Along the same lines, check out Douglas Crockford's extensive JavaScript lecture series: http://yuiblog.com/crockford/ http://yuiblog.com/crockford/ Also a must

Along the same lines, check out Douglas Crockford's extensive JavaScript lecture series: http://yuiblog.com/crockford/ http://yuiblog.com/crockford/ Also a must watch. It details the history, good parts, and reasons to like JavaScript.