Ellen Ullman's Close to the Machine: Technophilia and Its Discontents is one of my absolute favourite techie memoirs -- funny, perceptive and very personal, sometimes painfully so. Almost an anthropological feel to it. It gives a very accurate and interesting insider's view of the programming biz -- I should know 'cause I used to be a programmer myself. I just ordered it for my library -- after checking and *gasp* noticing we didn't have a copy. This is all to say that I find it very interesting to note that Ullman has written a novel about that very same programming milieu, called The Bug: A Novel. I can't wait to read it and when I do, I'll post my thoughts here as well as on my other blog. Ullman has written quite extensively about the high tech world and many of her essays are available at Salon, including two excerpts from Close to the Machine. The ACM's Ubiquity also has a very fine interview with her in it's May 20-26, 2003 issue, v4 i13 -- it's actually that interview that started this whole thread going.