How To Become A Hacker by Eric Raymond is an interesting approach to hacking that opposes hacking as a form of inquiry and philosophy to cracking which is about messing with other people’s accounts.
Here is Raymond’s “Hacker Attitude”:
1. The world is full of fascinating problems waiting to be solved.
2. No problem should ever have to be solved twice.
3. Boredom and drudgery are evil.
4. Freedom is good.
5. Attitude is no substitute for competence.
There is a lot more on his site (Eric S. Raymond’s Home Page) including “The Retrocomputing Museum”, essays like The Cathedral and the Bazaar (which includes a history of hackerdom) and links to classic AI programs like Eliza in Basic.
Important site.