22, read most of Joel’s blog when I was 16, despite living in Nigeria with Snow. 

I can’t imagine the youngsters of today never wondering who stands behind SO—and that brings you to JoS and CH too. 

I’ve seen a different opinion though: people claiming Joel and Jeff spoiled a generation of developers by presenting subjective opinions as self-evident truths in the form of feel-good light reading.  I don’t subscribe to this viewpoint but it’s worth mentioning.