Linux and the Unix Philosophy: Operating Systems Paperback – 22 July 2003

First the good news:- An interesting insight into the origins of Unix and Linux, and the common ideas which join the two.- His core ideas ('tenets of the Unix philosophy') really helped me to see why Linux is the way it is, especially at the command line.- He writes with an infectious enthusiasm, and I do feel challenged to change the way I write my humble shell scripts from now on, as I can see the benefits of the approaches he describes.Now the not-so-good:- Much of the book seems like a barely updated version of the author's original book (The Unix Philosophy, 1994). This is confirmed by a comparison of the Kindle samples of the two books, with many passages repeated verbatim.- Most of the examples which support the author's thesis are really dated now (e.g. the Atari 800). Some glaring anachronisms have been overlooked in the revision process, for example fax machines gaining wide acceptance at present! Although the last chapters bring his ideas into the 21st century, I feel it would have been better to have more current examples throughout the book.- The price tag is very heavy (GBP 25.64 when I bought it), which seems somewhat ironic for an electronic book from a self-proclaimed champion of open-source software.