Programmers and hackers are often an introverted bunch. But the things we create have a considerable and measureable impact on the world and conversely our work is affected and influenced by things around us. Today’s selection is an attempt on my part to highlight those facts.

Reading

What Open Source shares with Science I’m sure this analogy has been made numberous times and I think it’s a pretty good one. This post is an interesting read because it goes quite a bit in depth regarding the history of science.

Media

The Last Lecture Carnegie Mellon Computer Science Professor Randy Pausch was one of the world’s prominent experts in virtual reality but he’s probably best known for his Last Lecture. I think everyone on the planet should watch this, especially if they’re young. There’s some computer science in it, but it’s the holistic experience that it’s worth watching for.

Books

I’ve decided to drop the software part for this installment in favor of something more 20th century.

Rebel Code This is the story of Linux and the Open Source Revolution and how it played an important part it creating the world we see around us today.