This is not related to multi-touch but a book I edited has been published and is now available for purchase on Amazon.com or at O'Reilly and soon at a bookstore near you.

The book, 97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know, was born out of a presentation I gave several times last year titled "10 Things Every Software Architect Should Know". When I asked fellow architects for advice for that presentation I got lots of great suggestions including one to create a wiki and a book. From that was born the 97 Things project which is about as close to open source as a book can get I think.

The 97 Things project is a wiki-like web site where dozens of software architects have contributed axioms and advice for other software architects on everything from how to manage really bright people to how to architect systems that are simple and flexible. It's not a hard-core technical guide, its advice on how to be better software architect.

The best 97 axioms written by over four dozen authors on the web site were edited and compiled into the book pictured above. I wrote only one axiom in the book and so I'm not the author, I'm the editor. I, with the help of Mike Loukidies of O'Reilly, edited contributions and chose the best ones, but the real credit goes to the dozens of authors who unselfishly contributed to the project. It was for all of us, I think, a labor of love. Next week I'll be giving my 10 Things presentation on an O'Reilly web cast to promote the book. It's free so if you are intersted come join me.

The 97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know is the flagship of a new series that O'Reilly is publishing. There will be two other books published in the next few months: 97 Things Every Software Project Manager Should Know, edited by Barbee Davis, and 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know, edited by Kevlin Henny. Those books are in the works but are already well along and should be ready for print in two to four months.

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