Reviews (12)

the nice guy finaly finishes first
I just read the book iWoz. If you are a Mac-head, or just a computer geek who is intrigued by the origins of the PC industry, thisbook is definately a must-read. It gives a great, human approach to the subject of Steve Wozniak, inventor, and the people in his life who helped draw him out and create the Apple I, the computer that really signified the true arrival of small, affordable computers for the masses. The prose is written in a very informal and relaxed style, as if Steve is sitting across from you and telling you his story himself. I found it very engaging. I am a very tough critic, but this is definately a book I will read again.

Gives you a great sense of the Woz.
This is an excellent book about a truly interesting and innovative man. It provides real insight into his work, his style and his personality. I had the pleasure of seeing Steve on his speaking tour and I was really impressed by how the book captures his style, tone and spirit. Steve has a real childlike quality to him which shows through alternatively as playfulness, humor, goofiness and innocence.He also has a long history with promoting education and teaching.
Great Promise but Poor Delivery
The real problem with the book is that it's packaged and sold as an adult book but it's actually a children's book. Stories are toned down for the child audience and at one point, even self-censored, as not being appropriate for a "family audience," as though Woz imagines the family drawn up around father's easy chair to listen to the evening reading. As if... The book ends, as all good children's books do, with the ending that he hoped his twelve-year-old audience will be as lucky as he was...sort of a go though and do likewise.
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography And Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Business    7. Computer engineers    8. Computer industry    9. Computers - General Information    10. History    11. History Of Technology    12. Industries - Computer Industry    13. Inventors    14. Personal Memoirs    15. United States    16. Computers / History    17. Miscellaneous Items   

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Business    6. Business Executives    7. Chief executive officers    8. Computer Industry    9. Corporate & Business History - General    10. Grove, Andrew S    11. Historical - General    12. Intel Corporation    13. United States    14. Biography & Autobiography / Business    15. Biography: general    16. Business & Management   

Editorial Review

Michael Lewis was supposed to be writing about how Jim Clark, the founder of Silicon Graphics and Netscape, was going to turn health care on its ear by launching Healtheon, which would bring the vast majority of the industry's transactions online. So why was he spending so much time on a computerized yacht, each feature installed because, as one technician put it, "someone saw it on Read more

Reviews (213)

Classic Michael Lewis on Silicon Valley
If you have read any of Michael Lewis's other books and found them enjoyable (either writing style or topic), you will find this a good read, worthy of your time.You will learn a little about the atmosphere of Silicon Valley during the height of the bubble / late 90s as well as about a very unique figure who helped (over exagerated, per Economist) start it all.

How Silicon Valley Was Built and the Next Gen Entrepreneur!
A must read for any entrepreneur or intrapreneur(someone within a company who must innovate). Lewis opens with stories about Jim Clark -- reknown Silicon Valley entrepreneur and innovatorand his boat that 'built Netscape"...the book talks about Netscape which Lewis says launched the Information age (it may or may not have but it certainly ushered in the IPO era and online businesses. Interesting what has since happened to Silicon Graphics and Healtheon that was supposed to turn the health care industry 'on it's head'. The inside cover talks about --- what else-- Paradigm shift in American culture-- from conventional business models (the old economy) to the new economy. Yet in retrospect we know that a mix of the best of both is really probably the way to go. The titles of the chapter are more clever than the chapters themselves. I personally would have liked to see more about different innovators not just Clarke but then I didn't write the book. The chapter titles include "Pasts in a Box" Disorganization Man, Home of the Future God Mode -- How Chickents Become Pork, Cheese Sandwiches for Breakfast, Chasing Ghosts, The Turning Point and The New New Thing....

