Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers From: Charles Shannon Hendrix Subject: AFC Reading List Reply-To: cshSPAM@SPAM.widomaker.com User-Agent: slrn/0.9.8.0 (Linux) Date: Tue, 6 Jul 2004 18:57:09 -0400 Message-ID: <5oafcc.t55.ln@escape.goid.lan> Lines: 182 X-Comments: This message was posted through Newsfeeds.com X-Comments2: IMPORTANT: Newsfeeds.com does not condone, nor support, spam or any illegal or copyrighted postings. X-Comments3: IMPORTANT: Under NO circumstances will postings containing illegal or copyrighted material through this service be tolerated!! X-Report: Please report illegal or inappropriate use to You may also use our online abuse reporting from: http://www.newsfeed.com/abuseform.htm X-Abuse-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers, INCLUDING the body (DO NOT SEND ATTACHMENTS) Organization: Newsfeed.com http://www.newsfeeds.com 100,000+ UNCENSORED Newsgroups. Path: nightfall.franklin.ch!pfaff2.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!switch.ch!solnet.ch!solnet.ch!news-out.superfeed.net!corp-news!not-for-mail Xref: nightfall.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:178540 Just a note to say that I have not forgotten or abandoned the AFC reading list (not a book list since it also has papers and rags). Just got busy with contract work and otherwise trying to avoid starvation. Hopefully this coming weekend I'll get some time to start moving the information into a database. I have a lot of other ideas built for the future, but right now I just want to get at least the titles and authors in place in a database. I might use a server, and then just have that spit out delimited, refer, bibtex, and other formats. I've enjoyed looking through the lists and searching for references of the books, picking up copies when I can. I'm still open for new list items. Anyway, here is the list. It's still raw and unformatted, and note that a lot of books lack much more than the title. AFC Reading List The Machine Stops, EM Forster, 1909? A Commentary on the UNIX Operating System, John Lions, UNSW, 1977. A Few Good Men from UNIVAC, D.E.Lundstrom, MIT, 1986. A Few Good Men From UNIVAC, Lundstrom A Quarter Century of UNIX, P.H.Salus, AW, 1993. Age Of The Pussyfoot, Frederick Pohl Alan M. Turing Archive @ King's, Cambridge Alan Turing: The Enigma, Andrew Hodges An Introduction To Microcomputers, Adam Osborne anything from Al Kossow Arrive At Easternwine, RA Lafferty Automatic Digital Computers, Booth and Booth BCPL-the Language and its Compiler, M.Richards C.Whitby-Stevens, CUP,1979. Before the Internet: Building the ARPAnet, BB&N, Peer-to-Peer, 1997. Before the Internet: Packet Communication, Bob Metcalfe, Peer-to-Peer, Before the Internet: Planning the ARPAnet, P.H.Salus ed., Brainfix, Chris Boyce Casting the Net, P.H.Salus, AW, 1994. Common Lisp: The Language, Guy Steele Computer Architecture and Parallel Processing by Hwang and Briggs Computer Architecture: Concepts and Evolution by Blaauw and Brooks Computer Engineering: A DEC view of Hardware Systems Design by Bell, Mudge and Macnamara Computer Lib / Dream Machines, Ted Nelson Computer Structures: Principles and Examples by Siewiorek, Bell and Newell Computer, M.Campbell-Kelly W.Aspray, Basic, 1996. Computing Perspectives, M.V.Wilkes, Morgan Kaufmann, 1995. "Cortada" Design and Implementation of the 4.3BSD UNIX Operating System, McKusick Leffler Karels Quartermann Digital At Work, Pearson, 1992 Early British Computers, Simon Lavington Edgser W. Dijkstra Archive @ Austin Enigma: Biography of Alan Turing by Robert Harris Epiktistes (short stories), ??? Faster Than Thought, BV Bowden, 1953 Fire In The Valley Fundamentals of Interactive Computer Graphics, J.D.Foley A.vanDam, AW,1982. IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems, Pugh Johnson Palmer, 1991 IBM's Early Computers, Bashe et al, MIT, 1986. IBM-Colossus in Transition, Robert Sobel, Times, 1981. Lions' Commentary on UNIX 6th Edition with Source Code, John Lions, Management and the Computer of the Future, M.Greenberger ed., MIT,1962. Memoirs of a Computer Pioneer, M.V.Wilkes, MIT, 1985. Packet Communication by Bob Metcalfe Pascal User's Manual and Report, K.Jensen N.Wirth, Springer, 1974. Peer-to-Peer Peer-to-Peer, 1996. Peer-to-Peer, 1997. Proceedings of HOPL and HOPL-II Reduced Instruction Set Computers, Stallings Rekursiv: Object-Oriented Computer Architecture, Harland Linn Rockerick stuff?, John Sladek Simulacron-3 Software Tools, B.W.Kernighan P.J.Plauger, AW, 1976. Structured Programming, O.