Andrei Alexandrescu. The D Programming Language. Boston, Pearson, 2010.

There's a line in a science fiction novel I read long ago that says a scientist would fear-lessly peer into the gates of hell if he thought it would further knowledge in his field. In one sentence, it captures the essence of what it means to be a scientist. This joy in discovery, this need to know, is readily apparent in the videos and writings of physicist Richard Feynman, and his enthusiasm is infectious and enthralling. Although I am not a scientist, I understand their motivation. Mine is that of an engineer-the joy of creation, of building something out of nothing. One of my favorite books is a chronicle of the step-by-step process the Wright brothers went through to solve the problems of flight one by one, The Wright Brothers as Engineers by Wald, and how they poured all that knowledge into creating a flying machine. My early interests were summed up in the opening pages of Rocket Manual for Amateurs by Brinley with the phrase "thrilled and fascinated by things that burn and ex-plode," later matured into wanting to build things that went faster and higher. But building powerful machines is an expensive proposition. And then I discovered computers. The marvelous and seductive thing about computers is the ease with which things can be built. You don't need a billion-dollar fab plant, a machine shop, or even a screwdriver. With just an inexpensive computer, you can create worlds.