Most, if not all, authors seem to dedicate their book to someone. As simply a reader of books, I have thought of this seeming prerequisite as customary tradition. That was my feeling before I embarked on writing about Solr, a project that has sapped my previously "free" time on nights and weekends for a year. I chose this sacrifice and would not change it, but my wife, family, and friends did not choose it. I am married to my lovely wife Sylvie who has sacrificed easily as much as I have to complete this book. She has suffered through this time with an absentee husband while bearing our first child—Camille. She was born about a week before the completion of my first draft and has been the apple of my eye ever since. I officially dedicate this book to my wife Sylvie and my daughter Camille, whom I both lovingly adore. I also pledge to read book dedications with newfound firsthand experience at what the dedication represents.

I would also like to thank others who helped bring this book to fruition. Namely, if it were not for Doug Cutting creating Lucene with an open source license, there would be no Solr. Furthermore, CNet's decision to open source what was an in-house project, Solr itself in 2006, deserves praise. Many corporations do not understand that open source isn't just "free code" you get for free that others wrote; it is an opportunity to let your code flourish on the outside instead of it withering inside. Finally, I thank the team at Packt who were particularly patient with me as a first-time author writing at a pace that left a lot to be desired.

Last but not least, this book would not have been completed in a reasonable time were it not for the assistance of my contributing author, Eric Pugh. His perspectives and experiences have complemented mine so well that I am absolutely certain the quality of this book is much better than what I could have done alone.

Thank you all.

Throughout my life I have been helped by so many people, but all too rarely do I get to explicitly thank them. This book is arguable one of the high points of my career, and as I wrote it, I thought about all the people who have provided encouragement, mentoring, and the occasional push to succeed. First off, I would like to thank Erik Hatcher, author, entrepreneur, and great family man for introducing me to the world of open source software. My first hesitant patch to Ant was made under his tutelage, and later my interest in Solr was fanned by his advocacy. Thanks to Harry Sleeper for taking a chance on a first time conference speaker; he moved me from thinking of myself as a developer improving myself to thinking of myself as a consultant improving the world (of software!). His team at MITRE are some of the most passionate developers I have met, and it was through them I met my co-author David. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to David Smiley. He has encouraged me, coached me, and put up with my lack of respect for book deadlines, making this book project a very positive experience! I look forward to the next one. With my new son Morgan at home, I could only have done this project with a generous support of time from my company, OpenSource Connections. I am incredibly proud of what o19s is accomplishing!

Lastly, to the all the folks in the Solr/Lucene community who took the time to review early drafts and provide feedback: Solr is at the tipping point of becoming the "it" search engine because of your passion and commitment

I am who I am because of my wife, Kate. Schweetie, real life for me began when we met. Thank you.