I own this book too. It's a good read and definitely worth picking up second-hand. (It's out of print, so that's all you can do...) Speaking of what you might need to be a good programmer, I thought it was interesting that a lot of them flew planes as a hobby. And then I realized that a few of my good programming friends also have their pilot's license -- something I couldn't say for any of my friends in other professions. I wonder if there's a strong correlation compared to other professions? - sm