-J.Dahl E.W.Dijkstra C.A.R.Hoare, AP, 1972. Technical Aspects of Data Communications, J.E.McNamara, Digital, 1977. The Adolescence of P1, Thomas J Ryan The Art Of Computer Programming, Donald Knuth The Big Idea, Anchor Books, 1999 The Compatible Time-Sharing System: A User's Guide, F.J.Corbato, MIT,1963. The Computer Contradictionary, 2nd ed., Stan Kelly-Bootle, MIT, 1995. The Computer-My Life, Konrad Zuse, Springer, 1993. The Computer: My Life's Work, Conrad Zuse The Cuckoo's Egg, Cliff Stoll, 1989 The Cyberiad, Stanslaw Lem The Dartmouth Time-sharing System The Devil's DP Dictionary, Stan Kelly-Bootle, McG-H, 1981. The Elements of Friendly Software Design, Paul Heckel, Warner, 1982. The Elements of Programming Style, B.W.Kernighan P.J.Plauger, AW,1974. The Machine Stops, EM Forster, 1909? The Matrix, John Quarterman, Digital, 1990. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Heinlein, 1965 The Multics System, Organick The Multics System: An Examination of its Structure, E.I.Organick,MIT, 1972. The Mythical Man-Month by Fred Brooks The Mythical Man-Month, F.P.Brooks,Jr., AW, 1975 2000. The non-ESR versions of the Jargon File The Origins Of Digital Computers, Brian Randell The Psychology of Computer Programming, Gerry Weinberg, VNR, 1971. The SAGE Air Defence System, John Jacobs, 1986 The Shockwave Rider, John Brunner The Soul Of A New Machine, Tracy Kidder The Source Code Control System, M.Rochkind, IEEE Trans.Soft.Eng.,1975. The Universal Elixir and Other Computing Projects Which Failed by Robert L. Glass Turing And The Computer, Paul Strathern, 1997 When Harlie Was One, David Gerrold Where Wizards Stay Up Late, Katie Hafner Matthew Lyon Hackers handbook, Cornwall, Software Age, magazine The C Programming Language (1978, 1988), Kernighan and Ritchie. "From Dits to Bits ... A Personal History of the Electronic Computer." by Herman Lukoff. Robotics Press, 1979. Introduction by J. Presper Eckert and Dr. John W. Mauchly. "Description of a Relay Calculator." by The Staff of the Computation Laboratory. Harvard University Press, 1949 "The Annals of the Computation Laboratory of Harvard University." I seem to remember there were 21 or 22 volumes in the set. This one is Volume XVI, 1948; the one over there is Volume I, 1946. "Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs", Wirth. . comment to The Mythical Man Month : re-issue / 20th anniversary isbn 0-201-83595-9 is highly recommended Sedgewick : Algorithms, 1984, isbn 0-201-06672-6 Press,Flannery et al Numerical Receipes in C, 1988, isbn 0-521-35465-X Jean Meeus : Astronomical Algorithms, 2nd ed, 1998, isbn 0-943396-61-1 Andrew S Tanenbaum : Computer Networks . I have the 2nd ed, isbn 0-13-166836-6, but there may be better editions. Holt, Reinhart & Winston : Unix Programmers manual, Bell labs, vol 1-2, 1983 isbn 0-03-061742-1 and ..-061743-X The isbn of "Organic : the multics system , 1972" is 0-262-15012-3 whatever Comer&Stevens has written on Unix and networking Marshall T Rose : The Simple Book, 1991, 0-13-812611-9. Stan Kelly-bootle : The devil's DP dictionary, 1981, isbn 0-07-034022-6 David Alcock, Illustrating basic, 1977, isbn 0-521-21703-0 Friedman & Felleisen : the little lisperm, 1987, isbn 0-262-56038-0 Radia Perlman : interconnections, 1992, isbn 0-201-56332-0 Adam Osborne ; 4&8-bit microprocessor handbook, 1981, isbn 0-031988-42-x Ralph E,Gorin : Introduction to the decsystem-20 assembly language programming, 1981, isbn 0-932376-12-6 gilman & rose ; APL, an interactive approach, 1976, isbn 0-471-30022-5 Try Winsto&Horn : LISP and Keny Dybvig : The Scheme Programming Language to recover. Horowitz (ed) : Programming Languages, a grand tour, 1983-87, isbn 0-88175-142-1 Fisher&LeBlanc : Crafting a compiler, 1988, 0-8053-3201-4 Jurgen Wieckmann and the CCC : Das Chaos Computer Buch, 1988, isbn 3-8052-0474-4 (In German. It may not be wise to translate this to English). Abelson and Sussman. The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/) Minsky. Computation: Finite and Infinite Machines. Minsky. The Society of Mind Papert: Mindstorms. the HAKMEM. There are both Henry Ledgard, _Elementary Basic_, New York, Random House, 1982 (ISBN 0-394-52423-3) and Henry Ledgard and Andrew Singer, _Elementary