Book Description
Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? sums up Lou Gerstner's historic business achievement, bringing IBM back from the brink of insolvency to lead the computer business once again.Offering a unique case study drawn from decades of experience at some of America's top companies -- McKinsey, American Express, RJR Nabisco -- Gerstner's insights into management and leadership are applicable to any business, at any level. Ranging from strategy to public relations, from finance to organization, Gerstner reveals the lessons of a lifetime running highly successful companies.
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Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? sums up Lou Gerstner's historic business achievement, bringing IBM back from the brink of insolvency to lead the computer business once again.Offering a unique case study drawn from decades of experience at some of America's top companies -- McKinsey, American Express, RJR Nabisco -- Gerstner's insights into management and leadership are applicable to any business, at any level. Ranging from strategy to public relations, from finance to organization, Gerstner reveals the lessons of a lifetime running highly successful companies. "
Customer Reviews:
Great leader.......2007-08-27
When I started the book, I have no idea about the history of IBM. I am not an IT person, so I have heard IBM but that is basically it.
I learned a lot from the book about IBM, what they did wrong and how he changed it.
But besides everything he revised the company culture and organizational structure. I think that is the hardest thing a CEO can achieve. His vision, his attention to details but still seeing the big picture amazed me. No wonder they picked him as the great saver of the IBM legend.
The book is long and sometimes repeats itself, without going into details.
The part I enjoyed the most was his e-mails. How encouraging was he after 9/11, he mentioned employee names and all the things they did both to help and also to get their business going. He sent e-mails to his 300.000 employees. His tone and the things he mentions, his clarity was amazing. He is an excellent leader. IBM is very lucky to have such a good CEO.
What Life at the Top is Really Like--As Told By a Superb Leader.......2007-08-16
Having spent twenty-three years in management before I became an entrepreneur, I recognize that moving from one side of the desk to the other side may be the longest journey a professional person ever makes. When we shift into a leadership spot, not only do we find that our prior perceptions might have been totally inaccurate, we have to address personal and professional challenges we would have never imagined.
I applaud this book as one man's record of what life at the top is really like. He won me over immediately when he decided to wear a blue shirt because everyone else was wearing white. Thoreau would have applauded his individualism.
With my current profession dedicated to improving individual and corporate communication, I agree with Gerstner's assertion that "No institutional transformation takes place, I believe, without a multi-year commitment by the CEO to put himself or herself constantly in front of employees and speak in plain, simple, compelling language that drives conviction and action throughout the organization."
Another striking bit of Gerstner wisdom: "Success in a company comes foremost from success with the customer, nothing else."
He's right on target again when he observes that "lack of focus is the most common cause of corporate mediocrity."
Yet Gerstner goes beyond mere platitudes: "Execution--getting the task done, making it happen--is the most unappreciated skill of an effective business leader."
Possibly two of Gerstner's words capsule his approach to awakening IBM to its possibilities: "constructive impatience."
In my judgment, Louis Gerstner should rank alongside Jack Welch as a take-no-prisoners leader. Read this book, and you will agree that he was the right man at the right time for IBM.The Complete Communicator: Change Your Communication-change Your Life!
Where Were the Details?.......2007-06-06
Throughout this book Gerstner discusses the changes IBM made and how he helped turned the company around. I have no doubt that he was a large part of the dynamic shift at IBM to again make it the successful, global company that it is today, but I felt that I went through the book without completely understanding what those changes were. There was a lot of discussion of how IBM was operated and managed when Gerstner took control of the company in 1993 as it was falling apart before the public's eyes, and there was a lot of explanation of how IBM was successful and reborn when he stepped down from the CEO position in 2002. But there was little substance in between. I am not sure if that is because the day-to-day steps taken throughout the mid and late 1990s are too mundane for the average business reader, of if the details were just left out. Gerstner does share some insight into leadership skills and his management style, but IBM as is left in the shadows. All in all, this is not a bad book, but be aware that the reader is left wondering exactly how IBM regained its dominant position in the marketplace.
