You're reading the acknowledgements? Excellent!

Technical books today can go from first word to press in as little as four months. This project took more than two years to complete, painstakingly researched and carefully developed. If this book seems different from other titles on your bookshelf, there's good reason for it and a lot of good people behind it.

In the summer of 1999, I talked with Michael Slaughter at Addison-Wesley publishing about writing a series of Linux books. Because Linux begins with Bash, Bash would be the topic of my first book. So if you've been dying for a good Bash book, thank Michael.

Lawrence Law, a Unix programmer who's worked both sides of the Pacific, offered practical tips for keeping the book fresh and interesting, while debating the existence of God and competent IT management.

Chris Browne, Linux author and speaker, took time out from maintaining the .org and .info domains to give much needed advice on getting published. A big thanks for fitting me in between TLUG and Postgres.

Chris Johnson took time away from chess tournaments and writing Bash algorithms to question all aspects of my research. I haven't seen him since we discussed this book, but I imagine he'll show up to a PegaSoft meeting to collect a signed copy soon enough.

When Addison-Wesley was taken over by Prentice Hall, the manuscript bounced around until it fell into the inbox of Katie Mohr at Sams Publishing. If you're glad this book is in your hands, buy her a coffee. She was the one who pitched it to the People Who Make the Choice.

If you're thinking “cool” and “I need this book on my shelf,” you're not the first. That honor goes to the early reviewers of the manuscript, the ones who persuaded the powers that be that this book was gold. I don't have your names, but I read your comments.

Scott Meyers, Senior Development Editor, has left the manuscript primarily as he received it. If you like the book, email Scott and tell him he made the right choice not to mess with a Good Thing.

I never figured out exactly what Elizabeth Finney, the Production Editor, does. But her title has “production” in it, so she must be very important. Probably a wealthy supermodel who graduated from Harvard and is a presidential advisor. Say, Liz, if you're interested in balding Linux geeks, give me a call.

Because I'm from Canada, Kezia Endsley, the copy editor, was responsible for squashing every extraneous “u,” hacking every “which” to “that,” and making sure that zed's were all pummeled to zee's. So little escaped her eye that I think I'll have her look over my income tax next year.

John Traenkenschuh, the Tech Editor and Chief Guru, ran every single example in this book to make sure no last-minute bugs made it into print. Are you still wondering, John, why Linus is Finnish but “Linux” is pronounced with a Swedish accent? There are more things in heaven and Earth, John, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

And thanks to you, the reader, for taking the time to find out why this book is different. If you want to see more books of this caliber, contact Sams Publishing and let them know what you think.