
The book that inspired the birth of reddit - kn0thing
http://alexisohanian.com/the-book-that-inspired-the-birth-of-reddit
======
angersock
_Masters of Doom_ was one the books that really steeled my resolve to get into
game programming back when I'd read it in highschool. It's a fascinating story
about the birth and development of ID Software (the folks that made
Wolfenstein, Doom, Quake, and are near singlehandedly responsible for us
having consumer-grade graphics cards of note today). It's a fun, easy read,
and the personalities involved are quite amazing. Both Carmack and Romero are
painted in very human lights, and it's a fascinating insight into how to run a
growth company without venture capital.

It's the ultimate bootstrap and find market fit and make bank story you'll
likely ever read.

~

Later, you should also read _Soul of a New Machine_ and _Dreaming in Code_ for
a less calvinball approach to software development.

~~~
wetmore
Soul of a New Machine is an excellent book. I'll second that recommendation.

~~~
gpcz
I recommend Soul of a New Machine as an excellent example how not to manage
knowledge workers for the long term. The book has a romantic "gung-ho" energy
to it that might appeal to start-ups in crunch time, but the environment
described in the book eats the seed corn. As mentioned in Peopleware,
practically everyone on that team quit Data General after the Eagle project
due to all the abuse. Peopleware actually references the book when explaining
the "Spanish Theory" model of IT management that they contend doesn't work.

------
Arjuna
_Masters of Doom_ is an awesome read. If you are into gaming, graphics or the
history of id Software... order it today.

Here are some excerpts from the book that I particularly enjoyed:

 _" On a cold winter day, Carmack laced up his shoes, slipped on his jacket,
and headed out into the Madison snow. The town was blanketed in the stuff,
cars caked in frost, trees dangling ice. Carmack endured the chill because he
had no car; he'd sold the MGB long before. It was easy enough for him to shut
out the weather, just like he could, when necessary, shut Tom and Romero's
antics out of his mind. He was on a mission.

Carmack stepped into the local bank and requested a cashier's check for
$11,000. The money was for a NeXT computer, the latest machine from Steve
Jobs, cocreator of Apple. The NeXT, a stealth black cube, surpassed the
promise of Jobs's earlier machines by incorporating NeXTSTEP, a powerful
system tailor-made for custom software development. The market for PCs and
games was exploding, and this was the perfect tool to create more dynamic
titles for the increasingly viable gaming platform. It was the ultimate
Christmas present for the ultimate in young graphics programmers, Carmack."_

Of course, the book wouldn't be complete without Ferrari details and
discussion:

 _" At a showroom, they admired a gleaming new Testarossa that listed at
$90,000. Carmack was treating cars like he treated his games; he had already
grown somewhat tired of his current engine. What he really wanted was one of
these. [...] Carmack paid cash for a red one to match his 328.

[...]

But Carmack's Ferrari didn't stay in the lot for long. Within days he drove it
over to Norwood Autocraft and started on the modifications - he wanted to get
the car, which ran at four hundred horsepower, at least twice as strong. Bob
Norwood, who had become Carmack's automotive mentor, had a master plan: to
install a twin turbo system that would not just double but triple the car's
horsepower. For added energy, they put in a computer-controlled device that
would inject a burst of nitrous oxide."_

------
jmduke
_Read at least one book this summer, you 'll be better for it_

This is such a refreshing thing to read in a tech community that seems to so
unfairly decry literature. (And, no, rereading 1984 doesn't count.)

I also recommend people check out Alexis's short eBook, _Make Something People
Love_ : ([http://www.hyperink.com/Make-Something-People-Love-
Lessons-F...](http://www.hyperink.com/Make-Something-People-Love-Lessons-From-
A-Startup-Guy-b1478)). It's ten bucks and something like seventy pages: easy
to cruise through on a lazy afternoon, and has a very pleasant perspective on
the philosophy behind creation. Alexis is a gifted writer, and you certainly
feel his personality on the pages.

~~~
cocoflunchy
> (And, no, rereading 1984 doesn't count.)

I think (re-)reading 1984 probably counts a lot more than reading a great
amount of business/self-help books.

~~~
danso
Yeah, I have to agree. I get the GP's point, that 1984 is the polemic pamphlet
for anti-authoritarians...but it's a fine piece of literature on its own
ground, one that I've always found new insight or a previously unnoticed turn
of phrase on each reading.

However, if you're tired of 1984 but are still on an Orwell kick, his non-
fiction is equally fantastic.

~~~
jere
>I get the GP's point, that 1984 is the polemic pamphlet for anti-
authoritarians...

Hmmm, I thought the point was you're wasting time on a book a) you've already
read and b) everyone else you know has already read. Regardless of how good
the book is, you're unlikely to gain any _unique_ insight.

~~~
PavlovsCat
I read it first when I was in my late teens. I read it again after the war on
terror (tm) had started... let's just say it was the difference between
reading a book about sex as a virgin and as a man. Books of that caliber, that
are that short, are rare enough IMHO, and reading them every decade can't
hurt? Anyway, you can't know if you get something new out of it unless you
tried it at least once ;)

------
jere
I loved the book. This quote by Carmack sums up it up for me:

>In the information age, the barriers [to entry into programming] just aren't
there. The barriers are self imposed. If you want to set off and go develop
some grand new thing, you don't need millions of dollars of capitalization.
You need enough pizza and Diet Coke to stick in your refrigerator, a cheap PC
to work on, and the dedication to go through with it. We slept on floors. We
waded across rivers.

