Review: FoxTales

I've broken from my 'write about science-fiction' concept a little ahead of schedule this time, but my attention was drawn this morning to a book called 'FoxTales', written by Kerry Nietz, which covers the development of the FoxPro system...which I had never heard of, I must confess. I have been interested in the history of computing for ages, though, and soaked up books such as Masters of Doom, Jacked, Commodore: Company on the Edge, and the like. On that basis, I shelled out the £3 for the Kindle copy and read it during what turned out to be an unexpectedly long writing break today.

I loved it. As the story of a programmer thrown in at the deep end, it was interesting enough, but what I found compelling was the characters that were portrayed in the book, all the different foibles and quirks; during the course of the book the reader almost gets to know them himself, which is the hallmark of an author that knows his craft. I am not surprised to learn that the writer has transited to writing novels now, though part of me would like to read a sequel fully detailing his experiences at Microsoft.

No Kindle formatting problems, I should say at this point, and the editing looked fine to me. I was compelled all the way though, and it certainly compares favourably to other books in the genre. Very impressed, and I can highly recommend it – and now I know rather more about FoxPro than I did when I started...not sure what to do with those new found skills, but I suppose something might come up...