Pascal_, New York, Random House, 1983 (ISBN 0-394-52424-1). Both list Watson as author, with an "as told to"; the Pascal book (and I assume also the BASIC book, which I do not have) is based on the (anachronistic) premise that Holmes was using the Analytical Engine to process his clues. -- shannon "AT" widomaker.com -- ["An Irishman is never drunk as long as he can hold onto one blade of grass and not fall off the face of the earth."] ###### From: uj797@victoria.tc.ca (Arthur T. Murray) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,alt.community.intentional,misc.books.technical,soc.history.science,soc.libraries.talk Subject: AFC Reading List Date: 7 Jul 2004 06:21:32 -0800 Organization: Victoria Telecommunity Network Message-ID: <40ebf8dc@news.victoria.tc.ca> References: <5oafcc.t55.ln@escape.goid.lan> Summary: "First they laugh at you then they dismiss you then they fight you then you win." - Gandhi Keywords: AI4U, computer folklore, mentifex, reading list X-Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: 199.60.222.3 XPident: uj797 X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Lines: 13 Path: nightfall.franklin.ch!pfaff2.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!irazu.switch.ch!switch.ch!in2p3.fr!proxad.net!freenix!sn-xit-02!sn-xit-01!sn-post-02!sn-post-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!news.victoria.tc.ca!199.60.222.3 Xref: nightfall.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:178554 > Age Of The Pussyfoot, Frederick Pohl AI4U: Mind-1.1 Programmer's Manual, AT Murray > Alan M. Turing Archive @ King's, Cambridge > Alan Turing: The Enigma, Andrew Hodges ATM -- http://isbn.nu/0595654371 = ISBN of hardbound AI4U textbook http://isbn.nu/0595259227 = ISBN of paperback AI4U textbook http://pub.ufasta.edu.ar/ohcop/curso2003/27-Actividad12.ppt http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0595654371/ reviewed ###### From: Joachim Pense Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: AFC Reading List Date: Wed, 07 Jul 2004 21:35:33 +0200 Organization: Masters of /dev/null Lines: 11 Message-ID: References: <5oafcc.t55.ln@escape.goid.lan> Reply-To: spam-snob@pense-online.de Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-15 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8Bit X-Trace: news.t-online.com 1089228770 01 1447 BBwrXtIOBfUk8cR 040707 19:32:50 X-Complaints-To: usenet-abuse@t-online.de X-ID: SPquImZaweOzpyx7+x5LtFY-oh4P2IGNA2mhhCanwW2ZgoUTtNlioH User-Agent: KNode/0.7.2 Path: nightfall.franklin.ch!pfaff2.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!irazu.switch.ch!switch.ch!newsfeed00.sul.t-online.de!newsmm00.sul.t-online.de!t-online.de!news.t-online.com!not-for-mail Xref: nightfall.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:178566 Charles Shannon Hendrix wrote <5oafcc.t55.ln@escape.goid.lan>: > > I'm still open for new list items. > Jean Sammet, Programming Languages: History and Fundamentals (1969) Rationale for the Design of the Ada-b® Programming Language (1983) Revised Report on the Algorithmic Language Algol 60 (1962) Joachim ###### From: "Peter Ibbotson" Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: AFC Reading List Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2004 11:54:02 +0100 Lines: 9 Message-ID: References: <5oafcc.t55.ln@escape.goid.lan> NNTP-Posting-Host: mailgate.lakeview.co.uk X-Trace: news.demon.co.uk 1089284043 15636 62.49.243.90 (8 Jul 2004 10:54:03 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@demon.net NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2004 10:54:03 +0000 (UTC) X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2142 X-Priority: 3 X-RFC2646: Format=Flowed; Original X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2142 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal Path: nightfall.franklin.ch!pfaff2.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!switch.ch!solnet.ch!solnet.ch!news2.euro.net!kibo.news.demon.net!mutlu.news.demon.net!news.demon.co.uk!demon!not-for-mail Xref: nightfall.