If you're attracted to hacking because you don't have a life, that's okay too---at least you won't have trouble concentrating. Maybe you'll get a life later on.
I love the book, but I think the first two essays would have been enough to read, that's "The cathedral and the bazaar" and "homesteading the noosphere." The others are far from neutral and not full of insight like the first two. The first two are an insightful analysis of the psychology and culture of hackerdom.
