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Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age 1st Edition

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"The computer world is like an intellectual Wild West, in which you can shoot anyone you wish with your ideas, if you're willing to risk the consequences. " --from Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age, by Paul Graham

We are living in the computer age, in a world increasingly designed and engineered by computer programmers and software designers, by people who call themselves hackers. Who are these people, what motivates them, and why should you care?

Consider these facts: Everything around us is turning into computers. Your typewriter is gone, replaced by a computer. Your phone has turned into a computer. So has your camera. Soon your TV will. Your car was not only designed on computers, but has more processing power in it than a room-sized mainframe did in 1970. Letters, encyclopedias, newspapers, and even your local store are being replaced by the Internet.

Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age, by Paul Graham, explains this world and the motivations of the people who occupy it. In clear, thoughtful prose that draws on illuminating historical examples, Graham takes readers on an unflinching exploration into what he calls "an intellectual Wild West."

The ideas discussed in this book will have a powerful and lasting impact on how we think, how we work, how we develop technology, and how we live. Topics include the importance of beauty in software design, how to make wealth, heresy and free speech, the programming language renaissance, the open-source movement, digital design, internet startups, and more.

From the Publisher

	Hacker Culture A to Z	Hackers	Hackers & Painters

Customer Reviews	4	789	750
Price	$15.92	$21.42	$15.49
From O'Reilly Media	A Fun Guide to the Fundamentals of Cybersecurity and Hacking	Heroes of the Computer Revolution	Big Ideas from the Computer Age

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Paul Graham , designer of the new Arc language, was the creator of Yahoo Store, the first web-based application. His technique for spam filtering inspired most current filters. He has a PhD in Computer Science from Harvard and studied painting at RISD and the Accademia in Florence.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ O'Reilly Media
Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 28, 2004
Edition ‏ : ‎ 1st
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0596006624
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0596006624
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.01 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.94 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #614,305 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #23 in Computer Hacking
- #584 in Software Development (Books)
- #1,349 in Programming Languages (Books)

Customer Reviews:
750 ratings

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Paul Graham

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Paul Graham (born 13 November 1964) is an English computer scientist, venture capitalist, and essayist. He is known for his work on Lisp, for co-founding Viaweb (which eventually became Yahoo! Store), and for co-founding the Y Combinator seed capital firm. He is the author of some programming books, such as: On Lisp (1993), ANSI Common Lisp (1995), and Hackers & Painters (2004).

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Crédit photo: Sarah Harlin [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

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Customers find the book enjoyable to read and well-written, with insightful content. They appreciate the author's ability to connect technology and art, with one customer noting how Paul organically links painting with programming.

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Readability Insight Writing style Art versus technology

33 customers mention "Readability"33 positive0 negative

Customers find the book highly readable, with chapters worth reading and resulting in good essays, making it a pleasure to read.

"...his book is not dense or difficult: Graham's graceful style is a pleasure to read. But what is it? Is it a business book, or a technical book?..." Read more

"...abstraction (of content) and simplification (of form) that results in really good essays...." Read more

"...All in all, I've enjoyed reading "Hackers & Painters". Its an easy read with interesting strong opinions from Paul...." Read more

"...What makes this book worth reading is that you get inside of Paul Graham's mind...." Read more

31 customers mention "Insight"31 positive0 negative

Customers find the book insightful and fascinating, with one customer noting that it presents big ideas in a few words.

"...There are essays on business --- particularly startups --- and essays on programming languages and how to combat spam, and one delightful one on the..." Read more

"...Its an easy read with interesting strong opinions from Paul. I'd rate it between 3 and 4 stars, mainly because the amount of learning is not high...." Read more

"...The topics of his essays are diverse, but all represent a hacker's point of view...." Read more

"...But what do I know? It's all fascinating. And well-written, too, if you can forgive Graham's habit of beginning sentences with "and."..." Read more

18 customers mention "Writing style"16 positive2 negative

Customers find the writing style of the book well written and readable, with one customer noting it is insightful at times.

"...All in all, I've enjoyed reading "Hackers & Painters". Its an easy read with interesting strong opinions from Paul...." Read more

"...He has an amazingly clear writing style (one that I am extremely fond of), and is able to walk you through his thoughts and arguments in a clear..." Read more

"...The chapters themselves are really well written even though he sometimes argues unconvincingly...." Read more

"...But what do I know? It's all fascinating. And well-written, too, if you can forgive Graham's habit of beginning sentences with "and."..." Read more

3 customers mention "Art versus technology"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate how the book explores the connections between art and technology, with one customer noting how Paul organically connects painting with programming.