A leader thru change.......2007-05-17
Mr. Gerstner provides his story of when he took over the reigns at IBM and brought the company back on its feet. This is a strict business book with internal memos and charts at the end so it can lend itself to being a bit boring in some parts. However, when the authir describes how he was able to navicate thru the huge complexity of all the different divisions, then this book becomes a valuable reference for any business leader who needs to go thru the same process.
smooth transaction, exact product, nice&easy supplier.......2007-05-14
exact product at an affordable price w a smooth transaction
Book Description
The second edition features a 220-term brand glossary and a premium softcover binding.
THE BRAND GAP is the first book to present a unified theory of brand. Whereas most books on branding are weighted toward either a strategic or creative approach, this book shows how both ways of thinking can unite to produce a âcharismatic brandââa brand that customers feel is essential to their lives. In an entertaining two-hour read you’ll learn:
• a new definition of brand
• the five essential disciplines of brand-building
• how branding is changing the dynamics of competition
• the three most powerful questions to ask about any brand
• why collaboration is the key to brand-building
• how design determines a customer’s experience
• how to test brand concepts quickly and cheaply
• the importance of managing brands from the inside
FROM THE BACK COVER
Not since McLuhan’s THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE has a book compressed so many ideas into so few pages. Using the visual language of the boardroom, Neumeier presents the first unified theory of brandingâa set of five disciplines to help companies bridge the gap between brand strategy and customer experience. Those with a grasp of branding will be inspired by the new perspectives they find here, and those who would like to understand it better will suddenly âget it.â This deceptively simple book offers everyone in the company access to âthe most powerful business tool since the spreadsheet.â
âThe surprise book of the year!â âJohn Moore, Fast Company
âThe first book on brand that seems fresh and relevant.â âRic Grefe, executive director of AIGA, the professional association for design
âA pleasure to read.ââDavid A. Aaker, author of BRAND PORTFOLIO STRATEGY and BUILDING STRONG BRANDS
âCuts to the heart of what brand is all about.â âSusan Rockrise, worldwide brand director, Intel
âRead this book before your competitors do!â âTom Kelley, general manager, IDEO
FROM THE INSIDE FLAPS
âA pleasure to read. THE BRAND GAP consistently provides deep, practical insights in a light, visual way. Discover the power of imagery and the role of research in building a heavy-duty brandâwithout the heavy-duty reading.â âDavid Aaker, author of BRAND LEADERSHIP and BUILDING STRONG BRANDS
âFinally, a book that cuts to the heart of what brand is all aboutâconnecting the rational and the emotional, the theoretical and the practical, the logical and the magical to create a sustainable competitive advantage.â âSusan Rockrise, Worldwide Brand Director, Intel
In THE BRAND GAP, Neumeier reminds us that the ultimate moment of truth for all brands is the customer experience. Customer perceptions trump our own perceptions.â âKurt Kuehn, senior VP of worldwide marketing and sales, UPS
âThis is not just another book on brand. This is the ONLY book you’ll need to read in business, engineering, and design school.â âClement Mok, design entrepreneur
âA well-managed brand is the lifeblood of any successful companyâand Neumeier shows us exactly how to do it. Read this book before your competitors do!â âTom Kelley, general manager of IDEO, co-author of THE ART OF INNOVATION
âTHE BRAND GAP couldn’t be more timely. Just when we’re at our most skeptical about corporate motives, along comes a book that shows how to evaluate and develop a brand in a straightforward and honest manner.â âDavid Stuart, co-founder of The Partners, co-author of A SMILE IN THE MIND
âMust-reading for anyone who wants to understand how their business strategy will succeed or fail when put to the ultimate test: âDo customers perceive a difference that’s desirable?’â âSteve Harrington, director of strategy and operations, Hewlett-Packard
âThe book slices like a hot knife through all the turgid, pseudo-academic nonsense that surrounds branding. It’s now on the course list for my graduate students, and new members of my team at Ogilvy get a copy with their training materials.â âBrian Collins, executive creative director, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide
Customer Reviews:
The modern view of branding.......2007-09-15
if you want a quick and entertaining way of understanding what is a brand in the modern sense of the word, get this book. Even if you know already what "brand" and "branding" mean, this book will reset your brain into rethinking your business and where you are going with it. It is a must read for anyone involved in selling stuff or services out of an established franchise or license.
