With a queasy stomach I stepped out of the technology aisle, hoping to find something that would divert my thoughts from the media portrayal of my peers. Surprisingly, in the "Sociology" section, I found my grail. Standing on it end, with a gold "starburst" on it's cover, the title "The Hacker Ethic" caught my eye. My first thought was that it was some psychologist prattling on about why script kiddies attacked fur companies online. Fortunately, I was more than pleasantly surprised.

"The Hacker Ethic and the Spirit of the Information Age", sets itself as a true discussion of real hackers. The first paragraph in the Preface makes clear the distinction between "Hackers" (people who "program enthusiastically") and "Crackers" (destructive computer users, virus writers, intruders). Throughout the book, this distinction is made very clear. The preface quotes liberally from the Jargon File, making it clear that the author truly understands who hackers are, and what makes a hacker, well... a hacker.

The Prologue is written by Linus Torvalds; while it is rather short, it's insightful. The prologue is a technologist talking about sociology. He tries to define why Linux appeals to hackers, and how hackers have simply moved computers into the third part of "Linus's Law". If you want to know what his "Law" is, read the book. Once his introduction is out of the way (in which he covers sex, war and computers). He hands the book over to Pekka Himanen (Ph.D., Psychology), who delves into "The Hacker Ethic".

Pekka splits the hackers motivation into three ethics. First, he discusses the "Work Ethic". For a hacker, he explains, work is "intriguing" and "joyful". While the hacker is dedicated to emotions like "enthusiasm" and "passion" in his (or her) work. He uses the examples of Steve Wozniak, Sarah Flannery and others to show the attitude that true hackers have toward their work. He defines the hackers "Work Ethic" as the eventual replacement for the "Protestant Work Ethic", which prevails today in the majority of companies, especially here in the U.S.

The second section covers the Hacker's "Money Ethic". Compared to the Protestant "Money Ethic", which believes that "work and money are ends in themselves", the hacker believes that work and money, while necessary must fit in with ethics (Stallman's Free Software, for example) as well as social life and entertainment. He quotes Woz's formula for happiness (H=F^3 or "Happiness equals food, fun and friends"). All in all, it makes it clear that hackers aren't communists, utopians or naive children; they simply have a different set of priorities.

His final piece of the Hacker's ethic is something he calls "nethic". Beyond "netiquette", nethic talks about the ethics hackers have in relation to the network society. This discussion delves into the ethics behind the EFF and the importance of "Freedom of Speech" and privacy. He makes it clear that for hackers, there is more to life than source code. There is a feeling of responsibility toward the ideals, and a need to uphold these ideals even at great cost.

The epilogue, by Manuel Castells, a sociologist, covers how "Informationalism" and technology are changing the society we live in. Informationalism, unlike its predecessor "Industrialism", is not based on social organizations or institutions. Instead, it has lead to the creation of a network society- something that can only exist because of Informationalism.

All in all, this book is an excellent read for CEOs, CFOs, CIOs or managers trying to get a grip on the New Economy... or get a grip on how to manage their hackers. It's also an excellent read for hackers. Yes, we may know all this stuff, but it's refreshing to see it from a viewpoint other than our own. Besides, a book on "hackers" that gets the definition right is a book worth buying.

Hardcover - 288 pages (January 30, 2001)
Random House; ISBN: 0375505660