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:178593 Not quite sure if it should be on there (and I haven't read it yet) In search of stupidity by Rick Chapman -- Work peteri@lakeview.co.uk.plugh.org | remove magic word .org to reply Home peter@ibbotson.co.uk.plugh.org | I own the domain but theres no MX ###### NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 08 Jul 2004 07:05:03 -0500 From: "Bill Leary" Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers References: <5oafcc.t55.ln@escape.goid.lan> Subject: Re: AFC Reading List Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2004 08:12:00 -0400 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1409 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1409 Message-ID: <59mdnSImlfnypXDdRVn-gg@giganews.com> Lines: 16 X-Trace: sv3-6YB3AtpfSRg3WuK7Cm6wxYhUhRtazB0WpkGMubJ3brMJVSIQSkGsI37fE9LMJUhYSH22TFtgsvHmklD!Kll4k0O/rU+V6LHLPrdn5HNd/J/RX2JxmW4pcIffgGWHajtXeMi0xoriYsM= X-Complaints-To: abuse@giganews.com X-DMCA-Notifications: http://www.giganews.com/info/dmca.html X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly X-Postfilter: 1.1 Path: nightfall.franklin.ch!pfaff2.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!switch.ch!solnet.ch!solnet.ch!news.glorb.com!newshosting.com!nx01.iad01.newshosting.com!216.196.98.140.MISMATCH!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!local1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!news.giganews.com.POSTED!not-for-mail Xref: nightfall.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:178598 "Peter Ibbotson" wrote in message news:ccj94b$f8k$1$8302bc10@news.demon.co.uk... > Not quite sure if it should be on there (and I haven't read it yet) > > In search of stupidity by Rick Chapman I know you haven't read it, but do you know, in general, what's this one about? Clever title. It seems as though one need never look for stupidity. It seems as though it's always snapping at your heels and lurking around the next corner. - Bill ###### From: Pete Fenelon Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: AFC Reading List Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2004 13:17:39 +0100 Organization: home, speaking for himself and nobody else. Lines: 18 Message-ID: <31ejcc.vec.ln@fenelon.com> References: <5oafcc.t55.ln@escape.goid.lan> <59mdnSImlfnypXDdRVn-gg@giganews.com> X-Trace: news.uni-berlin.de WtEqYNVpZiTNMrdmAxmN5gACsFPAbRsgFMImNQGmi2M6SqOhpU X-Orig-Path: not-for-mail User-Agent: tin/1.7.4-20040225 ("Benbecula") (UNIX) (Linux/2.4.19 (i686)) Path: nightfall.franklin.ch!pfaff2.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!switch.ch!solnet.ch!solnet.ch!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!not-for-mail Xref: nightfall.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:178601 Bill Leary wrote: > "Peter Ibbotson" wrote in message > news:ccj94b$f8k$1$8302bc10@news.demon.co.uk... >> Not quite sure if it should be on there (and I haven't read it yet) >> >> In search of stupidity by Rick Chapman > > I know you haven't read it, but do you know, in general, what's this one > about? > > Clever title. It seems as though one need never look for stupidity. Very true - Arthur T. Murray is always on hand to provide it, as he's already demonstrated in this thread. pete -- pete@fenelon.com "there's no room for enigmas in built-up areas" ###### From: uj797@victoria.tc.ca (Arthur T. Murray) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,alt.gossip.celebrities,alt.stupidity,misc.misc,talk.bizarre Subject: AFC Reading List Date: 8 Jul 2004 07:11:50 -0800 Organization: Victoria Telecommunity Network Message-ID: <40ed5626@news.victoria.tc.ca> References: <31ejcc.vec.ln@fenelon.com> Summary: "First they laugh at you, then they fear you, then they fight you, then you win." - Gandhi Keywords: AFC, alt.folklore.computers X-Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: 199.60.222.3 XPident: uj797 X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Lines: 42 Path: nightfall.franklin.ch!pfaff2.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!switch.ch!news.mailgate.org!cyclone.bc.net!sjc1.usenetserver.com!news.usenetserver.com!sn-xit-02!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!news.victoria.tc.ca!199.60.222.3 Xref: nightfall.