I believe it was J. Michael Straczynski who once pointed out that even Shakespeare's work probably only achieves a 50% approval rating.

There's nothing wrong with having taste, and having some things that appeal to you and some that do not.

Of course, when people gather to honor things you dislike it is polite to quietly walk away. It is generally rude to interfere with their fun, unless innocent kittens are being injured or there's some other extenuating circumstance.

Additionally, to quote _why: "When you don’t create things, you become defined by your tastes rather than ability. Your tastes only narrow and exclude people. So create."

I used it as my first introduction to Ruby, and it was perfectly suited for that. Easy to read, whimsical, and it actually managed to communicate the joy of programming. I've been recommending it to friends who don't know any programming languages for a while. (For context, when I read it I already knew C, Bash scripting, and bits of PHP and Python).

I definitely support _why's ideas, particularly teaching programming to children. However, I couldn't stand the poignant guide. I actually tried to learn Ruby before Python (my favorite/best language now), but the style of the poignant guide deterred me from the language.

The poignant guide was whimsical until chapter 6, at which point _why becomes the true "bipolar artist programmer". It's beautiful, in its own terrifying way.