David's Blague

According to folklore, Donald Knuth once expressed doubt that Steve Jobs had read his books. I think the term of art he used was "full of shit." Well, I'm no Steve Jobs, but I am full of shit, though I don't really believe that story. Besides, the book I'm about to review isn't really a reading book, so when I claim to have "read" it, I'm really just claiming to have it. It's a fascicle, whatever the heck that means.

Without further ado, I present: The Art of Computer Programming, Volume 1, Fascicle 1: MMIX -- A RISC Computer for the New Millennium- a tome as hilarious and subversive as it is comprehensive and groundbreaking. And that kind of an introduction is further proof that I am living up to my aspirations from the previous paragraph. I really liked this little pamphlet, and here one byte of reasons you should read it, too:

• You'll be able to read Volume IV when it comes out.
  
• In its current form, it's short.
• It is funny and poetic.
• You will Sympathize With Your Machine (SWYM).
  
• It is, after all, 2009.
• It will be a good excuse for not reading past Chapter 1 in The Original Series.
• You will have read something by Knuth.
• You, too, can be full of shit, like me and Steve.

It has been my practice, when making book reviews, to give books a rating. I give Donald Knuth 2009 gold stars for this excellent little manual, and encourage everyone to give it a read this year.

With that, I have completed Step 18 of Knuth's "Procedure for Reading This Set of Books."