tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7937749629445163655.post2936448949545587908..comments2023-10-03T04:18:53.649-07:00Comments on HP Phenomenon: Just found a Tom Wolfe piecechuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02839533140154798841noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7937749629445163655.post-51526816704186316692013-05-21T14:41:29.713-07:002013-05-21T14:41:29.713-07:00I would suggest a couple of others (not related to...I would suggest a couple of others (not related to Silicon Valley):<br /><br />1. "ENIAC: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the World's First Computer" by Scott McCartney.<br /><br />This book tells the story of the development of ENIAC at the University of Pennsylvania by Presper Eckert & John Mauchly. Eckert and Mauchly are probably the two least-known computer pioneers in America. Their work was groundbreaking, however.<br /><br />2. "The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing Personal" by M. Mitchell Waldrop.<br /><br />This is the biography of J.C.R. Licklider -- one of the founders and the first director of ARPA. The beginning is a little slow but it's a worthwhile read.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7937749629445163655.post-21807515704284204712013-05-21T09:42:31.786-07:002013-05-21T09:42:31.786-07:00I agree with all of your choices. Malone's tr...I agree with all of your choices. Malone's treatment is his wonderful tongue in cheek style. Berlin's is very solid except for omitting the Program Development Systems (PDS) known as Intellecs. These products built the demand for microprocessors; at one point they produced 20% of Intel annual revenue (six times that of the chips they supported) and 200% of revenue. They were the reason Intel survived the Memory Chip meltdown but they never got the credit.<br />"Dealers" was far better than the muckraking "Fumbling the Future". <br />I have recently become enamored with Beckman's role with Shockley; it centered around Caltech being the leading computer spawning university in the early 1950s, which virtually NO ONE knows, and Arnold trying to get his old colleague (and newly appotd Caltech professor) Shockley to make his huge computer smaller. That is why he funded Shockley Labs, and it was to be in Monrovia next to Caltech but Shockley's mother got sick in Palo Alto.<br /><br />Who knows when the fickle finger of fate will point?chuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02839533140154798841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7937749629445163655.post-48294402783279781292013-05-21T08:32:04.320-07:002013-05-21T08:32:04.320-07:00Chuck --
Here are a few books that might interest...Chuck --<br /><br />Here are a few books that might interest you and others (you've probably already read them):<br /><br />1. "The Valley of Heart's Delight: A Silicon Valley Notebook 1963-2001" by Michael S. Malone<br /><br />This is a collection of newspaper/magazine columns about life in the Valley -- technological, entrepreneurial and social. There are articles about Hewlett, Packard and Bob Noyce. It's very entertaining...although a bit dated these days.<br /><br />2. "The Man Behind the Microchip: Robert Noyce and the Invention of Silicon Valley" by Leslie Berlin.<br /><br />This is a fairly expansive biography of Noyce -- his life and times and his successes and failures in business and in life. It's an excellent read!<br /><br />3. "Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age" by Michael A. Hiltzik<br /><br />The biography of the largest collection of missed opportunities of the modern age. These are some of the saddest stories of organizational infighting ever committed to paper.<br /><br />4. "Broken Genius: The Rise and Fall of William Shockley, Creator of the Electronic Age by Joel N. Shurkin<br /><br />A great biography of this severely flawed genius.<br /><br />Enjoy!<br />--<br />Steve Witten<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com