an eye opener
Review: There are many who may disagree with this book, but the viewpoints and in-depth analysis by the authors is inspiring. They will make you reexamine life, the workplace, and even your free time. Looking at the world through hacker glasses is really interesting. Not something you'll see on any Nova or Discovery show. You'll need to read.