Simple, Straightforward, Sensational.......2007-08-23
Marty Neumeier has written two "whiteboard" style books both dealing with branding and innovation - this is the first one. By whiteboard style, Neumeier's book is light on written content, moderate on visual content and layout, and heavy on basic, important, sharp ideas.
The book covers 5 principles to help bridge the gap between strategic thinking and creative 'magic' and uses a variety of visual and written metaphors, examples, and logical knowledge to do so. If you are looking for a text-heavy, super explanatory, in-depth type of book, then this isn't the one for you. If you're looking to focus your mindset when it comes to innovative branding, this is a great, go-to book to get through in a short amount of time.
The two main things I liked about this book were the fact it actually followed a lot of its own principles in terms of how it was designed/set up etc. and it also packed a lot of universality into these generic yet focused, sensical tips.
Case in point...here is what you'll get out of the book if you are:
A Student/Novice in the Field: Students will love this book to help them review a lot of what's happening in marketing right now, and the 5 guiding principles can help them innovate at their future workplaces. The expanded edition of this book includes a 200 word glossary of advertising terms that'll also help students and novices talk the talk.
Agencies: will delight at the tests Neumeier asks you to go through when developing a brand, particularly graphically in the "icon/avatar" section. The real-life examples of successful businesses identify the longevity of the brands and how it is obtained, giving hints to marketing/advertising agencies how to get that same magic formula.
Businesses: whether small or large, this is a great book to have. If you have an internal promotions/marketing department, this book should be distributed to the head of your branding staff to help them focus your company's direction in the market. If you are the owner of a small business without an internal marketing department, this book can help introduce you to the fundamental principles of branding that you can then discuss with an external agency.
Overall a great quick read that kept me hooked, never bored, and always thinking. The summative list of the main topics discussed throughout the book at the end was extremely helpful, although the glossary was kind of out of place as half the words in the glossary aren't used in the text. Probably helpful for beginners in the ad industry though.
Considerations for Brand-Building.......2007-08-19
Fantastic, a quick-read with deep insights, packed with timeless, necessary wisdom anyone who sells anything will benefit from reading. The Take-Home lessons in the back are a bonus (bullet points from the book), and the pages I'll review over time.
perfect.......2007-05-24
This book is entertaining and packed with wisdom! The book arrived quickly, was in perfect shape and at a good price.
Must have for Corporate/InHouse designers.......2007-03-10
This is a great resources for communicating clearly the importance of brand consistency. Read it. Then do it. Good luck my fellow corporate designers. We are a rare and lonely breed.
Book Description
The mastermind behind Apple sheds his low profile and steps forward to tell his story for the first time.
Before cell phones that fit in the palm of your hand and slim laptops that fit snugly into briefcases, computers were like strange, alien vending machines. They had cryptic switches, punch cards and pages of encoded output. But in 1975, a young engineering wizard named Steve Wozniak had an idea: What if you combined computer circuitry with a regular typewriter keyboard and a video screen? The result was the first true personal computer, the Apple I, a widely affordable machine that anyone could understand and figure out how to use.