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:178604 >>> In search of stupidity by Rick Chapman >> >> I know you haven't read it, but do you know, in general, >> what's this one about? http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=825184 paints ATM stupid. http://www.generation5.org/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=370 not stupid. >> >> Clever title. It seems as though one need never look for stupidity. > > Very true - Arthur T. Murray is always on hand to provide it, > as he's already demonstrated in this thread. If VTY ATM/Mentifex is so "stupid" why will the U.S. government http://osgaming.net/Downloads/Documentation/OSReferenceBook.pdf ? http://www.sl4.org/archive/0205/3829.html -- why such admiration? http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/307824.307853 -- is the ACM also stupid? http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0595654371/ -- is AI4U stupid? http://dev.null.org/psychoceramics/archives/1998.05/msg00018.html ?? http://www.lucifer.com/virus/virus.96/1998.html -- are memes stupid? http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&th=d9098e459276596f&rnum=1 ?? http://www.advogato.org/person/mentifex/ -- diary of a stupid person? http://www.nanomagazine.com/i.php?id=01_10_24 -- a stupid interview? http://registry.dfki.de/show.php3?f_system=126 -- is the DFKI stupid? http://pub.ufasta.edu.ar/ohcop/curso2003/27-Actividad12.ppt comprende? It is time for an intellectually honest reappraisal of Very Truly Yours ATM/Mentifex > pete > -- > pete@fenelon.com "there's no room for enigmas in built-up areas" ###### Sender: CStacy@BOHR Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: AFC Reading List References: <31ejcc.vec.ln@fenelon.com> <40ed5626@news.victoria.tc.ca> From: cstacy@news.dtpq.com (Christopher C. Stacy) Message-ID: Lines: 12 User-Agent: Gnus/5.09 (Gnus v5.9.0) Emacs/21.2 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Date: Thu, 08 Jul 2004 16:19:38 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 68.163.190.249 X-Complaints-To: abuse@verizon.net X-Trace: nwrdny01.gnilink.net 1089303578 68.163.190.249 (Thu, 08 Jul 2004 12:19:38 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 08 Jul 2004 12:19:38 EDT Path: nightfall.franklin.ch!pfaff2.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!irazu.switch.ch!switch.ch!newsfeed00.sul.t-online.de!t-online.de!news.glorb.com!cyclone1.gnilink.net!spamkiller2.gnilink.net!gnilink.net!nwrdny01.gnilink.net.POSTED!8b1f9295!not-for-mail Xref: nightfall.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:178609 >>>>> On Thu, 8 Jul 2004 13:17:39 +0100, Pete Fenelon ("Pete") writes: >> Clever title. It seems as though one need never look for stupidity. Pete> Very true - Arthur T. Murray is always on hand to provide it, as he's Pete> already demonstrated in this thread. >>>>> On 8 Jul 2004 07:11:50 -0800, Arthur T Murray ("Arthur") writes: Arthur> If VTY ATM/Mentifex is so "stupid" why will the U.S. government Arthur> http://osgaming.net/Downloads/Documentation/OSReferenceBook.pdf ? Could you please provide a U.S. Government point of contact with whom I could consult for their opinions on "Mentifex"? ###### From: "Peter Ibbotson" Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: AFC Reading List Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2004 18:21:28 +0100 Lines: 54 Message-ID: References: <5oafcc.t55.ln@escape.goid.lan> <59mdnSImlfnypXDdRVn-gg@giganews.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: mailgate.lakeview.co.uk X-Trace: news.demon.co.uk 1089307288 22125 62.49.243.90 (8 Jul 2004 17:21:28 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@demon.net NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2004 17:21:28 +0000 (UTC) X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2142 X-Priority: 3 X-RFC2646: Format=Flowed; Original X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2142 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal Path: nightfall.franklin.ch!pfaff2.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!irazu.switch.ch!switch.ch!ecngs!feeder2.ecngs.de!216.196.110.149.MISMATCH!border2.nntp.ams.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!news-hub.cableinet.net!blueyonder!kibo.news.demon.net!news.demon.co.uk!demon!not-for-mail Xref: nightfall.