Technology & Society

Gauging the Geek Factor

Hundreds of new technologies are changing the way we work, play... and even how we think. Are they just making it easier for us to do what we already do? Or are they having a more fundamental impact? These books explore how today's technology is transforming society - including the thoughtful musings and tongue-in-cheek outlook of the geeks responsible.

Mind Performance Hacks
By Ron Hale-Evans
February 2006
Print: $24.99
Ebook: $19.99
Bundle: $27.49

Mind Performance Hacks provides real-life tips and tools for overclocking your brain and becoming a better thinker. In the increasingly frenetic pace of today's information economy, managing your life requires… Read more.

We the Media
By Dan Gillmor
January 2006
Print: $16.99
Ebook: $13.99
Bundle: $18.69

In We the Media, nationally acclaimed newspaper columnist and blogger Dan Gillmor shows how anyone can produce the news, using personal blogs, internet chat groups, email, and a host of… Read more.

Makers
By Bob Parks
December 2005
Print: $24.95

Celebrating digital tinkering, hardware hacks and DIY of all stripes, O'Reilly introduces Makers, a beautiful hardbound book celebrating the creativity and resourcefulness of the DIY movement. Author Bob Parks profiles… Read more.

Open Sources 2.0
By Chris DiBona, Mark Stone, Danese Cooper
October 2005
Print: $34.99
Ebook: $27.99
Bundle: $38.49

Open Sources 2.0 is a collection of insightful and thought-provoking essays from today's technology leaders that continues painting the evolutionary picture that developed in the 1999 book Open Sources: Voices… Read more.

Mind Hacks
By Tom Stafford, Matt Webb
November 2004
Print: $24.95
Ebook: $19.99
Bundle: $27.45

This exploration into the moment-by-moment works of the brain uses cognitive neuroscience to present experiments, tricks, and tips related to vision, motor skills, attention, cognition, and subliminal perception. Each hack… Read more.

Spam Kings
By Brian McWilliams
October 2004
Print: $22.95
Ebook: $18.99
Bundle: $25.25

The mounting onslaught of email pitches for porn, pills, and penis enlargement has some techno-pundits declaring that spam is on the verge of destroying the Internet. In Spam Kings, author… Read more.

Understanding Open Source and Free Software Licensing
By Andrew M. St. Laurent
August 2004
Print: $29.99
Ebook: $23.99
Bundle: $32.99

Licensing is a major part of what open source and free software are all about, but it's still one of the most complicated areas of law. Understanding Open Source and… Read more.

Dancing Barefoot
By Wil Wheaton
February 2004
Print: $14.95
Ebook: $11.95
Bundle: $16.45

Wil Wheaton--blogger, geek, and Star Trek: The Next Generation's Wesley Crusher--gives us five true tales of life, love, and the absurdities of Hollywood in Dancing Barefoot. Far from the usual… Read more.

Apple Confidential 2.0, Second Edition
By Owen Linzmayer
January 2004
Print: $24.95
Ebook: $19.95
Bundle: $27.45

Apple Confidential examines the tumultuous history of America's best-known Silicon Valley start-up--from its legendary founding almost 30 years ago, through a series of disastrous executive decisions, to its return to… Read more.

The Best of The Joy of Tech
By Nitrozac and Snaggy
November 2003
Print: $14.95

This book is a collection of the very best from The Joy of Tech online series, and features several new, never-before-seen comics, exclusive notes from the artists about their work,… Read more.

Even Grues Get Full
By J.D. "Illiad" Frazer
August 2003
Print: $12.95

Called "Dilbert for Geeks" by Wired magazine and considered to be one of the few consistently intelligent and socially aware cartoons on the 'Net, User Friendly remains one of the… Read more.

The Root of All Evil
By J.D. "Illiad" Frazer
August 2001
Print: $12.95

It's back to Columbia Internet, "the friendliest, hardest-working, and most neurotic little Internet Service Provider in the world," for our third installment from the hit online comic, User Friendly. The… Read more.

Beyond Contact
By Brian McConnell
March 2001
Print: $24.95

In Beyond Contact: A Guide to SETI and Communicating with Alien Civilizations, author Brian McConnell examines the science and technology behind the search for intelligent life in space, from the… Read more.

Peer-to-Peer
By Nelson Minar, Marc Hedlund, Clay Shirky, Tim O'Reilly, Dan Bricklin, David Anderson, Jeremie Miller, Adam Langley, Gene Kan, Alan Brown, Marc Waldman, Lorrie Faith Cranor, Aviel Rubin, Roger Dingledine, Michael Freedman, David Molnar, Rael Dornfest, Dan Brickley, Theodore Hong, Richard Lethin, Jon Udell, Nimisha Asthagiri, Walter Tuvell, Brandon Wiley
Edited by Andy Oram
February 2001
Print: $29.95

This book presents the goals that drive the developers of the best-known peer-to-peer systems, the problems they've faced, and the technical solutions they've found. The contributors are leading developers of… Read more.

The Cathedral & the Bazaar
By Eric S. Raymond
February 2001
Print: $16.95
Ebook: $13.99
Bundle: $18.64

The Cathedral & the Bazaar is a must for anyone who cares about the future of the computer industry or the dynamics of the information economy. This revised and expanded… Read more.

Database Nation
By Simson Garfinkel
December 2000
Print: $16.95
Ebook: $13.99
Bundle: $18.64

As the 21st century begins, advances in technology endanger our privacy in ways never before imagined. This newly revised update of the popular hardcover edition, Database Nation: The Death of… Read more.

User Friendly
By J.D. "Illiad" Frazer
September 1999
Print: $12.95

One of the funniest, most off-beat, and original comic strips to come along in years, User Friendly tells the story of Columbia Internet, "the friendliest, hardest-working, and most neurotic little… Read more.

Open Sources
By Chris DiBona, Sam Ockman
Edited by Chris DiBona, Sam Ockman, Mark Stone
January 1999
Print: $24.95
Ebook: $19.99
Bundle: $27.45

In Open Sources, leaders of Open Source come together in print for the first time to discuss the new vision of the software industry they have created, through essays that… Read more.