Wozniak's life—before and after Apple—is a "home-brew" mix of brilliant discovery and adventure, as an engineer, a concert promoter, a fifth-grade teacher, a philanthropist, and an irrepressible prankster. From the invention of the first personal computer to the rise of Apple as an industry giant, iWoz presents a no-holds-barred, rollicking, firsthand account of the humanist inventor who ignited the computer revolution. 16 pages of illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
Get to know THE man.......2007-09-26
It's Woz, how can you go wrong? I really enjoyed this book, although I would have enjoyed it a little more if Woz told more up-to-date stories. I know he has a ton, and I was really hoping to learn much more about Woz TODAY. Still, if you want to read about one of the most important people in Computer history, this is a good start.
Disappointed.......2007-08-30
Steve Wozniak is interesting because he helped found Apple. This book is not about that time in his life. It covers it, but only minimally. Less than a quarter of the book covers this time period. In fact, it is over half done before Apple even really gets mentioned. Instead, this book is about Steve Wozniak himself. It's about his high school science projects, his pranks, and his philosophy of life. Steve is a little different than other people and it comes through in this book. He talks very highly of his accomplishments and often frames them as more important or unique than they really were. He did good work, but not all of what he claims he was first to do was he truly first.
I love Steve Wozniak, but this book was just too much about the small things in his life to be interesting to me.
Fun and interesting.......2007-08-12
This is a very enjoyable book that tells a fascinating story, one most of us are only vaguely familiar with. Wozniak comes off likeable. There are laugh out loud segments. You don't have to understand all the computer stuff (although the writer makes the stuff understandable)to grasp the thrill of the ride.
A must read for every engineer.......2007-08-01
Its a book with which you can relate to very easily if you're an engineer. At the end it gets boring when he starts talking about how Apple became big but its the part on how he starts off and how difficult it was for him to get to making computers that makes for a very interesting read. Certainly a book I would recommend every engineer to read!
An interesting overview of the history, but a tad banal.......2007-07-17
The story Woz is telling is engaging and makes iWoz a very enjoyable read, but the structure of the book itself and the method of telling his story just feels like it's either being told to an eight year old or it feels like the author needs to write the subject down to a very basic level. iWoz is filled with phrases like, "I was so proud," "We were so excited," and "I was very excited." Even I feel redundant and excessive just mentioning it but I'm not exaggerating to say that nearly every topic includes several statements like this. As other reviews have said, it doesn't take long - only a few paragraphs - to feel like Woz is bragging and the book is just an expression of ego.
If you can look over this, it is an entertaining overview of his life as an engineer, the early days of personal computing and the beginnings of Apple.
Book Description
The definitive history of Hewlett-Packard and its legendary founders, based on unprecedented access to private archives
This is the most authoritative version ever of the most famous start-up story in business history. In 1938, working out of a small garage in Palo Alto, California, two young Stanford graduates named Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard built their first product, an audio oscillator. It was the start not only of a legendary company but of an entire way of life in Silicon Valley—and, ultimately, our modern digital age.
Others have written about the rise of Hewlett-Packard, including Packard himself in a bestselling memoir. But acclaimed journalist Michael S. Malone is the first to get the full story, based on unlimited and exclusive access to corporate and private archives, along with hundreds of employee interviews.
Malone draws on his new material to show how some of the most influential products of our time were invented, and how a culture of innovation led HP to unparalleled success for decades. He also shows what was really behind the groundbreaking management philosophy—“the HP Way”—that put people ahead of products or profits.
There have been attempts in recent years to discredit the HP Way as soft and outdated. But Malone argues that the HP Way was a hard-nosed business philosophy that combined simple objectives, trust in employees to make the right choices, and ruthless self-appraisal. It created an innovative and ferociously competitive company—arguably the worldÂ's greatest company.
This business adventure story will be perfect for entrepreneurs, young managers, and students, not to mention the tens of thousands of current and former HP employees.
