That was fantastic. Thanks both Wil and Shane. I think I pulled something I was laughing so hard.

I picked up the Cuckoo's Egg on a Friday night in 1990. I read it in one sitting. I was in and out of school at the time, bouncing back in forth between studying journalism and computer science. Cliff Stoll included his email addresses in the back of the book and I had a discussion with him via CompuServe about the book, astronomy, computer science and a bunch of other stuff. Cliff is a really neat guy and I appreciated the fact that he was willing to answer a lot of questions from a college kid he had never met. For me the fascinating aspect of the book was the concept of all these systems networked together and the ability to store and access these vast amounts of information. I was using bulletin board systems in 1990 (Anchorage Alaska had a very active BBS community in the late 80's and early 90's) but had not yet discovered the internet. It really was this book that helped seal my career choice and I have been working as a professional developer since 1993. I still have that very copy of the book sitting on my shelf. It's a keeper - and every once in a while I pull it down and read it again.

As always - an excellent post. I just started reading the blog a few months ago after a friend referred me to it. Truly great stuff. I read Roy Blount Jr's article and I also thought he was way off base. Machine read text is no comparison to a well done audio book. It's a quixotic venture and unlikely to net the Author's Guild any value - and more likely will hurt them in the long run. Next thing you know these guys will be staking out the library trying to extort a fee everytime someone checks out their book. So - when can we expect an audio version of Sunken Treasure? These are great stories and but I think having you read them adds a whole other dimension. Also - I just listened to the D&D podcast (parts 1 and 2). You guys are a riot. Looking forward to hearing the rest of the game.