The quality publishing around Ubuntu these days cannot be ignored. Another excellent book sits here beside me now, pages flagged with many points of interest. I wasn’t anticipating doing so much detailed reading with this one. After all, I just reviewed another Ubuntu book before this one. How much new information could be in there? But before the chapters even began, I found myself interested in learning about the authors and the development style used in putting together this book. From the preface, “.. The Official Ubuntu Book is not a typical book at all”. Contributions were sought directly from the community. And, just like the software itself, the collaboration has resulted in excellence.

Credited on the cover though, are five authors. Benjamin Mako Hill is a member of the Ubuntu Community Council. He also works on a project that I find fascinating, the One Laptop per Child project. Jono Bacon works for the United Kingdom’s government-funded OpenAdvantage center in England. He has authored more than 400 articles and is the co-creator of the LugRadio podcast. Corey Burger is a member of the Ubuntu Documentation Team and the Laptop Testing Team. Jonathan Jesse holds a day job as a Microsoft Windows Network Administrator. Though not a programmer, he found a way to give back by joining the Ubuntu Documentation Team. Ivan Krstic is also involved in the One Laptop per Child project and serves as an administrator for the Ubuntu Server Team. While not a complete resume by any means, you can see that this book has some serious horsepower behind it.

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