The usual (and boring) email announcement turned into an event that took place at the university and attracted quite a lot of attention. Only this time it was not an email sent to a news group.
But after some time, he announced the release of Linux 1.0.0. He decided, he would like to turn Linux into a full featured operating system (which took a lot more work than he had expected). Linus got a job at the University of Helsinki that allowed him to focus on developing Linux. It took quite a lot of hard work before it got any commercial attention, and even more work before Linux actually gained any commercial success.
Even after the famous release announcement on the Minix’s news group, Linux was not an instant hit. These were the early times and they certainly were not as easy as often portrayed by journalists. The things Linus did back in that time were basically only programming, sleeping, and eating pretzels. He must have got a loan to be able to afford it. The story continues to the times during which Linus got an extremely powerful (at that time) and also extremely expensive 386AT machine. Loved maths, stayed indoors a lot, and programmed as much as he could. Linus did what any serious nerdy kid does. He spent a lot of time with his scientist grandfather, who introduced him to programming and let him use his computer. He says, he doesn’t remember much of it, except when it comes to the computers he had. Linus starts with describing the memories he has from his childhood in Finland with the same kind of wit you might know from his emails (the first chapter actually starts with: I was an ugly child.).
The title of the book is in fact based on this theory (which is quite interesting). During the trip, they talk about the book and Linus starts to explain a theory he has about the meaning of life - the law of Linus. It starts with a short preface, a conversation between the two authors on a road trip Linus, his family, and David went on (their destination is an IKEA store in Los Angeles).
It is mostly written as an autobiography, with shorter sections between chapters from a co-author, a journalist, David Diamond (whose idea it was to write a book about Linus in the first place). Just For Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary is about the life journey of the father of the Linux kernel - Linus Torvalds, but not only that. I ordered it the minute I found out about it. Did you know there actually is a book about the creator of the Linux kernel? And that it was published twelve years ago in 2001? I have used Linux-based operating systems for almost 8 years, and I must admit I never heard of such a book up to three months ago.
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