101–110 of 118 posts
I'll be the voice of dissent regarding The Soul of a New Machine and also More Than My Share of It All . Yes, Soul won the Pulitzer prize, but it was published in 1981, and I found it very dated, and hard to slog through at times. I know it'll never happen, but I'd love to see a re-write, or a heavily edited edition that's more approachable for a modern reader. I also found More Than My Share to be a little disappoin…
The Innovaters by Walter Issacson. It's literally about 20 biographies in one book, documenting the internet creation, and the computer, which meet in the middle in the 80s and 90s. I can't recommended it enough of you are looking for stories of people and companies to how we got to where we are today.
If you're searching for this book try: "Innovators by Walter Isaacson".
I'll be the voice of dissent regarding The Soul of a New Machine and also More Than My Share of It All . Yes, Soul won the Pulitzer prize, but it was published in 1981, and I found it very dated, and hard to slog through at times. I know it'll never happen, but I'd love to see a re-write, or a heavily edited edition that's more approachable for a modern reader. I also found More Than My Share to be a little disappoin…
Why not recommend some alternatives?
_Showstopper_ One of the best tech books, after _Soul of a New Machine_ (recommended in the comments, too). Covers Microsoft's creation of Windows NT. _DEC is Dead. Long Live DEC_ about the rise and fall of Digital Equipment Corporation. _Skunkworks_ Lockheed-Martin's creation of the SR-71. _Moneyball_ using math to build a top flight US baseball team. Broadening the category a bit: _The Smartest Guys in the Room_ is…
Not software books, but 'Apollo: Race to the Moon' by Murray and Cox, and 'The Making of The Atomic Bomb', Rhodes are my two favorite books about engineering projects and the people behind them.
For a college "ethics in computers" course, our professor had us watch "Triumph of the Nerds" by Robert Cringely. It's from 1996, so not the most recent history, but it was still an interesting watch. There was another documentary about the dot-com bubble we watched, but I can't recall the name. Overall a very interesting class because the professor had a lot of industry experience and watched companies rise and fall…
Barbarians Led by Bill Gates is an older book, but interesting to get a sense of MS was like in earlier times.
Isaacson's Steve Jobs is obviously focused on Job, but gives a good sense of the companies he ran while he was there.
Revolution in The Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made is a good view into the Mac specifically.