A Fascinating Insight into Silicon Valley
The July 1999 issue of Forbes magazine makes the astonishing observation that there are now 465 people who have a billion or more dollars. Incredibly, as this book notes, there are an estimated 180,000 Americans who are deca-millionaires (over ten million dollars in assets). An inventor or entrepreneur, upon reading these statistics, may note that not only has a great amount of wealth been created, but that it is not in the hands of just a handful of people.
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Business    5. Business / Economics / Finance    6. Businessmen    7. Computer software industry    8. E-Commerce - General    9. Entrepreneurship    10. History    11. United States    12. Business & Economics / Economic History   

Reviews (60)

Good stories, not enough details...
Wil is all over the map in this book, but understandably so since it's mostly expanded versions of posts from his blog and his commentary on making them. It's good material, however it doesn't go into deep enough detail in many of the stories, leaving you thinking "That's good, but is that really it?" The material could use more spicing up, or at least some deeper thoughts on the subject. He could have made the book twice as long and used smaller print without it seeming like too much, really. A for effort, B- for execution. Still, very much worth reading.

He's more than a geek...
Most of us know Wil Wheaton as the writer kid from Stand By Me or Wesley Crusher from the early seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation. After he left TNG to pursue a film career, Wheaton seemed to fall off the map, but now he's back, with a successful weblog and a career as a writer.
Funny and inspiring
I was late to Wil's blog, but once I found it I really enjoyed it. As an outgrowth of that interest, I bought this book. I loved it and ended up reading it in about 2 days. Simply put, it gave me a lot to think about. Sure, I laughed - Wil has what appears to me to be a natural gift for story-telling - but more than the laughs , it made me think about what defines success. I hope he writes more. I know I am going to buy more of his work. And note to "Hollywood" ... you are missing out on this guy and it's your loss (and our's).
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Subjects:  1. Actors    2. Biography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Computer Books: Operating Systems    5. Computers    6. Entertainment & Performing Arts - Television Personalities    7. Operating Systems - Windows    8. Personal Memoirs    9. United States    10. Wheaton, Wil    11. Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Arts    12. Biography & Autobiography / Literary    13. Biography & Autobiography/Personal Memoirs    14. Biography: film, television & music    15. Sex & Gender/Masculine    16. Television    17. Wil Wheaton, wilwheaton.net, Star Trek, Dancing Barefoot, Just a Geek   

Reviews (16)

You'll learn a lot about RMS, but at the same time be tired by the simple level.
FREE AS IN FREEDOM is Sam Williams' biography of legendary software developer and political thinker Richard Stallman. Founder of the GNU project, Stallman is little-known outside of a relatively small world of computing cognoscenti, but without him Linux and many other modern computing innovations would hardly be possible. In an interesting twist, the publisher O'Reilly has released this book under the GNU Free Documentation License, meaning that the book may be freely copied and sold.
Very Good Book
I find Stallman and Linus a very interesting comparison, especially their motivations. Williams has done a good job of providing the reader insight into a leading thinker in our time. As with most leaders there are those who think he is a genius, those who think he is a fool and those who think he is evil. The choice is of course dependent upon how closely the leader agrees with the observer.
Carpe Diem! (or don't)
I found Free as in Freedom in the library, Deweyed on the
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer hackers    4. Computer programmers    5. Computers    6. General    7. Open source software    8. Social Aspects    9. Social Aspects - General    10. Sociology    11. Stallman, Richard    12. United States    13. Biography: general    14. Computers / Operating Systems / Linux    15. Computers / Social Aspects / General    16. Free Software Foundation (Cambridge, Mass.)    17. Hi-tech manufacturing industries    18. Impact of computing & IT on society    19. Social Science/General    20. Technology/Social Aspects   

Reviews (2)

Absolute must have for academic-types.
The IEEE Information Society releases (IEEE Press) releases yet another priceless book which is both historical in nature; yet every bit as current as when Shannon first started published some of his more famous works in the 1940's.This book is unquestionably a "must have" reference book for either communication engineers or mathemeticians who have either a serious, or newly found interest in the topic of "information theory." Shannon's theorems of Channel Capacity and Channel Claude Elwood Shannon
It's a great book if you need to know what's driving todays information technology w.r.t. bandwidth and how it can revolutionize the economy. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Communication Engineering    3. Computer Science (General)    4. Computers    5. General    6. Information theory    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Technology    9. Telecommunication    10. Telecommunications    11. Applied mathematics    12. Electronics & Communications Engineering    13. Technology / Telecommunications    14. USA   

Reviews (53)

A good insight
A quick and fascinating read about one of the greatest business minds of our time.