He's making a larger point about low barriers to entry, but honestly there's
something romantic about the image of all day cowboy coding sessions fueled by
junk food.

~~~
MWil
Serious question: Has anyone ever written a "let your husband change the
goddamn world!"-type book. Cause my wife is my barrier. Sure, I'll eat junk
food, sit at the PC all day, sleep on the couch. But then half of the PC and
half of the couch won't be mine for much longer...

~~~
mhurron
I'll go ahead and write this - Perhaps completely ignoring your wife isn't the
way to go.

Did that help. I don't really have time for a whole book.

/the wife would get mad at me.

~~~
MWil
Oh you misunderstood. I meant to explain the "romantic" part of how you can be
sitting there in the zone and getting things done and yet to her it just looks
like you're at any old regular HuffingtonPost-machine.

------
incision
I thoroughly enjoyed Masters of Doom.

At the time, I recall a number of people who read the book bemoaning 1991 as a
bygone era of opportunity, as if all the good ideas and opportunities to
invent had been "used up". Interesting how different people take the same text
as self-defeating vs inspiring.

Also, on the topic of inspirational books, I always have to mention Skunk
Works[0], one of my all-time favorites.

0: [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0316743003](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0316743003)

------
DanielBMarkham
Love this. I just ordered a copy.

I've been under the weather for a while, so I took the opportunity to read
some. I can't emphasize enough how important regular reading is. If for no
other reason than to climb out of your own problems and into an author's head
for a bit, especially one with something important to say.

For anybody interested, the books I read over the past 2-3 weeks were War and
Peace, Gone Girl, and God's Chinese Son. I've got about 35 more on-deck
waiting for me to start on them.

~~~
Florin_Andrei
I started reading The Romance Of Three Kingdoms - the Chinese equivalent to
the Iliad. It's one of the handful classics of old Chinese literature, and an
amazing window into that culture.

It's not an easy read, because the style is so peculiar, there's a ton of
characters, and... well... it's not a culture I'm very familiar with. But it's
still fascinating.

There's a movie that was made after this book, it's called Red Cliff. It
captures the battle of Red Cliff, a peak moment in the book, and the events
leading up to it. It's hugely, hugely EPIC. I'm a sucker for this genre, so I
loved it. Also, it convinced me that John Woo can make great movies - when
he's at home, operating within the realm of his native culture. When in
Hollywood, he seems merely okay. If you watch this movie, make sure it's the
original two-disk version, not the abridged single-disk one. The events
depicted in it have a factual basis, with the required dramatic embellishments
on top.

~~~
feniv
Red Cliff is an awesome movie! I loved it because it focused on the strategy
and politics of war, rather than the warriors or fighting.

------
wmat
Not sure if this is verbatim, but one of my favourite quotes is a Carmack
quote:

"If you want to set off and go develop some grand new thing, you don't need
millions of dollars of cpitalization. you need enough pizza and Diet Coke to
stick in your regrigerator, a cheap PC to work on and the dedication to go
through with it."

------
purplelobster
The Social Network also has the same sort of feeling as Masters of Doom, both
very inspirational. I just love the feeling of "we're on to something big
here", just wish I can have that feeling at least once in my life.

~~~
kai-zer
You should read the book the movie was based on:

[http://www.amazon.com/dp/0307740986](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0307740986)

------
thecoffman
Masters of Doom is a fantastic read, I had the kindle edition and had to track
down a hardback copy after reading it. I wanted it on my shelf.

The author has a new novel out titled Jacked which I believe tells the story
of Rockstar games but I haven't read it yet. Has anyone else? Is it good?

I feel like it would be lacking some of the nostalgia and lure of Masters of
Doom. The celebrity and talent of Carmack is legendary in our industry and
Romero's arc makes him a compelling foil later in the story. Additionally, id
software's games are the games that I grew up playing as opposed to Rockstar's
games which I have only seen in passing.

~~~
kn0thing
Oh! I didn't know about Jacked. Will take a gander. Thanks.

I'm so careful about the Carmack/Romero comparison for Me/Steve precisely
because things go so spectacularly bad for Romero...and I'm no Carmack.

------
bornhuetter
The audiobook version of this is excellent, read by Wil Wheaton. One of the
best books I've read in the last few years, and also one of the most
entertaining audiobook narrations.

~~~
kn0thing
Speaking of that awesome narrator, we commissioned him for the audiobook of a
recent breadpig publication: Trial of the Clone by Zach Weinersmith.
[http://tinmangames.com.au/blog/?p=3239](http://tinmangames.com.au/blog/?p=3239)

He did an outstanding job. I want Wil to narrate my entire life.

------
sinnerswing
I thought pg gave you the idea to start reddit?

"Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator, rejected their original idea: a
mobile food ordering service called MyMobileMenu. Instead, Graham told them,
"You guys need to build the front page of the Internet.""

[http://www.inc.com/magazine/201206/christine-
lagorio/alexis-...](http://www.inc.com/magazine/201206/christine-
lagorio/alexis-ohanian-reddit-how-i-did-it.html)

~~~
johnrob
I think PG told them to work on (what became) the reddit idea instead of the
food ordering idea. The redditors came up with both ideas.

~~~
kn0thing
This is correct. Masters of Doom made me want to be an entrepreneur.

~~~
samweinberg
What career path did you have your sights on before wanting to become an
entrepreneur?

~~~
kn0thing
This is quickly turning into a book press stop! I wanted to be an immigration
lawyer -- obsessing over my GPA for the first couple of years at UVA. It all
changed when I walked out of an LSAT prep course one Saturday morning to get
waffles at Waffle House instead.

