🚀 go-pugleaf

Greetings, all!

        I'm putting together a bibliography called "Towards a Better Sysadmin".
It's to be a listing of books, articles, and resources which have helped some
sysadmins be better sysadmins -- but not limited to specifically system
administration-related resources.  What resources have made you a better
system administrator?  
 
        Reply with titles, any other information which comes to hand, and
short annotations explaining what it is, and why it helped.  For instance:
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Strunk and White, _The Elements of Style_.  Handbook for writers to encourage
tighter and more precise writing.  Useful when stuck for ideas while editting
documentation and policy statements.
 
USENET newsgroup comp.admin.policy.  Discussions of system administration
policy.  Commiseration, learning what goes on at other sites, problem solving
and problem prevention.  Helped me become more aware of legal issues involved
with "private" networks and systems.
 
British comedy group Monty Python.  General silliness and weirdness.
Good way to distract users during lunch, an excuse to be less of a hermit,
and source of jokes leading to exploration of language and application
oddities.  I find it a great writer's-block breaker.
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        This bibliography, should it reach critical mass, will become an
article for SAGE (a USENIX Technical Group, "System Administrators' Guild").
Regardless, I'll make it available for you and others, so that you can see
what others thought was useful.  Your contribution will be creditted;  any
philosophy behind your choices, and other random thoughts, are welcome as well.
 
        I'd like contributions by the end of January, for the first draft of
the bibliography.
 
                Joseph Beckenbach
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Joseph Beckenbach	jerbil@ultra.com	408-922-0600 x246
	(speaking from, but not for, Ultra Network Technologies)