Great book!
I am not the biggest Steve Jobs fan on planet earth but I will say that as biographies go, Bill Simon is one of the best of the best. I read Art of Deception and Art of Intrusion and even Profit From Experience and I have had the privildge of knowing personally the personalites of which Mr. Simon writes and I'm happy to say that his books are so good that you'd not know that the individuals in his work didn't write these books themselves. Buy it if you haven't. It's a very interesting view into the psyche that is Steve Jobs. I enjoyed it a lot.

Basically, its a big, anti-jobs rant.Don't be conned.
I've been in the software industry for quite awhile, and I've watched as the personal computer industry evolved from one where there were dozens of machines being sold to consumers down to the two primary platforms of windows and macintosh.While there is no doubt that the macintosh is the minority platform, there is also no doubt that its continued survival has engendered an unexplained amount of hate from those who are not fans of the machine.
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Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Business    5. Industries - Computer Industry    6. Biography & Autobiography / Business    7. Biography: general    8. History of specific subjects   

Reviews (4)

History from newspapers
Buyers beware!!! This book is huge... Amazon should give its dimensions, but I am guessing more than a foot long and 3/4 foot wide.Great reading about history -- if you have strong arms and a sturdy table.

a great motivator for any IT person out there
After buying the book I was a little scaptic about this book keeping me intrested but rather than being too technical and 'professional' the book is more like a drama with alot of winners and losers.It was a greatinspiring experience-reading stories like the ones about bill gates,stevejobs and his body 'woz'.The book floats along the evolution of the computerindustry,the IBM empire,the Microsoft phenomenen throght the stories of thepeople who made it and those who couldn't stay in the top.A must read forevery person who has some computer background who wants to know how it allstarted and also for the not-yet computer fan who just wants a good read.

Tales Well-Told
These really are "stories" rather than commentaries. A born storyteller, Young presents what he calls "inspiring tales of the entrepreneurs and inventors who revolutionized modern business." They include the "pioneersand pirates" who developed the prototype for the first commercial computersas well as Thomas J. Watson, Jr., William Shockley, Jack Kilby, JayForrester, Edwin De Castro, Douglas Engelbart, Bob Noyce, Andy Grove, &Gordon Moore, Edward Roberts, Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak, Don Estridge,Lew Eggbrecht, Bill Gates & Paul Allen, Tom Carter, Bill McGowan, CraigMcCaw, Bob Taylor, Steve Case, and Marc Andreesen.Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business History    4. Business/Economics    5. Computer Industry (Economic Aspects)    6. Entrepreneurship    7. High technology    8. History    9. Industries - General    10. Inventions    11. Inventors    12. Reference    13. United States    14. Biography: general    15. Business & Economics / Skills    16. Industry & Industrial Studies    17. Technology: General Issues   

Editorial Review

If you've ever gone out to lunch with a coworker and suddenly found yourself witness to a savage stream of unflattering assessments of bosses, wicked gossip, and the-emperor-has-no-clothes analysis of your industry, you'll know what it's like to read Read more

Reviews (42)

