- Hardcover: 256 pages
- Publisher: Random House (Jan 30 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0375505660
- ISBN-13: 978-0375505669
- Product Dimensions: 19.3 x 13.5 x 2.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 340 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #338,415 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
"Pekka Himanen's theory of the hacker culture as the spirit of informationalism is a fundamental breakthrough in the discovery of the world unfolding in the uncertain dawn of the third millennium."
-Manuel Castells, from the Epilogue
"The Hacker Ethic is one of the most significant political ideas and value systems in history. Hackers are the warriors, explorers, guerrillas, and joyous adventurers of the Digital Age, and the true architects of the new economy. Demonized and often misunderstood, they are changing the world and the way it works. Pekka Himanen explains how and why in a book that is essential reading for anybody who wants to live, work or do business in the twenty-first century."
-Jon Katz, columnist for slashdot.org and author of Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho
"At last we have a book about the ethics of true hackers . . .not the criminals and vandals that the press calls hackers today, but the idealistic pioneers whose ethics of openness, enablement and cooperation laid the cornerstone for our new economy."
-Danny Hillis, Co-Founder, The Long Now Foundation and Co-Chairman & CTO, Applied Minds, Inc.
-Manuel Castells, from the Epilogue
"The Hacker Ethic is one of the most significant political ideas and value systems in history. Hackers are the warriors, explorers, guerrillas, and joyous adventurers of the Digital Age, and the true architects of the new economy. Demonized and often misunderstood, they are changing the world and the way it works. Pekka Himanen explains how and why in a book that is essential reading for anybody who wants to live, work or do business in the twenty-first century."
-Jon Katz, columnist for slashdot.org and author of Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho
"At last we have a book about the ethics of true hackers . . .not the criminals and vandals that the press calls hackers today, but the idealistic pioneers whose ethics of openness, enablement and cooperation laid the cornerstone for our new economy."
-Danny Hillis, Co-Founder, The Long Now Foundation and Co-Chairman & CTO, Applied Minds, Inc.
Book Description
Nearly a century ago, Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism articulated the animating spirit of the industrial age, the Protestant ethic. Now, Pekka Hinamen — together with Linus Torvalds and Manuel Castells — articulates how hackers* represent a new, opposing ethos for the information age. Underlying hackers' technical creations — such as the Internet and the personal computer, which have become symbols of our time — are the hacker values that produced them and that challenge us all. These values promoted passionate and freely rhythmed work; the belief that individuals can create great things by joining forces in imaginative ways; and the need to maintain our existing ethical ideals, such as privacy and equality, in our new, increasingly technologized society. The Hacker Ethic takes us on a journey through fundamental questions about life in the information age — a trip of constant surprises, after which out time and our lives can be seen from unexpected perspectives.
*In the original meaning of the word, hackers are enthusiastic computer programmers who share their work with others; they are not computer criminals.
*In the original meaning of the word, hackers are enthusiastic computer programmers who share their work with others; they are not computer criminals.
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Provocative, Maybe Ground Breaking, Expecting More,
By Greg T. Smith (Cincinnati, Ohio) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Hacker Ethic (Paperback)
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.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Intriguing Viewpoints,
By
This review is from: The Hacker Ethic: and the Spirit of the Information Age (Hardcover)
This book compares the so-called "hacker work ethic" as compared to the old "Protestant work ethic," examining so-called hacker culture and their motivations for working and completing projects, as opposed to the world view of working "because you are supposed to." It makes a number of interesting observations, and points out that in our world, the pressure to "work, work, work" never seems to escape us, in spite of all the technological advances of our world designed to "make life easier."It also points out that "true hackers" are willing to work at something in order to improve it and are not always motivated to do so by the almighty dollar. I long have worked with engineers who come in to work at 10 or 11 am but stay until almost midnight every day and never quite understood why until now. It's the desire to continue to tinker with and ultimately complete a project. I will never be a "true hacker," since I lack the aptitude and ultimately patience to sit at a computer screen all hours of the day and night trying to solve programming problems, but books like these give me a much better understanding of the ones who are.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Insightful for those unfamiliar to the world.,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Hacker Ethic: and the Spirit of the Information Age (Hardcover)
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 ;).
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