Editorial Review

What can you find out online about others? What can anyone find out about you? Quite a lot. Carole Lane shows you both how and why in this encyclopedic book. Read more

Reviews (4)

An Update . . .
The review I wrote below still applies, though I don't know why it says "A reader."
Perfect Tool For The Job
I'm referred to often by talk-show hosts as 'expert on personal safety and privacy', and yet - here is a resource that is an endless wealth of information on Web resources and a few tricks even I did not know. A good come-on but not much follow through
Some of the sites are informative -- for instance, if you are doing academic or "serious" research, the search engines, etc. provided are great.But as far as real "spy" stuff, there's not much new between the covers here. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Computer - Internet    3. Computer Books: Internet General    4. Computer Networks    5. Computer network resources    6. Computers    7. Electronic public records    8. General    9. General Biographical Works    10. Internet - General    11. Records    12. Research    13. Research & Methodology    14. United States    15. Internet   

Reviews (13)

Tremendous insights, highly relevant to any business owner
I loved this book because it shows what it takes to start up and manage a business in a new niche -- forging relationships with early adopters and establishing alliances with industry giants. Sandra Kurtzig's personal story demonstrates how entrepreneurs succeed not by the quality of their product alone. Everyday decisions about employees, customers, alliances, board members, investments -- and the negotiations and timing of them -- contribute as much if not more to an organization's fate. The importance of listening to customers, seeking education and advice from others outside your business, and trusting your intuition are all lessons to be learned.Some earlier Amazon reviewers dissed this book because ASK declined in later years. These reviewers are missing the point. When Kurtzig stepped away from running day-to-day operations in 1985, after her father died and she desired a better work/life balance (as many people do after a close family member passes away), she faced a critical juncture in her business and perhaps mishandledplanning her succession and exit strategy. Burnout is something about which all entrepreneurs need to be aware.I was inspired by her decision to return to ASK in 1989 and would be very interested in reading an addendum to the story.

Fresh, motivating, inspiring!
This is book is about how to succeed within the system of the American-style capitalism, not any marxist socialism! It is a great, inspiring, motivating book for both men and women alike. The book about success in a political-economic system of free enterprise. Reviewers like the one from England, who are so unhappy about the competitive nature of capitalism, will find more enjoyable Das Kapital by Karl Marx or The State and Revolution by Vladimir Lenin (both available on amazon.com) as their kind of books!

Excellent, detailed advice
This book is full of great advice for anyone starting a software company. It is also an interesting story.The negative reviews on this site to theeffect that Sandra Kurtzig is some sort of vain egomaniac are just plainwrong.The book is NOT just for women.Its for anyone starting a hightech business. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Business    4. Business/Economics    5. Computer industry    6. History    7. Infrastructure    8. Kurtzig, Sandra L    9. United States    10. Women    11. Women executives    12. Advice on careers & achieving success    13. Entrepreneurship   

Editorial Review

Alan Turing died in 1954, but the themes of his life epitomize the turn of the millennium. A pure mathematician from a tradition that prided itself on its impracticality, Turing laid the foundations for modern computer science, writes Andrew Hodges:Read more

Reviews (19)

interesting portrait of a compelling misfit
The book is well titled as the real Alan Turing was an enigma to many of those who knew him and perhaps even to himself.It is another example of how genius moves to its own rhythms and manages to get noticed in spite of itself. A scientifically useful biography
I read part of this book in 1985 while trying to understand chaotic orbits. The problem was to understand how an orbit can be deterministic and apparently random. When I read Hodges' description of the Turing machine then I realized that it is easy to answer the question, and was able to write down the answer: one simply digitizes the map or ode, initial condition, and all the control parameters in some base of arithmetic, and then studies the action of a (digitized) positive Liapunov exponent on a digit string. I can't comment on the rest of the book, but Hodges does a very good job of presenting Turing's ideas of computable numbers and computable functions. When my collaborator Palmore read the description I refer to here, he said that he nearly fell out of his chair. We solved the problem of computability of chaotic orbits in that era together. Good biography, perhaps too long.
If you consider to read this book in order to know about Alan Turing's life, definetely this is the book. In it you will learn about the code breakers, about the WWII spy technology and also about the science aplied to War, however, when I read it I found out that sometimes too many pages (550) can make it boring (more than 20 pages dedicate about how to build a subroutine in a program, more than 20 pages about homosexuality laws, more than 20 pages about historic information from India). Being so detailed makes sometimes forget about the main issue. That is why I didn't give it 5 stars. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1912-1954    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Computer Science (General)    7. General    8. Great Britain    9. History    10. History & Philosophy    11. Mathematicians    12. Mathematicians And Their Works    13. Military - World War II    14. Scientists - General    15. Turing, Alan Mathison,    16. Biography & Autobiography / Science & Technology    17. Turing, Alan Mathison   