Very informative
OK, If I could I'd give it 4.5 stars or so -- there are flaws. But basically, the book has a lot of great info, especially for geeks who work in the software business. There are very few books on the business side of things.
This guy has *issues*
Yes, Charles is brilliant, arrogant and is lightening-fast in seeing the failings of others and himself and is willing to take ownership of them (rectifying the situation and doing something about it is another story completely...). However, he also has a massive inferiority-complex when up against anyone with more brains, more money, more priviledge or more power than himself hence his complete disdain for anything Microsoft-related (never mind that it was the hand that fed him and he continues to bite it). He also fails to see that you can attract a lot more bees with honey instead of vinegar. It's not a coincidence that everyone from Vermeer, except Charles eventually landed a job at Microsoft, I suspect Gates was smart enough to see just how insanely jealous Charles must be of him. As for his acidic portrayal of many of the players in the book, I'm fairly sure Charles really reserves his most toxic rage and disdain for those persons who display A)either negative qualities he has and sees a lot of himself in and wished he did not have (i.e career opportunism, uppity-ness) or B)positive qualities he wished he had but is too nasty to ever take time out to acquire and attract (i.e Gates with his intelligence, power and wealth).
Straight shooter who did it right
Charles Ferguson, an MIT PhD, was the founding CEO of Vermeer Technologies, a company that developed one of the first web design tools.Vermeer sold the company to Microsoft for a boatload of money and lived to tell the tale.It's a fasinating story of what its really like on the inside of a high-tech startup replete with politics, hard-ball negotiations and strange bedfellows.Ferguson may be arrogant, but he's smart and tells it like it is.Anyone thinking of building a startup should read this book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Business    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. California    6. Case studies    7. Computer Industry    8. Computer Industry (Economic Aspects)    9. Corporate & Business History - General    10. Entrepreneurship    11. General    12. High technology industries    13. Santa Clara Valley (Santa Clar    14. Santa Clara Valley (Santa Clara County)    15. United States    16. Business & Economics / General    17. Information technology industries    18. Management & management techniques   

Editorial Review

This is a first-rate detective story--and all true. It's the story of a seemingly invincible electronic thief, con man, and stalker--and the people who tracked him down. Jonathan Littman brings his readers straight into the world of cyberpunk crime as he shows the origins, development, and climax of the wildest and most audacious known crime spree in cyberspace. Hundreds of hours of interviews allow Littman to tell much of the story through the eyes of those who lived it, and his own edgy style and excellent pacing make for a thriller that's hard to put down. ... Read more

Reviews (29)

An absorbing story...
Jonathan Littman's The Watchman is well written and engaged me enough to read it in one sitting. I wanted for some time to learn more about Kevin Poulsen having heard about some of the exploits attributed to him. This story accomplishes that in a compelling way and manages to be pertinent years later. This is required reading for anyone wishing to know the darker side of the hacker sub-culture, about Kevin Poulsen, Ron Austin or Justin Petersen and some of their creative mischief and crimes.

The ultimate hacker - a true crime story
If you like true crime stories, this one is for you. I wont try and debate the truth of the book, (it's a controversial subject)because I dont know the truth. But I know this is a good story, even if there are a few fabrications here and there.
An inside look at hacker culture
I had no idea who Kevin Poulson was when I picked up this book.All I knew was that I wanted to read a book which dealt with computer hackers and this book had been recommended to me by a friend of mine.Suffice to say I was not disappointed.Read more

Subjects:  1. 1965-    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Computer Crime    6. Computer crimes    7. Computer hackers    8. Computer security    9. General    10. Nonfiction - True Crime / Espionage    11. Other Miscellaneous Crimes    12. Poulsen, Kevin,    13. Scientists - General    14. Security - General    15. True Crime / Espionage    16. United States    17. Current Events / General   

Editorial Review

Reviews (34)

Still a Good Read
Should I Buy This Book?
Still relevant and thrilling in 2005
Although this book was written at a time when the authors found it necessary to explain what 'electronic mail, or e-mail' was, the insight into Bill Gates' life, methods and extraordinary success is timeless.It is hard to imagine much in this book is out of date, other than the estimate of Gates' wealth at the time ($4b).This is a well-written book and a fast read.