"...nerds/socialization, wealth building, and the deep connections between technology and art...." Read more

"...PG is one of the few persons who are masters in both art and technology and the depth of his understanding for the two trades really shines through..." Read more

"...I love how Paul organically connect painting with programming. I think both are a process of thinking and creating." Read more

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David Bridgeland
An astonishingly good book of essays
Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2004
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This is an astonishingly good collection of essays. In lesser hands, any of the 15 essays here could have been a book by itself --- each packs more content than you can find in a typical one idea business book, or a typical one technology book for geeks. Yet his book is not dense or difficult: Graham's graceful style is a pleasure to read.
But what is it? Is it a business book, or a technical book? A bit of both actually, with a pinch of social criticism thrown in. There are essays on business --- particularly startups --- and essays on programming languages and how to combat spam, and one delightful one on the difficulty being a nerd in American public schools.
My favorite essay of the 15 --- and picking a favorite is itself a challenge --- is called "What you can't say". It is about heresy, not historical Middle Ages burned-at-the-stake heresy, but heresy today in 2004. And if you believe nothing is heretical today, that no idea today is so beyond the pale that it would provoke a purely emotional reaction to its very utterance, then read some of the other reviews. Graham's idea is not that all heresies are worth challenging publicly, or even that all heresies are wrong, but merely that there is value is being aware of what is heretical, so one can notice where the blind spots are.
Astonishingly good.

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Ben_Davidow
new ideas + good writing = great book
Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2014
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
H & P has one of the highest insights-per-page densities of any book I've read. Graham writes essays not to describe or sell ideas but to discover them. Writing is his vehicle for coming up with new ways of looking at things, and we get to go along for the ride.

Graham has a knack for distilling the essence of things: high schools as holding pens, hacking as a craft, money as a way to move wealth, programming languages as chairs, etc. Two questions seem to drive Graham's writing process: What is the broadest thing that can be said about X without being false? And how can I say it in the simplest manner possible? It's this joint process of abstraction (of content) and simplification (of form) that results in really good essays.

If you are curious about the world and like surprising ideas, then you should probably read this book.

P.S. if you enjoy the essays, definitely check out the endnotes. To simplify his essays, Graham buries a lot of insights at the end.

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Bas Vodde
A fun read
Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2009
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Paul Graham's "Hackers and Painters" is a collection of separate articles from Paul. The articles are well written and funny, though I frequently did not agree with the content. Since one of the earlier articles was on censorship, I'd say... that was probably the intention :)

The first article is triggered by Pauls growing up and asks why nerds are unpopular when you are younger. He explores memories of his childhood and tries to clarify them. He continues with a article after which the book is named. He explains that he has *some* education in painting and explores the similarity between hacking and painting.

The next couple chapters are an attack to taboos in general. What can we say? Why can we say that? And he claims that hackers are more comfortable breaking taboos, breaking the rules.

In the article "The road ahead" he is making predictions related to web-based server software, of which some are insightful (or were insightful). He claims that server-based software will be the future and the recent years have certainly shown that to be true.

The next couple of articles relate to capitalism and I did disagree with a lot of the statements he made in here. Though, often his points are carefully crafts.. here I found them simplistic. It annoyed me and even thought about stop reading it. The well-written-ness made me continue though.

The middle of the book contains an article about spam. This one doesn't fit well in the book and could have better left out, in my opinion.

The last articles in the book relate to programming languages and were fun to read. Paul is a serious Lisp fan and tries to argue about programming languages in such a way that it always supports his chose of lisp. He does make a couple of good points.

All in all, I've enjoyed reading "Hackers & Painters". Its an easy read with interesting strong opinions from Paul. I'd rate it between 3 and 4 stars, mainly because the amount of learning is not high. Though, I remember some articles got me laughing out loud, so decided to go for a 4. Worth reading if you like strong opinions relate to hacker cultures.

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Randall Degges
Various Essays from a Hacker's Point of View
Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2011
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
Disclaimer: I'm a big fan of Paul Graham's writing and works. I've been reading his blog for ages, and am a somewhat obsessive reader of his website Hacker News.

I recently decided to purchase and read Graham's book, "Hackers & Painters", to casually read through some of his favorite essays. This book is comprised of 15 of Graham's essays pulled from his blog, which he updates several times a year. The topics of his essays are diverse, but all represent a hacker's point of view.

What makes this book worth reading is that you get inside of Paul Graham's mind. He has an amazingly clear writing style (one that I am extremely fond of), and is able to walk you through his thoughts and arguments in a clear manner.

If you're at all interested in entrepreneurship, technology, or programming, I would give this book a read. It can be read casually in a day or so, and will make you think deeply about the topics discussed for weeks afterwards.