Editorial Review

Few concepts in the history of 20th-century thought are as rich with both philosophical and practical implications as the computer. And few people in the history of computing are as intellectually and personally complex as Alan Turing, the man whose brilliant mathematical imagination laid the foundation for computers as we know them. You could easily spend the rest of the millennium reading up on Turing and his ideas, but if you've only got an afternoon, this engaging, pamphlet-length summary of the man's life and work should get you nicely up to speed.Read more

Reviews (5)

Computer Journalism
If you want to read about Turing and the origins of computing on the level and in the style of your Sunday newspaper, this is your book (especially if that Sunday newspaper of yours comes in tabloid format). Otherwise, go for something more intelligent, like A. Hodges, Davies or Copeland.

Learn about computer history!
What? You have never heard of Alan Turing? You don't deserve tolive! Quick, buy this book (which [is inexpensive]) and learn everything about computer history before uncle Gabriel discover it and pull your ear lobes! This book shows the computer history, beginning from abacus and obviously focuses at Alan Turing and his most important inventions for computing history, the Colossus and the ENIAC. What? You have never heard of ENIAC? Promise to us: come back here in Hardware Secrets only after you have finished reading this book, ok?

Nice biography, but not technical enough
This book gives a short overview over the life of Alan Turing, though it does not go as deep into detail as Douglas Hofstaedter does - and that was just one article in his Metamagicum collection! But if you don't already have Hofstaedter on your bookshelf, you might as well buy this book.Read more

Subjects:  1. Computers    2. Computers - General Information    3. Environmental Science    4. General    5. History    6. Science    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Turing machines    9. Turing, Alan Mathison    10. Biography: general    11. England    12. Mathematical theory of computation    13. Mathematics for scientists & engineers    14. Science / General   

Reviews (66)

Easy read....interesting look at the .COM world (and all the promises it offered for a "different economy"
I guess my interest in this book was to take a look into the heart of a .COM business to see if the people inside actually beleived some of the crap they were trying to sell people outside. What I mean is that this was a "new economy", and that profits were not what it was about. (god knows how many stocks went over $100 without a single profit in sight!)
WITLESS DRIVEL...
I bought this book, thinking that it would offer some insight into Amazon.com in terms of what it was like to work there during its halcyon days.Touted as a funny memoir, among other things, I was to discover that it was none of what was promised. In fact, the book was painfully difficult to read, as it was very poorly written, decidedly not funny, and offered little insight into what it really was like to work at Amazon. It was totally sophomoric in terms of what it did say.
21 dig years

Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Business    3. Business/Economics    4. Computer Industry (Economic Aspects)    5. Corporate & Business History - General    6. E-Commerce - General    7. General    8. Humor    9. Topic - Business and Professional    10. Biography & Autobiography / Business    11. Business & Economics-Corporate & Business History - General    12. Business & Economics-E-Commerce - General    13. Humor / General   

Editorial Review

Sun Microsystems is the type of company that most new startups hope to become: massively profitable, astoundingly innovative, and supremely adaptable. But as Karen Southwick's engaging narrative Read more

Reviews (18)

Not a good story book
Well, here I am, after reading the book for about two weeks every morning, and I am left with no deep impressions about either Sun or Scott.
Thin
If you were on a desert island from 1982 to 1999, this book might have extra value to you. Otherwise, you may already know a great deal about what's covered in this book.
Good, just very dated
After recently taking on some professional responsibility for a large Solaris farm after a long hiatus (about a decade) from Sun technology, I thought this might catch me up with the company and products. It did provide some good info, but this work is over four years old, an eternity in technology. It certainly did not reflect Sun's rapid decline in market cap and Linux debacles, both of which landed it on the front page of the WSJ a few weeks ago.Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer scientists    2. Sun Microsystems    3. McNealy, Scott    4. Corporate & Business History - General    5. Business & Economics    6. Business & Economics / Corporate History    7. Business & Management    8. California    9. History of specific subjects    10. Information technology industries    11. Internet    12. Postwar period, 1945 to c 2000    13. Business / Economics / Finance    14. Biography    15. History Of Specific Companies    16. Business/Economics    17. Computer Industry (Economic Aspects)    18. Computer Industry   