Good book
This is a good book about Bill Gates. I would highly recommand you buy this book. If you are interested in studying about people and what makes them tick, you would really like this book. Although it is outdated, the way it describe Bill Gates back then and today would not make that much different in how he does business. The different now is that Bill Gates has the K.B.E title and being good by helping third world country and other good deeds. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1955-    2. Biography    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Businesspeople    6. Computer Industry    7. Computer software industry    8. Corporate & Business History - General    9. Gates, Bill,    10. History    11. Microsoft Corporation    12. United States    13. Biography: general    14. Business & Economics / General    15. DOS    16. Entrepreneurship    17. Gates, Bill    18. USA   

Reviews (19)

A Detailed History in the Making of a Monoply...
I won't get wordy here but I read this book twice and enjoyed it both times. It goes into the life of Bill Gates; his thought process, his work ethics, his childhood and how Microsoft established it's dominance. It's a good read even though it's over 500 pages. I highly recommend this book along with the book "Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire". This is the way it really happened. Not the way the movie "Pirates of SV" incorrectly portrayed it.

Great history of PC computing
I bought this book expecting to skim through it to find out a little more about what Bill Gates was like. But it's a wonderfully readable history of the growth of PC's, from the early days when the best a school kid (Bill himself) could do was to try to get access to a teletype time-share system, on through the first home "computers" that amounted to little more than a bunch of switches and LEDs (no keyboard or monitor), to IBM coming out with the PC and Microsoft's amazing good fortune at supplying the OS (great story! Bill just cared about programming languages, mostly BASIC, and saw the DOS manuever mostly just as a way to ensure that BASIC would run on the new IBM machine!), on thru the OS/2 vs. Windows battles. An interesting account of Bill and the evolution of the PC
This very readable book provides a candid overview of the rise of Bill Gates and Microsoft.I found it interesting and insightful.Like much of the material about "billg", I find it a little sycophantic -- but it is not over the top.Key success ingredients: early signs of selfishness, million dollar trust-fund from his grandfather (which no doubt provided safety and leverage at the start), an early passion for an incredibly important technology at the critical period and a shrewd, single-mindedness.I suspect Bill is not a particularly compassionate, polite, happy or fair person -- however I bet he is really efficient! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1955-    2. Biography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Business / Economics / Finance    5. Businesspeople    6. Computer Industry    7. Computer software industry    8. Gates, Bill    9. Gates, Bill,    10. General    11. History    12. United States    13. Biography & Autobiography / General    14. Biography & Autobiography-General    15. Biography: general    16. Business & Economics-General   

Editorial Review

The story of supercomputing is only partially about technology. More than anything, it's about the gifted, brilliant, and often eccentric individuals who knew how to use that technology in new ways to do amazing things. Perhaps the most amazing of the bunch was Seymour Cray, the bureaucracy-intolerant genius with the barnstorming mind whose name has become synonymous with supercomputers. Charles Murray gives us an insightful and often thrilling and sometimes amusing look into how Cray and his genius companions took computers to new heights and humbled companies like Control Data and IBM. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

machines for an irrelevant niche
You can of course read this book as a biography of Seymour Cray. But while it describes his genius, it also shows the severely constricted niche in which his company operated. The sheer cost of each supercomputer meant that the client base was restricted to the largest companies and governments. A large part of that cost was due to the custom chips and systems of chips. There never was an economy of scale with Cray's machines.
The Supermen -- details make this book
This was an excellent bnook for any one interested in the evolution of super computers.Perhaps even for those with no background in the industry.This is not only a story of techological change, but of a maverick as well.Small versus conglomerate.From the beginning, one reads how a small group of engineers can make somethjing extraoridinary.The book does not diminish the importance of money in the ultimate outcome.
just wonderful!
This is just one of the best books I have ever read! The historic point of view is awesome!Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography/Autobiography    3. Computer Architecture - General    4. Computer Engineering    5. Computer Industry    6. Computer engineers    7. Computers    8. Computers - General Information    9. Cray computers    10. Cray, Seymour    11. Design and construction    12. History    13. Supercomputers    14. United States    15. Biography: general    16. Computers / General    17. History of engineering & technology   

