Hacker News Reader

ESR koans, more like. Has the man ever written anything which lacked barely veiled subtext of "Look how smart I am!" IMHO The Art of Unix Programming has as little of that as anything of his that I've read, but only when he's relating facts; in any place where there's scope for opinion, his high opinion of himself shines forth.

View on HN

I had read all these, before I got to know about ESR.

I was like, Wow!!, and it never ever came to my mind who wrote this or why. It was just some cool stuff and as a linux newbie I really liked these micro-stories or unix zen fables.

It happens with me as well that when I read something by an author for whom I hold some kind of prejudice, my reading is maligned a bit and I wish I could see what the author had to share from a completely neutral point of view, because then in that case, what I take away from my reading would be closer to what it had meant to be for me.

You might find Alan Perlis' epigrams interesting http://www.cs.yale.edu/quotes.html

I don't know much about ESR but I am pretty sure those koans are meant to be humorous.

Many a truth is said in jest.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com