Just For Fun was a biography about Linus Torvalds’ life up until about 2002. I believe it is important for programmers to understand how humankind has gotten to this point in technology and to understand the mindset behind the people who pushed it. Just like how we must study all history in order to strive to do better on behalf of our predecessors, programmers should get a solid course in how the fantastic machine they carry around in their pockets came to be. I am constantly disappointed by the lack of knowledge programmers my age (and older) have of the giants they so quickly stand on the shoulders of. This book was a wonderfully fascinating view into the life of a man who singlehandedly shaped our field through simply filling a need of his—not once—but twice. It was inspiring to hear his story of how he made Linux with the knowledge he learned from Andrew Tanenbaum’s Operating Systems Design and Implementation and the manuals for his computer’s architecture. It really showed that it is as simple as sucking it up and rfm!