Editorial Review

Doom, the video game in which you navigate a dungeon in the first person and messily lay waste to everything that crosses your path, represented a milestone in many areas. It was a technical landmark, in that its graphics engine delivered brilliant performance on ordinary PC hardware. It was a social phenomenon, with individuals and companies hooking up networks specifically for Doom tournaments and staying up for days to blast away on them (well before the Internet went big-time). The game's publisher, id Software, used an unusual shareware marketing strategy (give away the first levels, charge for the more advanced ones) that worked very well. On top of it all, the gore-filled game raised serious questions about decency in products meant for use by school-age kids. Read more

Reviews (58)

A wonderful book
The book was a brilliant read for me from 2 stand points.First as a gamer, it was really interesting to see all the backroom dynamics that went into producing my favourite games of my adolescent years. Wolf 3D, Doom, Quake...All the talent, hardwork, egos, ups and downs....The author does a really good job of bringing the past alive; it's as if you were there watching the scene play out
The Empire Strikes Back?
I was only 6 when the original DOOM was released in its Shareware form. However, I remember walking into my father's office and hearing guys screaming about where they found the chainsaw and using their LAN connections at full power.
Swinging Cybor Pannis Batman
Let me start by saying that I am not much of a gamer. I did obsess through Return to Castle Wolfenstien, but that has been about it. I am not much of a "computer guy" either. I write emails and scream for help if the slightest thing goes wrong.But Masters of Doomtook off a like supercharged Farrarri and just kept going. If you like reading about people with blind passion, about starting up and suceeding in a business against all odds, about relationships and how they change when fame and money fan the flames, then you will like Masters of Doom. I was given this book by a friend who is very interested in games and is a certiable "computer guy".I had grave reservations as to the value of spending any time with this book, but Mr. Kushner can write. He dents the floorboard on page one with a heavy accelerator foot and it's just hang on from there. This tale could have easily "died at the keyboard". It is Kurshner's writing that cuts and polishes this raw gem of a story into a well told and organized story that left me wishing for more when I read the last page. And it is my understanding that there is something left to live for, as I find he has writen a new book about the world of card counting. It is next on my list. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1967-    2. Biography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Business    6. Carmack, John    7. Computer games    8. Computer programmers    9. History    10. Programming    11. Romero, John,    12. United States    13. Video & Electronic - General    14. Biography & Autobiography / General    15. Romero, John   

Reviews (7)

Read it, you will like it!!
"Everyone else must fail" by book by Karen Southwick is a must read if you want an example of how the goddess of luck favors those who grab their opportunities. When Oracle cofounders Ellison, Miner and Oates land a consulting assignment to feed themselves they know they can spend some time building a relational database without having to worry about their bread and butter.
Adventures in LarryLand
If you haven't figured out that Larryland is run like a private empire and the founder has an ego to match his billion dollar bank account, then this book is a good place to start.Karen Southwick, a former Forbes ASAP editor has written this book without any direct access to Ellison.Ok, at least it's not the softball co-authored love letter that SoftWar is, but unfortunately, not by much. Unbalanced yet interesting
I was expecting a more balanced account of Larry Ellison and the rise of Oracle as a software giant.As an unauthorized biography, I expected the author to dish some dirt.However, other than praise for being a technical visionary, Ellison is portrayed as the Darth Vader of Silicon Valley.That being said, the text is a compelling read. On the business side, the text focuses on problems and solutions within sales and customer service.Very little was presented on Oracle's development practices. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Business    6. Business History    7. Businessmen    8. Computer software industry    9. Ellison, Larry    10. History    11. Industries And Trades (Economic Aspects)    12. Oracle Corporation    13. United States    14. Biography & Autobiography / Business    15. Business & Management    16. Business studies    17. Economic history    18. Entrepreneurship    19. Industry & Industrial Studies   

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Business    4. Business & Economics    5. Business/Economics    6. Businesspeople    7. Computer industry    8. Entrepreneurship    9. General    10. Interviews    11. Reference    12. United States    13. Business & Economics / General    14. Industry & Industrial Studies   

Subjects:  1. Apple computer    2. Biography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Biography    5. History    6. Microcomputers    7. Wozniak, Stephen Gary, 1950-   

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers    3. Computers & Technology    4. Networking - General    5. Biography & Autobiography / General    6. Biography: general    7. Rob Walters    8. Telephone technology   

Reviews (1)

