Reddit mentions of The Story About Ping

Don't forget The story about Ping

Or this one:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140502416/sr=8-1/qid=1143776236/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-1832608-8440907?%5Fencoding=UTF8
(just the first comment)

Apparently they put collars on ducks as a way go fishing.

Speaking of which, I suppose it is amusing how people either loved or hated the book Ping. (I thought it was a terrible story when I was little)

Ping is a duck, not a loon.

Not quite about programming, but for networking "The Story About Ping". Check the first review:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/0140502416/ref=cm_rev_sort/103-6924682-7370260?customer-reviews.sort_by=-HelpfulVotes&x=5&y=14&s=books

There's "The Story about Ping": https://www.amazon.ca/Story-about-Ping-Marjorie-Flack/dp/0140502416

Not PopSci, but you may find it entertaining.

You may enjoy "How not to network a nation": https://www.amazon.ca/How-Not-Network-Nation-Internet/dp/0262534665

And a duck.

PING! The magic duck!
Using deft allegory, the authors have provided an insightful and intuitive explanation of one of Unix's most venerable networking utilities. Even more stunning is that they were clearly working with a very early beta of the program, as their book first appeared in 1933, years (decades!) before the operating system and network infrastructure were finalized.

The book describes networking in terms even a child could understand, choosing to anthropomorphize the underlying packet structure. The ping packet is described as a duck, who, with other packets (more ducks), spends a certain period of time on the host machine (the wise-eyed boat). At the same time each day (I suspect this is scheduled under cron), the little packets (ducks) exit the host (boat) by way of a bridge (a bridge). From the bridge, the packets travel onto the internet (here embodied by the Yangtze River).

The title character -- er, packet, is called Ping. Ping meanders around the river before being received by another host (another boat). He spends a brief time on the other boat, but eventually returns to his original host machine (the wise-eyed boat) somewhat the worse for wear.

If you need a good, high-level overview of the ping utility, this is the book. I can't recommend it for most managers, as the technical aspects may be too overwhelming and the basic concepts too daunting.

Problems With This Book

As good as it is, The Story About Ping is not without its faults. There is no index, and though the ping(8) man pages cover the command line options well enough, some review of them seems to be in order. Likewise, in a book solely about Ping, I would have expected a more detailed overview of the ICMP packet structure.

But even with these problems, The Story About Ping has earned a place on my bookshelf, right between Stevens' Advanced Programming in the Unix Environment, and my dog-eared copy of Dante's seminal work on MS Windows, Inferno. Who can read that passage on the Windows API ("Obscure, profound it was, and nebulous, So that by fixing on its depths my sight -- Nothing whatever I discerned therein."), without shaking their head with deep understanding. But I digress.

http://www.amazon.com/Story-About-Ping-Marjorie-Flack/dp/0140502416

The Amazon review the author mentions can still be found: https://www.amazon.com/Story-About-Ping-Marjorie-Flack/product-reviews/0140502416/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_paging_btm_next_43?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews&sortBy=recent&pageNumber=43

The Story About Ping

Ping is a duck.

For older readers, this review provides an excellent summary.

Best tongue-in-cheek review I've seen in years. Now go here and read John E. Fracisco's review.