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Profpatsch
One of the greatest book in the history of hackers.
Reviewed in Germany on May 17, 2013
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Paul Graham is a hacker of the first hour and has been closely watching the scene for decades now. Plus, he in an excellent essayist.
Every one of these essays is incredibly well thought out, yes, I’d even go as far as to say there is not a single sentence in this whole book that could be described as filler. Every one of them matters and carries ideas that can change world views. It certainly changed mine.

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Brendan
thought provoking
Reviewed in Canada on March 12, 2015
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
Provides an interesting point of view on the world of computer programming and the requirements for success in general. The writer encourages you to rethink convention on many fronts and uses his own success as evidence to why it must be done.

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cheesejalapeno
One of a kind.
Reviewed in Spain on July 2, 2015
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
A little book that has a soul.
You can get really interesting philosophical smell from this writing.
The autor really loves what he does and gives you real high level knowledge from his vast and deep experience in computing.
Really good for picking chapters in a random manner.

I loved reading it.

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Paulo Renato Orione
Ideal para programadores e artistas buscando novos pontos de vista
Reviewed in Brazil on September 8, 2020
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Qual a semelhança entre programadores e pintores? Ambos são criadores. Eles criam coisas a partir de uma visão. Uma mistura de filosofia, tecnologia, visão de mundo e reflexões aleatórias que formam uma obra que tem alma. Alguns capítulos são diretamente para programadores, e nesses eu não tive muito interesse. Mas o outros, amigo... que porrada. Paul Graham sintetiza com clareza assuntos complexos e polêmicos. Conformismo e seus perigos, criação de riqueza, criação de produtos... tudo de um ponto de vista ao mesmo tempo filosófico e prático. Várias vezes terminei de ler um trecho e me vi assim: 🤯 Não fosse pelos capítulos muito técnicos que são 30% do livro, seria possivelmente um dos melhores do ano.

Se você é programador, LEIA, provavelmente vai ser seu livro favorito.

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Paulo Renato Orione

Ideal para programadores e artistas buscando novos pontos de vista

Reviewed in Brazil on September 8, 2020
Qual a semelhança entre programadores e pintores? Ambos são criadores. Eles criam coisas a partir de uma visão. Uma mistura de filosofia, tecnologia, visão de mundo e reflexões aleatórias que formam uma obra que tem alma. Alguns capítulos são diretamente para programadores, e nesses eu não tive muito interesse. Mas o outros, amigo... que porrada. Paul Graham sintetiza com clareza assuntos complexos e polêmicos. Conformismo e seus perigos, criação de riqueza, criação de produtos... tudo de um ponto de vista ao mesmo tempo filosófico e prático. Várias vezes terminei de ler um trecho e me vi assim: 🤯 Não fosse pelos capítulos muito técnicos que são 30% do livro, seria possivelmente um dos melhores do ano.

Se você é programador, LEIA, provavelmente vai ser seu livro favorito.

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owl_suzuki
15章それぞれが本１冊分の読み応えがある
Reviewed in Japan on September 15, 2004
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Viaweb社を立ち上げた時の経験やルネサンス期イタリアの歴史を交えながら、ハッカーとはどういう人間か、プログラミング言語の進化、ベンチャー事業を成功させる方法を論じている。
話は大変具体的でわかり易いにもかかわらず、著者の洞察力には圧倒される。
これを読むまでは、LISPなんてただへんてこりんな言語だと思っていたが、見方が変わった。
特に、“dynamic typing”対“static typing”についてはハッカーを科学者ではなく画家と対比して見せたことによって、少なくともアプリケーション寄りのプログラミング言語は、dynamic typingであるべきだということが良く分かった。
しかしながら、LISP言語のもうひとつの強力な機能であるmacroについては、この本を読んだだけではわからなかった。それでもLISPはプログラミング言語進化の本流に違いない。
各章が独立したエッセイなので読みやすい。

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5.0 out of 5 stars An astonishingly good book of essays

5.0 out of 5 stars new ideas + good writing = great book

4.0 out of 5 stars A fun read

5.0 out of 5 stars Various Essays from a Hacker's Point of View

Top reviews from other countries

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the greatest book in the history of hackers.

5.0 out of 5 stars thought provoking

5.0 out of 5 stars One of a kind.

4.0 out of 5 stars Ideal para programadores e artistas buscando novos pontos de vista

Ideal para programadores e artistas buscando novos pontos de vista

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5.0 out of 5 stars 15章それぞれが本１冊分の読み応えがある

An astonishingly good book of essays

new ideas + good writing = great book

A fun read

Various Essays from a Hacker's Point of View

One of the greatest book in the history of hackers.

thought provoking

One of a kind.

Ideal para programadores e artistas buscando novos pontos de vista

15章それぞれが本１冊分の読み応えがある