Ira Haverson & Tiffany Fulton Pearson: Is this the Way to Baker House?

If you are familiar with the subject, you will know from the headline alone what this book is about: The title is the question that every MIT hacker is supposed to ask when caught in the act by an MIT police officer, and the authors' initials compose a well-known acronym along the lines of "I strongly dislike this place" :-)

This book is not about hacking in the modern sense - it doesn't relate to computers at all. Instead, hacking in the MIT sense means to impress the public (at least the MIT public) with ingenious pranks that may well include things prohibited, but don't inflict lasting damage. A good example featured in this book was the replacement of a large inscription below the roof of Lobby Seven. Originally reading

Established for Advancement and Development of Science its Application to Industry the Arts Agriculture and Commerce.

some of the engraved letters where changed on August 25, 1994, to make it

Established for Advancement and Development of Science its Application to Industry the Arts Entertainment and Hacking.

So well was this carried out that although the hall was investigated twice by campus police officers, nobody noticed the prank.

This book documents a fair number of such pranks, and it should become standard reading for everybody planning on larger-scale shenanigans at school, university or other organisations.

It is a follow-up volume of "The Institute for Hacks, TomFoolery & Pranks" (notice the initials).

How to get it

Is this the Way to Baker House, 168 pp, $20.95 US; The Institute for Hacks, TomFoolery & Pranks, 168 pp, $20.95 US; online at the MIT Museum Shop, or visit the museum at 77 Mass Ave, Cambridge, Massachusetts, where I paid only $14 for this book. (Some of the best hacks are on display.)

Frederik Ramm, 2001-04-27