My Good Sir Frank,

I have been involved in computers and the Internet for several years. Over this time I have had many books "passed down" to me for reading and study, and have, of course, purchased several myself. Sadly, it was only recently that an O'Reilly publication, UNIX in a Nutshell, came across my desk with an introduction of "You're going to love this!" I say "sadly" because I now realize how much money I have spent on such inferior quality books. I am now a frequent flier at the local Barnes & Noble and have quite a substantial O'Reilly library. Rare is it when I use anything else. I understand now why it was that those other books were so readily passed down; they simply weren't that good. I have since passed down many of them myself.

It has been almost two years since the day that O'Reilly book slid across my desk. I now have almost two dozen, and counting. I do not usually lend my O'Reilly's, but I do strongly suggest their purchase and direct those who are interested on where to get them. As a system administrator, many of them are invaluable to me. It's a broad spectrum that is my interest. Luckily, I have O'Reilly to help me.

Please pass on my most sincere gratitude and humble thanks to the Powers that Be at O'Reilly & Associates. I will pass on to all that will listen what a fantastic publication an O'Reilly book is.

Thank you,
Jason Jordan

Dear Jason:

Thanks for your kind words. We, too, are sorry that you didn't discover O'Reilly sooner, and we're glad that you're now making up for lost time.

Thanks also for not lending others your O'Reilly books. Let others buy them. Buyers respect their books. You seem to recognize that "lend" and "lose" are synonyms where books are concerned. If I had been prudent like you, I would still have Volume 3 (Cats - Dorc) of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

In the last few months, I've had to struggle with some quality complaints from other voracious O'Reilly readers. We're working to address those quality complaints. It's very nice to get email telling us how useful our books have been, especially when that email comes from a system administrator, the Atlases of the network. We can judge the quality of an O'Reilly book by seeing if the systems managed by its readers are running efficiently and constantly. (Having said that, I hope you receive this email.)

By the way: what does squish.org do?

Thanks again,
Frank Willison

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