Foreword to Greasemonkey Hacks

In his foreword to Mark Pilgrim’s Greasemonkey Hacks , Aaron Boodman (creator and lead developer of Greasemonkey), speaks of the pride he takes in the association of the word hacks with his creation:

It has been occasionally noted that Greasemonkey is a hacker’s tool. I take some pride in that, since I come from a family of relentless hackers.

He continues with a touching account of his own family of hackers, going all the way back to the need to hack that’s been so central to the evolution of our species (humans, that is, not just hackers, which, contrary to popular opinion, does not constitute a separate species).

Finally, he ends with a sort of call to arms that Greasemonkey promises:

The next time you find yourself frustrated by a broken website, you won’t have to live with it. You’ll have the tools and knowledge to fix it yourself.

I’d like to think this spirit is central to all Hacks books and to every issue of MAKE (and, dare I say it, the evolution of our species).