Approachable Open Source by Brian Muenzenmeyer
You should buy Approachable Open Source by Brian Muenzenmeyer. If you written code before, you should buy this book. If you’ve ever spent any time on GitHub, you should buy this book. If you care about the web, you should buy this book. If you could use some inspiration, perspective, and practical advice, you should buy this book.
I am so honored that Brian asked me to write the foreword for Approachable Open Source. Agreeing to write some words is the least I could do for someone who has done so much for me. I could go on, but maybe I’ll just let you read the foreword instead:
My Foreword to Approachable Open Source
The World Wide Web is one of humanity’s greatest achievements, and despite its bumpy ride the ideals and promise of the web are still very much alive. People connect, collaborate, build community, and work together to make the world a better place. Perhaps nothing better embodies the ideals of the web like open source software. Every day, millions of people from all over the world author, edit, delete, fix, and improve code across countless open source projects. We’re collaborating at a scale the world has never seen before, which is absolutely wild when you stop and think about it.
I’ve never found the mechanics of open source software to be particularly sexy; git continues to give me grief despite years of me using it. But behind all of our commits, hashes, messages, issues, patches, releases, dependencies, and packages—are people. Open source software is people.
As you’ll soon find out, Brian’s enthusiasm and commitment to open source software is downright infectious. I got to witness Brian’s tenacious open source spirit first hand through a design system tool called Pattern Lab I created in 2013 with Dave Olsen. A few months into the project, this guy with a complicated last name and GitHub handle made an unassuming entrance: Brian Muenzenmeyer simply commented on one of Pattern Lab’s many GitHub issues to make a suggestion for getting the software to work on Windows machines. That’s how these things go; sometimes important people make subtle entrances into your life that can only be perceived as profound with the power of hindsight. Brian quickly graduated from commenter to contributor to maintainer. Brian created a vision for Pattern Lab, helped us modernize the architecture, and instilled a real sense of open source maturity. Moreover, he injected so much enthusiasm, passion, love, and commitment into the project that inspired us to do our best.
But it wasn’t all GitHub stars and accolades; Brian was maintaining and advancing Pattern Lab while raising four children—FOUR CHILDREN!—and working a full-time job. The double-edged sword that is passion caused him burn out; something I feel guilty about to this day. I wish I had this book on hand so I could have promoted a healthier culture around the project. But Brian’s hardships have yielded incredible insights, which he graciously shares with us in this book. He acquired a metric ton of lemons and decided to make us all some fresh-squeezed lemonade; that just shows what kind of person he is.
I’m sorry to disappoint you if you were expecting a dry, mechanical book on the technical details of open source software. Don’t get me wrong, Brian covers some real meat; this book is equal parts practical and profound. It is a much-needed handbook for navigating the waters of open source, and it’s also a call to arms: for individuals to engage with open source, for communities to be open and inviting, for organizations to fund and support open source work. And Brian delivers it all in a way that’s so incredibly human, poetic, inspirational, funny, and poignant.
This book will reshape how you think about open source, and I have no doubt Brian’s words will inspire you to lean into the ideals of the web and contribute to something bigger than yourself. If you see something that’s broken, you can fix it. If you have an idea, you can share it with the world. If you like what others are doing, you can collaborate with them. And maybe you’ll get lucky like I did and those collaborators will become your friends. I can thank open source software for the gift that is my longstanding friendship with Brian Muenzenmeyer. And we can now thank open source software and Brian for the gift that is this incredible book you’re about to read.
Do yourself a favor and get Approachable Open Source by Brian Muenzenmeyer.