Parallel and Distributed Programming Using C++ Book

Three-and-a-half stars? I'm not entirely sure what to think about this book. On one hand, it did make me think, and some of the articles, such as "Computer Programming as an Art" and "The Errors of TEX" were particularly good. But the central thesis of the book, literate programming, just did not work for me, at least not in the examples provided. Frankly I did not find Knuth's literate programs either fun to read, or more easily understood than well designed code with well chosen variable and function names would have been (and far too many of Knuth's variable names are obscure). The reordering of code didn't really do anything for me, nor did I find the use of special symbols to enhance a program's readability. But it works for some people -- the approach still has its adherents, and I certainly feel more in sympathy with them than with the "comments as an antipattern" crowd.