Champions Whose Names You Never Knew
"As exciting as watching paint dry" is proverbial.If watching paint dry does not excite you, how about watching typesetters set type competitively?Before you start yawning, realize that there were racers who set type, just as now there are racers who bicycle, and crowds paid to watch them and cheered and bet on the outcome.There must have been something not-so-dull about the contests, and there is nothing dull about _The Swifts: Printers in the Age of Typesetting Races_ (University of Virginia Press) by Walker Rumble.Partly this is because of his strange subject; the Swifts were the typesetters who were so good at their craft they could race against others, and they were colorful characters involved in an eccentric sport.Also, Rumble, a historian who has worked as a printer, has included a great deal about printing technology, printing unions, and the place of women in the trade.Read more

Subjects:  1. 19th century    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. Biography    4. Competitions    5. Computer Books: Desktop Publish    6. Computers    7. Desktop Publishing - General    8. History    9. Printers    10. Typesetting    11. Typography    12. United States   

Subjects:  1. 1944-    2. American - General    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Criticism and interpretation    6. General    7. Literature - Classics / Criticism    8. Philosophy    9. Spirituality in literature    10. Walker, Alice,    11. Women    12. Women Authors    13. Computers / General    14. English    15. Literary studies: from c 1900 -    16. USA   

Reviews (7)

Byron's daughter: spawn of acrimony
I bailed out of this about a third of the way through, having gotten extremely frustrated waiting for the author to discuss Ada Lovelace.She never was as vividly portrayed as her parents; I have learned more about her from snippets in books about Victorian intellectual life.Even when she is on stage, it is as the puppet of her domineering mother - the incidents are at least as much about Lady Byron as about Ada.I suggest that my review title would be a more accurated description of the contents.Or perhaps, the Martyrdom of Lord Byron at the Hands of His Demented Wife.
Not bad, but not really that great
As a historian of science and technology, and also a person very interested in computer science and fascinated by poetry as well, this book looked like a full 5 stars at first. Like some of the other reviewers, I felt swamped by the details of Ada's emotional life; yet, there are flashes of brilliance where the author makes a clear connection between her social position, her interior life as we can best judge it, and her pursuits. I wonder if there would have been a better way to organize the book; as it stands now, the book is almost purely narrative (with some asides and flashbacks), and appears to be aimed at the popular reader with a seasoning of technical information to goad the more serious critic into reading on. On the positive side, I was pleased to read a clarification of Ada's role in the Babbage Difference Engine's precocious presentation. And at times, the story was fascinating. Other times, it was just plain soggy.

A Huge Disappointment
Ada Lovelace had a rich intellectual life.Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Programming    2. Science/Mathematics    3. Science: General Issues    4. Biography: general   

Reviews (6)

Must read for Mac users
I just bought the flat-screen iMac in Mar 2002 and was eager to know the history of Apple. This book gives excellent insights to the contrasting corporate cultures between Pepsi and Apple. The former follows protocol, and place huge emphasis on winning market shares, while the latter is about freedom, creativity, learning and creating market shares. An Interesting Lesson About Incentives
Mr. Sculley describes how Steve Jobs lured him to Apple, and blithely exposes his thought processes behind the decision to go.Among other things, he insisted upon a lucrative compensation/house package, explaining that he simply could not be burdened with any personal financial considerations while dedicating his self-appraised tremendous powers to running Apple.The Apple folks agreed, Sculley got his huge salary and his new house, and under his hand the company tanked down the tubes forthwith. Long, Boring and slow
I started with an expectation of something that would be fast paced; however, this was not to be. Sculley's style isrepetitive and slow. He makes a point in a couple of paragraphs and then goes on and on about thesame thing. He also gives too much importance to his personal life in thebook. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Apple Computer, Inc    2. Biography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Business History    5. Businesspeople    6. Computer industry    7. General    8. Sale Books - Adult    9. Sculley, John    10. United States   

Editorial Review

Pop quiz: Where are American kids taught the nuances of being millionaires as part of their junior high curriculum? Where do guests at a posh outdoor party grouse about the defects of high-end flushable Porta-Johns? Where does a school auction rake in $439,000? The answer: Silicon Valley, of course. David A. Kaplan captures all that excess and more in Read more

Reviews (52)

Enthralling
I thoroughly enjoyed this book from beginning to end.For anyone interested in the culture of Silcion Valley it is a must read.Yes, as other reviewers pointed out it jumps around quite a bit.Both in terms of pace and interest.However, taken as a whole it provides exciting stories of busines, personal flare, finance, and technology.A good read for anyone with at least a vague interest in the subject matter.

