July 10, 2023

Review

This is quite an "old" book. It was published in 2002. But this is also the reason why this book is so interesting. It provides an insight into the early days of Linux.

When the book was written, Linux was in its first decade. Things were a little different then. Linus talks through the infancy of Linux (and the war against Minix) all the way up to what was going on at the time the book was written. How he was, for example, being paid by a company to do software work for the first time. The book also brings about a major inspiration for him, another book called "Operating Systems: Design and Implementation" by Andrew S. Tanenbaum, which I hope to read some other day.

Surprisingly, I ended up learning a little bit about Finland. Like their obsession for saunas, and their education system (through the narrative of Linus about his childhood).

All in all, the book is fun, easy to read, and insightful in strange (and niche) ways.