We've put together a short list of tech books that could keep you company this weekend.
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Do you want me to read them all this weekend?
Just kidding, thanks for the Blender book.
Halloween weekend isn't the right weekend to be reading technical books... it's the right weekend to be reading ghost stories...
http://www.saugus.net/Local/Contests/Halloween/2004/
http://www.ghostsofhalloweenpast.com/
http://www.americanfolklore.net/halloween.html
So we have to post our book reports on all of them here. If we read them all do we get a free pan pizza at pizza hut? 
Halloween weekend isn't the right weekend to be reading technical books... it's the right weekend to be reading ghost stories...
how about TCP/IP illustrated (2100 pages), Undocumented Windows 2000 Secrets, Exploiting Software: How to Break Code, Stealing the Network: How to Own a Continent, Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency.
scary enough for ya?
scary enough for ya?
Not realy , more a encouragement:-)
Exploiting Software: How to Break Code,is a good one.
It's the best book to learn GUI programming in C++, you must read it even if you code with GTK+, it gives you many great ideas and teaches you how to be fast and productive in GUI development! Want to design a cool API? Read that book!!
..Forget the Rest... :-)
I'm reading "Electronic Computers" by Ivall, from 1960. Very interesting - you can do quite a lot without integratd circuits.
another suggestion:
the hitchhikers guide to reporting services
must read!
How about a great alien abduction book with a powerful message to humanity? Read "Abduction to the 9th Planet" by Michel Desmarquet. It's a quite intriguing read, if you ask me
Demonstrates that Blender is software that, no matter how powerful, was implemented without the user in mind, other than perhaps the original authors.
I once tried Blender on BeOS, and the interface was very bizarre, to put it nicely. I can see why a book would be required to explain it, but I can't see why an interface should require a book to understand anything at all, if it follows some reasonable guidelines appropriate for the platform it runs on.
I think that Blender was put together so as to sell books!
I believe the Blender interface was mainly desgined with efficiency in mind. So apart from selling the book the idea was to get things done with as few clicks, mouse-moves and key-presses as possible. The learning curve is pretty steep, but the interface works rather well once you get the hang of it.
The .NET Compact framework book is 1400 pages and you expect to read that over the weekend?!? Some people have too much free time :-).
Also, anyone find it kinda ironic that a 'compact framework' requires a book that's 1400 pages thick?
"I can't see why an interface should require a book to understand anything at all, if it follows some reasonable guidelines appropriate for the platform it runs on."
Some programs cover tasks which are by nature very complex. There is a limit to how much something like 3D modelling can be simplified without dumbing it down. Many of the "guidelines" are for much simpler tasks, such as word processing.
I wouldn't try to use any 3D modelling/rendering/animation program without a manual. Not even Lightwave, which IMO has an excellent interface.
So, going back to books, I recommend the Quickstart Guide to Lightwave, which I have been studying lately.
Missed there being a blender book, definitely want to read that one. Encouraging people to read C# or .Net does nobody a favor and makes your own integrity suspect.
There is quite a variety in suggested topics, as there is quite a bit of diversity in Osnews' readership. Your complaining about one topic only speaks to your biases (the only integrity in question is yours). I think that Blender and associated open source software may mean it will be harder for me to get a job after I graduate, but I don't think that means I need to bitch on Osnews about it.
The lack of complaints you hear from other people is called civility.