Good Description of Silicon Valley
"The Silicon Boys and Their Valley of Dreams" is a well written description of Silicon Valley at it's peak. It describes the culture of the valley during the nineties. It is an interesting peek into the a world of driven software developers and venture capitalists and everyone else in their galaxies. It focuses on companies and names we've all heard of: Apple, Oracle, Netscape, Microsoft, Intel, and many more. For anyone in the technology industry, this book is a good window onto the 90s - pre dotcom mania.

Solid Silicon Story
This was one of the best Silly Valley stories I've read yet. Kaplan does a very good job offering a historical and chronological storyline that educates the reader while holding interest. Hence an educational book that also happens to be very unique and authentic. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Businessmen    6. California    7. Computer Industry    8. Corporate & Business History - Strategies    9. Economic Conditions    10. High technology industries    11. Industries - Computer Industry    12. Microelectronics industry    13. Santa Clara County    14. Biography & Autobiography / Business    15. Computing and Information Technology    16. Information technology industries    17. USA   

Editorial Review

"Our lips met... I felt a few stray whiskers... and suddenly I realized that this was a grown man who was giving me my first real kiss... Something inside me snapped. Now I didn't want this at all. But I couldn't speak." Fourteen-year-old Katherine Tarbox wasn't sure how things had gone so wrong. She had planned to slip away during a school trip to meet 27-year-old Mark, whom she had corresponded with on the Internet for the last six months. Instead, she discovered that "Mark" was actually Frank Kufrovich, a man in his forties with a history of pedophilia. Read more

Reviews (109)

Don't support this greedy publisher's tricks
Regardless of the content of this book, the publisher Penguin has deliberately 'hijacked' the katie.com domain from its legitimate UK owner - Mrs Katie Jones.
Katie.com
Katie.com was a very good book in my opinion. I think that Katherine Tarbox was very brave for writing about the troubles she experienced when she was younger. I don't know many people that would be brave enough to do that. Me, personally, I would be too afraid. She took on her situation full speed ahead. Instead of dwelling in the past she moved on. She moved on to become a wonderful author and possibly a role model for young girls everywhere. Yes it is bad that she had to experience such a truamatic event, but in a way it just made her a stronger individual. She can know look back at what happened to herself and think, "I've been through that. I made it and just look at me now." Seriously though, many people would just stay in a little whole and not come out for the rest of their lives. Those people are not cowards, they are just afraid that they will be judged for their actions. Katie was judged yes, but she proved to those people judging her that she wasn't afraid of them or the person that helped bring her up to point of her life.

Katie.com
I know there are a lot of negative comments about this book, but I personally loved it.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Adolescent Psychology    2. Biography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Case studies    6. Computers    7. Connecticut    8. Criminology    9. Electronic Mail    10. General    11. Internet - General    12. Internet and teenagers    13. New Canaan    14. Sexually abused teenagers    15. Social Aspects - General    16. Tarbox, Katherine    17. Teenage girls    18. Women    19. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Editorial Review

Perhaps more than anywhere else, Silicon Valley in the latter part of the 20th century has come to represent the essence of the American dream. Its economy has resembled the various rushes and booms of the 1800s. The Valley is a unique place in a unique time, where just about anyone with a good idea, an aptitude for hard work, and a boatload of luck has a chance to make it big--really big. In Read more

Reviews (76)

Wish I'd Discovered It 5 Years Ago
This book is riveting.I'd never heard of Po Bronson and knew little about the Silicon Valley .com era when I picked it up. Bronson's ability to build portrait after portrait of the individuals behind the .com era make this a page-turner. In the end, I'm not sure there's any other way to tell this story, but as the sum of its parts.

Fascinating -- But for the Wrong Reasons
By way of profiles of a dozen or so people, this book chronicles the so-called dot com boom in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1990s. It was an exciting time for the computer industry. Venture capitalists were throwing money every which way, and even a paltry idea could make someone with computer know-how quite rich.
Not terribly interesting
The first few chapters were compelling, humorous and downright thoughtful.After that, the format became a bit tired.The characters portrayed here are homogenized to the point that you find the same story repeating itself, over and over.It just became boring after a while.Read the first two or three chapters and enjoy.From there, proceed with caution. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography/Autobiography    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. California    5. Computer Industry    6. Development - Business Development    7. Entrepreneurship    8. High technology industries    9. Industries - General    10. Santa Clara Valley (Santa Clar    11. Santa Clara Valley (Santa Clara County)    12. Business & Economics / General