Reviews (8)

a sad tale of what might have beens
One of the first computers I worked on was a Dec-10. I also used one of the PDPs. Then I later was sysadmin and wrote Fortran code for a Vax 785. So I was rather nostalgaic over DEC's demise. This would have seemed inconceivable in the mid 80s, when DEC was at its height, and second only to IBM. But Schein's analysis points out that the seeds of DEC's fall were already flourishing at its apex.
iconic business story -- useful to all
this is one of the best business books i have read. it is super-relevant for anyone in high tech but is also recommended for any business person.
Needed to be written, needs to be read
I recommend this book to anyone who is familiar with DEC or wishes to understand its enduring legacies. It is also a useful case study on who a company that was doing so well could ultimately fail; are Microsoft and IBM really immune from this fate?
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Case studies    6. Computer Industry (Economic Aspects)    7. Computer industry    8. Corporate & Business History - General    9. Digital Equipment Corporation    10. General    11. History    12. History Of Specific Companies    13. Industries - Computer Industry    14. Industries - General    15. Management    16. United States    17. Business strategy    18. Hi-tech manufacturing industries    19. History of specific subjects    20. Information technology industries   

Reviews (14)

Wonderful!
If you like adventure literature, you should find this piece really wonderful. I read it while I was alone at home for a week and I started to "feel" leopards all aronud the house at night. Very well writen, hard to stop reading.

Adventures dont get better than this.
Corbett is a natural writer and combines his knowledge of the jungle with uncanny hunting skills to give us one of the best Indian adventures ever written. Reading his books is not just following a maneater with a gun but a journey into the days of theBritish Raj where you will be transported into the remote jungles of Northern India, read about the simple people and their unsophisticated lifestyle. There are no villians, no suspicious characters lurking around and nobody to provide humour. You just have some village folk trying to eke out a living which is sometimes interrupted by a feline with a taste for humans.
Corbett Classic
Another excellent book from the corbett library. Its true that fact can be stranger than fiction. And no where is it more evident than in the story of the maneater of rudraprayag. Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers    3. Description and travel    4. General    5. Hunting Sports    6. India    7. Leopard hunting    8. Machine Theory    9. Sports & Recreation    10. Biography: sport    11. Hunting or shooting animals & game    12. Science / Zoology   

Reviews (16)

A critique of Watson senior by Kevin Maney
This book is generally pretty good, as evidenced by my 4 stars I quite enjoyed it. There is a lot of insight into what the biographer believes Tom Watson was, and I put it that way because there is a lot of interpolation by the author on what the goings on were around the company. It's an enjoyable read, but very repetitive and you can tell by the writing that it is written by someone not accustomed to writing books (the writer is a journalist). It lapses in and out of formal and informal narrative, repeats itself constantly, the author has a particular fondness for describing Watson's diatribes as "cuttingly" (which is a word?).
Highly Recommended!
This book seems to have been written primarily because the author learned about the existence of boxes of Thomas Watson's papers that had never been read by any biographer or journalist. In some cases, the author's access to these new materials does help fill in some minor gaps in the existing accounts of Watson's life. And cumulatively, they take some of the shine off the legend, impressing upon one how humdrum the daily life of even a business titan must be. This book is reasonably well written and packed with memorable anecdotes. While it doesn't offer stunning new insights, we commend it as a readable, accessible and balanced introduction to one of the greatest executives of the twentieth century.

The Story of a Leader
All great stories have a good guy and a bad guy.In this story, it's the same guy.Thomas Watson, Sr., by sheer force of personality, created IBM.Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Business    4. Business & Economics    5. Business/Economics    6. Businessmen    7. Computer Industry (Economic Aspects)    8. Computer industry    9. Corporate & Business History - General    10. General    11. History    12. History Of Specific Companies    13. International Business Machine    14. United States    15. Biography: general    16. Business & Economics / General    17. Business & Management    18. Information technology industries    19. Watson, Arthur Kittredge    20. Watson, Thomas J    21. Watson, Thomas John