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Free as in Freedom offers insight into the events that shaped Richard Stallman's ideals and ethos. A must-read for anyone struggling to understand why software freedom matters, and what drives its most dedicated advocate.

The book starts by giving a description of Stallman's early life and key turning points that make him the person he is today. Later chapters concentrate on the free software movement, maturation of the ideas that found legal representation as the GPL (GNU General Public License), as well as related topics as the similar-sounding, but ethically different, open-source movement.

Technology takes a back seat to ethics here: this work will appeal to anyone with a social conscience, hacker and non-hacker alike. While it is available under the GNU FDL (Free Documentation License), the hard cover edition will make an excellent addition to any library.