Book Review: Linux Kernel Development

I read a lot of technical books. Oddly enough, the only book review I've posted is on a non-technical book. This is probably because the average person really doesn't care about techie books, especially the kind I read.

Anyway, of all the books in this genre that I've read, there are probably only about 3-7 that I'd rank as "very good." Call me picky, but I think there are an overabundance of shit non-fiction books out there... don't even get me started on fiction.

At some point, I need to create a listing of my favorite all-time books, but for now, I'll only offer up my latest "very good" find. Oddly enough, I didn't even know the book existed until it caught my eye at B&N.

The book is titled "Linux Kernel Development," written by Robert Love. No, he's not a porn star, but he's the equivalent of it in the programming community. Anyway, if this guy ever quits his job/hobby as a kernel hacker (and for everyone freaking out about the word "hacker", I strongly suggest you take the opportunity to learn the difference between a "hacker" and a "cracker") he needs to become a technical writer. Humor, detail, content, it's all here. It's by far, the best Linux kernel book I've read, and probably the best applied "Operating Systems" literature as well. If only I would have had this when I was taking my C.S. classes. Semester 1: Tannenbaum and the "dinosaur" book. Semester 2: Robert Love and some real kernel hacking. That would have been truly great.

For those of you in the know, it's all about 2.6 and everything kernel-related. The coding is all out of the kernel and is clean and readable. The appendices could be mini-books in themselves. I highly recommend this book to system administrators, kernel hackers, device driver writers, or anyone else who just wants to learn about general OS concepts. For the rest of you, which is pretty much everyone, I apologize for this post.