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:178615 "Bill Leary" wrote in message news:59mdnSImlfnypXDdRVn-gg@giganews.com... > "Peter Ibbotson" wrote in message > news:ccj94b$f8k$1$8302bc10@news.demon.co.uk... >> Not quite sure if it should be on there (and I haven't read it yet) >> >> In search of stupidity by Rick Chapman > > I know you haven't read it, but do you know, in general, what's this one > about? > > Clever title. It seems as though one need never look for stupidity. It > seems as though it's always snapping at your heels and lurking around the > next corner. Sorry the website at http://www.insearchofstupidity.com does give more detail, he examines the marketing and silliness of many of the companies in the early micro era (although he does visit the dotBomb madness too) 1982, Tom Peters and Robert Waterman kicked off the modern business book era with In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies. The book was a runaway best seller and soon authors from all corners of business life were exhorting companies and the people who worked in those companies to get out there and be excellent, control chaos, worship wow and grasp greatness. Unfortunately, as time went by it became painfully obvious that many of the companies Peters and Waterman had profiled, particularly the high-tech ones, were something less than excellent. Firms such as Atari, Data General, DEC, IBM, Lanier, NCR, Wang, Xerox and others either crashed and burned or underwent painful and wrenching traumas you would have expected excellent companies to avoid. What went wrong? Merrill R. (Rick) Chapman thinks he has an answer. He believes that high-tech companies periodically meltdown because they fail to learn from the lessons of the past and thus continue to make the same completely avoidable mistakes again and again and again. In Search of Stupidity: Over 20 Years of High-Tech Marketing Disasters chronicles high-tech stupidity from past to the present so that we can all move on to create new and unique catastrophes of our very own in the future. It appeals to me because I was around the micro industry at the time and remember some of these decisions he's talking about. I *think* it's on topic for an afc booklist but since I haven't read it (I am however planning to get a copy for my holiday reading) I'm genuinely unsure. -- Work peteri@lakeview.co.uk.plugh.org | remove magic word .org to reply Home peter@ibbotson.co.uk.plugh.org | I own the domain but theres no MX ###### From: xanthian@well.com (Kent Paul Dolan) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,alt.gossip.celebrities,alt.stupidity,misc.misc,talk.bizarre Subject: Re: AFC Reading List Date: 8 Jul 2004 14:08:32 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Lines: 41 Message-ID: References: <31ejcc.vec.ln@fenelon.com> <40ed5626@news.victoria.tc.ca> NNTP-Posting-Host: 68.127.85.15 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: posting.google.com 1089320912 23952 127.0.0.1 (8 Jul 2004 21:08:32 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2004 21:08:32 +0000 (UTC) Path: nightfall.franklin.ch!pfaff2.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!irazu.switch.ch!switch.ch!in2p3.fr!proxad.net!postnews2.google.com!not-for-mail Xref: nightfall.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:178617 "Arthur T. Murray" wrote: > http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=825184 paints ATM stupid. Which, of course, misses the point, it doesn't really matter whether you are smart or whether you are stupid if you are an obsessed kook. Even someone as smart as Issac Newton, one of the handful of smartest humans ever to live, wasted much of his life obsessed to the kook level with spirituality. That you ARE an obsessed kook, is well documented here: http://www.nothingisreal.com/mentifex and your posting of your endlessly repeated URLs flogging your drivel to talk.bizarre, was a rock solid guarantee that you'd receive this followup. Do you just love pain, or are you so deperately obsessed with receiving attention that even derision is worth persuing? I was amused beyond description, though not so much that I'd waste my time bothering to read it, to find that you've posted a counter-FAQ to muddy the waters about your self-evident kook-ness: http://www.advogato.org/article/769.html Thirty, or is it thirty-five now, years of you claiming to have "solved" AI, with no useful product to show for your claims, doesn't seem to have discouraged you in the least. How extremely sad for you, but neither I nor anyone else can give you back your wasted life, so you might as well soldier on until death relieves you of your obsession. Obviously nothing less will. xanthian. ###### NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 08 Jul 2004 16:53:17 -0500 From: "Bill Leary" Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers References: <5oafcc.t55.ln@escape.goid.lan> <59mdnSImlfnypXDdRVn-gg@giganews.com> Subject: Re: AFC Reading List Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2004 18:00:16 -0400 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1409 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1409 Message-ID: Lines: 49 X-Trace: sv3-zZNh2zcBvQp4eBcAFtlxhc2PRj8xrDENkyEEstIRnO0D9laGIlJFPja5858sgs/pOakXAhDPIgCVi6n!