August 18, 2004

Coding Slave

I finished Coding Slave by Bob Reselman the other day. I had hoped for a good story about coders. That's not what I got.

Almost half of the book is a combination of glossary and an exact translation of Plato's Meno dialogue. What's left is broken up so that each chapter tells a portion of the story from the point of view of a single character. Not a spankingly original idea, but a failed one in this instance. Characters appear, serve their function in moving what little of the story there is forwards and then they are discarded like so much chaff. The story itself lunges from tax fraud to technical incomptence to commercial intrigue with no transition and minimal connectivity.

The author throws in a sex angle from time to time, but it feels much like the afterthought bolt-on that it so clearly is. I would suspect that the author was told to "sex it up" -- some advice that he took quite literally.

The book itself is not well made, either. It's spiral bound -- like the kind of pamphlets you would get made at the local Kinko's.

All in all, I would highly recommend avoiding this book just about at all costs. I'd offer it for sale on Amazon, but I can see little point of it -- I'd just about pay someone to take it off my hands. If you want a fictional book on coding, check out either Microserfs or The First $20 Million Is Always The Hardest. Either one is a far better read.

Posted by Casper at August 18, 2004 12:57 AM
Comments

Hi Collin:

Thank you for taking the time to read Coding Slave. Your criticism of my work is well recieved. I will take your thoughts to heart as I write the sequel.

Please email at bob@CodingSlave.com with your snail mail address so that I may send you a refund for the purchase price of the book. My policiy is "Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back!"

Posted by: Bob Reselman at August 19, 2004 07:27 PM