general review. the first two parts are good. the third part is kinda jargony and boring. ( )

Picked this up from the library rather randomly, and read it in 3 days - very thought provoking, especially because even though it's written 10 years ago, so much of what it grapples with is still - or even more - relevant today. While Egypt was flaring up, it was fascinating to read about how the Internet was used in the 1999 Kosovo crisis.

But for me the first 2 parts - on money as motivation, and our attitude towards work - were the most riveting. The "Hacker Ethic" is still clearly alive today, and much more evident in areas other than technical realms. How this ethic integrates (or not) with more traditional structures of work and life is a topic in need of some big answers. This book didn't offer much in the way of solution, but did do a great job in setting out the reasons and contexts for a lot of the divides in attitude around today.

Good read if you're into any of the media and information literature - especially as the main text is bookended nicely by Linus Torvalds at the start, and Manuel Castells at the end. ( )

Kind of a half-review (as I'm currently only halfway through the book) but hopefully this will give you an idea of what to expect:

http://openattitude.com/2010/04/14/hackerism-ethics-and-the-best-dad-ever/ ( )

Synthèse passionnante qui oppose l'éthique protestante (cf Max Weber) à l'éthique hacker. Tout à fait lisible par un non-sociologue non-philosophe (là je pense à moi). Mais nécessité de rester critique. ( )

This book compares the hacker ethic with the protestant work ethic, which we are more familiar with:

Protestant Work Ethic
- work is seen as an end onto itself (it prevents idleness, which can only lead to sin!)
- work must be regarded as one's duty (because work by definition is unpleasant)
- assigned work must be done, regardless of it's value (because it's humbling)

Hacker Work Ethic
- work is interesting and enjoyable
- the output of the work must be valueable to others
- the output of the work must be open for others to use and improve upon
- workers need the freedom to organize their work/leisure it best suits them
- workers must have the freedom and privacy to perform the work in whatever manner achieves the required output
- workers must help other workers

It has excellent references to other books and philosophers to help illustrate it's points. It's very thought provoking. It gave me a totally new way of looking at motivation. It also helped to identify some things about my current work that I don't like. (Someone could make a million writing "A Guide to Managing Hackers" using the ideas in this book).

Unfortunately, the book reads like someone's PhD thesis -- but it's worth reading! Thanks Greg for loaning me this book. ( )