+btqSvN4na7zgs14ZIR6bHWyNxBXYllHoioOqLbuhUGvSw8DP28yB7ZUeWs= X-Complaints-To: abuse@giganews.com X-DMCA-Notifications: http://www.giganews.com/info/dmca.html X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly X-Postfilter: 1.1 Path: nightfall.franklin.ch!pfaff2.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!switch.ch!solnet.ch!solnet.ch!news.glorb.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!local1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!news.giganews.com.POSTED!not-for-mail Xref: nightfall.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:178618 "Peter Ibbotson" wrote in message news:ccjvqo$ljd$1$8302bc10@news.demon.co.uk... > "Bill Leary" wrote in message > news:59mdnSImlfnypXDdRVn-gg@giganews.com... > > "Peter Ibbotson" wrote in message > > news:ccj94b$f8k$1$8302bc10@news.demon.co.uk... > >> Not quite sure if it should be on there (and I haven't read it yet) > >> > >> In search of stupidity by Rick Chapman > > > > I know you haven't read it, but do you know, in general, what's this one > > about? > > > > Clever title. It seems as though one need never look for stupidity. It > > seems as though it's always snapping at your heels and lurking around the > > next corner. > > > Sorry the website at http://www.insearchofstupidity.com does give more > detail, he examines the marketing and silliness of many of the companies in > the early micro era (although he does visit the dotBomb madness too) Actually, that helps a lot. > ((...bookjacket omitted..)) As does this. > It appeals to me because I was around the micro industry at the time and > remember some of these decisions he's talking about. Me too. You've piqued my interest considerably, if from nothing more than a nostalgic stance. > I *think* it's on topic > for an afc booklist but since I haven't read it (I am however planning to > get a copy for my holiday reading) I'm genuinely unsure. I think you're probably right about it being on topic. I'll be looking for it myself. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. - Bill ###### From: hawk@slytherin.ds.psu.edu (Dr. Richard E. Hawkins) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: AFC Reading List Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2004 19:33:18 +0000 (UTC) Organization: Penn State University, Center for Academic Computing Lines: 22 Message-ID: References: <5oafcc.t55.ln@escape.goid.lan> <59mdnSImlfnypXDdRVn-gg@giganews.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: slytherin.ds.psu.edu X-Trace: f04n12.cac.psu.edu 1089747198 45750 146.186.61.46 (13 Jul 2004 19:33:18 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@f04n12.cac.psu.edu NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2004 19:33:18 +0000 (UTC) X-Newsreader: trn 4.0-test76 (Apr 2, 2001) Originator: hawk@slytherin.ds.psu.edu (Dr. Richard E. Hawkins) Path: nightfall.franklin.ch!pfaff2.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!switch.ch!solnet.ch!solnet.ch!news.glorb.com!logbridge.uoregon.edu!news.cse.psu.edu!news.aset.psu.edu!not-for-mail Xref: nightfall.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:178895 In article , Peter Ibbotson wrote: > ... >Unfortunately, as time went by it became painfully obvious that many of the >companies Peters and Waterman had profiled, particularly the high-tech ones, >were something less than excellent. Firms such as Atari, Data General, DEC, >IBM, Lanier, NCR, Wang, Xerox and others either crashed and burned or >underwent painful and wrenching traumas you would have expected excellent >companies to avoid. What went wrong? Nothing at all--yet more money was thrown at Peteres to profile another set of companies. Tossing the money was understandable, as it sold zillions of copies (but that's the incomprehensible part!). hawk -- Richard E. Hawkins, Asst. Prof. of Economics /"\ ASCII ribbon campaign dochawk@psu.edu 111 Hiller (814) 375-4846 \ / against HTML mail These opinions will not be those of X and postings. Penn State until it pays my retainer. / \