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It doesn't take place in Silicon Valley but I thought "Soul of a New Machine" [1] was a great read! [1] http://www.amazon.com/The-Soul-A-New-Machine/dp/0316491

by smoyer 12y ago

It doesn't take place in Silicon Valley but I thought "Soul of a New Machine" [1] was a great read! [1] http://www.amazon.com/The-Soul-A-New-Machine/dp/0316491977 http://www.amazon.com/The-Soul-A-New-Machine/dp/0316491977

ghaff 12y ago
Probably the best book about the development of a tech project ever written. (Disclaimer: I worked at DG for a long time, albeit starting a bit after the events of the book, and knew many of the folks depicted.) Showstopper, about Windows NT, is another good read in this vein.
jacquesm 12y ago
That's one of the best computing related books I've ever read. I keep giving it to younger programmers. Great read.
leoc 12y ago
Further afield again, We Were Burning http://www.worldcat.org/title/we-were-burning-japanese-entrepreneurs-and-the-forging-of-the-electronic-age/oclc/39700198 http://www.worldcat.org/title/we-were-burning-japanese-entre... is a cracking history of the consumer electronics industry (largely distinct from the MITI-favoured computer firms) in Japan, and sometimes elsewhere.
vram22 12y ago
Yes, I read that book some years ago and thought it was a great read too - in the sense of entertaining, like a novel, even though it is mainly about the computer industry and the race to create that computer, a next generation Data General minicomputer. It's also to a good extent about skunkworks style product development. I love that quote about pinball in the book; won't spoil it for readers by saying what it is, but it is likely to appeal to many people on HN.
- vram22 12y ago
  Just saw this, from the Wikipedia article about the book, and thought it worth posting: http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/8.12/soul.html http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/8.12/soul.html It's a short article in Wired about Tom West, the leader of the team that built the machine, many years later, when he was retired in a coastal town.

by smoyer 12y ago

ghaff 12y ago

Probably the best book about the development of a tech project ever written. (Disclaimer: I worked at DG for a long time, albeit starting a bit after the events of the book, and knew many of the folks depicted.) Showstopper, about Windows NT, is another good read in this vein.

jacquesm 12y ago

That's one of the best computing related books I've ever read. I keep giving it to younger programmers. Great read.

leoc 12y ago

Further afield again, We Were Burning http://www.worldcat.org/title/we-were-burning-japanese-entrepreneurs-and-the-forging-of-the-electronic-age/oclc/39700198 http://www.worldcat.org/title/we-were-burning-japanese-entre... is a cracking history of the consumer electronics industry (largely distinct from the MITI-favoured computer firms) in Japan, and sometimes elsewhere.

vram22 12y ago

Yes, I read that book some years ago and thought it was a great read too - in the sense of entertaining, like a novel, even though it is mainly about the computer industry and the race to create that computer, a next generation Data General minicomputer. It's also to a good extent about skunkworks style product development. I love that quote about pinball in the book; won't spoil it for readers by saying what it is, but it is likely to appeal to many people on HN.

vram22 12y ago
Just saw this, from the Wikipedia article about the book, and thought it worth posting: http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/8.12/soul.html http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/8.12/soul.html It's a short article in Wired about Tom West, the leader of the team that built the machine, many years later, when he was retired in a coastal town.