Leon Atkinson

I bought Zend Framework in Action yesterday because the short tutorial isn’t quite enough to know how to architect an big application. I’m building an enterprise app at work for a client and picked ZF and YUI as core platforms. I’m pleased with the content of the book. Rob Allen is a fine writer and the organization of the text is logical.

Now that I’m about 80 pages into the book, I thought I’d grab a copy of the PDF version for easy reference whichever desk I’m sitting at.  The print edition comes with a “free” ebook. There are two ways to get this free ebook.

The way they want you to do it is as follows.

1. Cut open a folded paper in the front of the book.
2. Go to the URL printed on the paper.
3. Type in a code they ask you for out of 9×20 grid.
4. Type in another code from the grid.
5. Type in your name and email address.
6. Wait for the email to arrive.
7. Find the email in your spam folder.
8. Click on a link to start the download.
9. Rename the file from “gi” (wtf?) to something rational, such as “Zend_Framework_In_Action.pdf”.

However, you could do the following.

1. Enter “zend framework in action pdf” into Google Search.
2. Click to some blog.
3. Click the link into RapidShare.
4. Wait for your 30 seconds to expire since you are a “free” user.
5. Download the .rar file.
6. Expand whatever’s in the rar file. (I didn’t actually go this far).

Typing in codes from a grid is pretty annoying. I threw down $45 to get the book. Maybe they should just trust me and print a direct download link inside the text of the book. After all, we’re all only a couple of links away from downloading it from RapidShare. What would have been really cool was if I could have downloaded the PDF for free first and then bought the print version when I decided that the book was of great value. I had that exact experience with another author recently.

If you are going to buy Zend Framework in Action (and you aren’t in a rush like I was), you might use the Amazon.com link above. It’s a lot cheaper than buying it off the shelf at B&N.

On my shelf for several years, I recently read Ron Merrill’s book, The Ideas of Ayn Rand. I walked away with one key insight.

Most of the book is a rehash of her history and her philosophical work. It doesn’t hurt to refresh yourself on important ideas, but I don’t feel like I learned much from this part of the book. I’ve read all of non-fiction from her and I’ve read Barbara Branden’s biography. Merrill has a different perspective having been peripheral to the core group in the 1960s.

What I found fascinating was the last part of the book where he analyzes the current state of the “movement” and how it could improve. His advice seems to be a sketch of what Stefan Molyneux is almost over-explaining over at Free Domain Radio. That is, find the people who you agree with on the basics (metaphysics, epistemology, …) and tolerate your differences with the benevolent assumption that one of you errs on the facts not that by corruption. This book was published in 1991. It was a big deal then that David Kelley had been pushed out of the “orthodox” circle of Objectivists. That was a strange experience for me having just recently begun studying Objectivism seriously.

Merrill argues that our focus for change must be cultural not political. I’ve been listening to Molyneux’s work during my commute, and he definitively destroys the notion that “working within the system” is a viable option. Neither through electing like-minded politicians nor through academia can we expect to avert our world’s crash course. The most powerful tool we have is the power over ourselves. If we live morally, we will prosper and by that prosperity inspire others. What I appreciated most from Merrill’s book was the reminder that evil’s power is given by sanction of the victim. I cannot count the times when faced with some frustrating injustice (big or small), I find it started with tolerance for injustice.

I don’t have the context to understand whether Merrill was influential over the ARI, but they certainly have oriented themselves on cultural change, and to great success. At under 200 pages, this book is an enjoyable reminder of that things are better than they were and a fresh reminder to shrug off despair.