Mom knows best

Filled with Motherly advice, this inscription appears inside the front of a used paperback book:

Mom's advice 

----------

Dear Max -

Don't laugh -

this is exactly the

kind of book a

Guy like you

should read!

Love,

Mom

Merry Xmas

1998

----------

What is Mom recommending?  The book is "Showstopper!" by G. Pascal Zachary:

"Showstopper!" (1996 English edition)

This revised and update edition was published in 1996 in England.  It describes the development at Microsoft of the Windows NT operating system, that family of Windows OS that spans from Windows NT 3.1 to Windows Server 2019.

One wonders if Mom read the book beforehand?