Customer Reviews:
Instructive biography of tech pioneers Hewlett and Packard.......2007-07-27
This is a book about the ability of corporate culture to preserve a company through hard times and periods of transition. The case in point is Hewlett-Packard. Michael S. Malone's solid corporate biography skirts hagiography as he covers the business that Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard built, and why and how they built it. Malone only touches upon their personal lives in relation to the company's development. He doesn't deal much with the nitty-gritty of their problems, but he does set out the broad picture of where they succeeded (often) and tripped up (rarely). A nice feature of the book is the use of stars in the text that refer you to a section in the back of the book that summarizes the lessons illustrated by that part of the story. At times Malone brings up object lessons maybe once too often (for example, the buyout and hiring of Tektronic's sales reps). Still, we find that his many valid, interesting insights counteract that issue, and recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of technology.
Learn about how Bill & Dave built HP, but also about the role of personal character in long term success.......2007-07-23
This is an excellent biography of the Hewlett-Packard Company. Obviously, it is impossible to tell that story without telling something of the William Hewlett and David Packard, but it does not delve into every aspect of their personal lives. The author keeps things squarely focused on the founding and building of the company and the character of that company.
Michael S. Malone does a fine job of showing us how the character of the Hewlett-Packard company flowed directly from the personal character of Bill & Dave. This is a great lesson for today's business men and women. The old saying about bad businesses is that a fish rots from the head. It is absolutely true. It is not possible to have a long term organization this is simultaneously financially successful, competitive to dominant in its market space, with a great workforce, and is widely admired, on a long term basis without a strong example from its leaders. The organization always takes on the characteristics of its leaders, for good or ill. The fact that so many people talk about the experience of working at Hewlett-Packard under Bill & Dave as a privilege speaks libraries of volumes about what they achieved and why.
We get a brief treatment of their youth and how they each met Fred Terman at Stanford. This was a pivotal relationship for all three men. The relationship that Bill & Dave kept with Terman and Stanford is also a testament to their character. Yes, the great company did have its origins in that dirt floor garage on Addison Avenue, but rather than simply retell that myth, Malone shows us what the physical reality of the garage meant to Bill & Dave (nothing) versus the use they made of the myth to build their corporate culture (everything). Malone also shows us what the post-Bill & Dave leaders did in restoring the garage as a symbol of a corporate heritage they paid lip service to while they were actively throwing away.
I loved learning about the product development discussed in the book. Obviously, only a few of the major products could be discussed because HP did so many hundreds of great products over the year. The whimsical reasons chosen for some of the names is great. For example the HP 35 calculator was given the number based on the number of keys it had.
Malone is at his very best in showing us how the culture of HP developed at its founding, what put stresses on it as they company grew, and how Bill & Dave successfully adapted it during their tenure as it became a public and global organization. Frankly, few entrepreneurs have managed to take a startup to successful global enterprise. Where Bill & Dave ran into some difficulties was in handing over the leadership of the company to others. Not that they weren't good people, but the HP Way is such a part of the character of Bill & Dave that it is hard to have that same mix in anyone else. Even they required the pair of them to have it.
This book makes no apologies about considering the Fiorina years a disaster and Malone shows why he believes this. She considered the HP Way anachronistic and was bringing her dot-com CEO as rock star credentials to this venerable firm. Luckily, the culture resisted her efforts. While she won a major battle in the Compaq acquisition, she ended up losing the war because she could generate almost no internal support. And Bill & Dave had used the employee stock purchase program to put a large chunk of the company in the hands of those who had made the company a global success.
I hope that more of today's business people can learn from these legends of business and learn the real lessons of what makes a company great. Of course, boards will have to set aside the sensationalists, the fabulists, and look for men and women of real substance and character to run their corporations. Maybe more of them should go back to being private if being public is what puts pressure on companies to do the Enron, Adelphia, WorldCom, and Tyco stupidities. Remember, stressful situations don't test character, they reveal it. Start with character and you will always do better than finding out about the lack of it when disaster strikes.
This should be considered a business classic.
Once upon a time, in a garage...........2007-06-07
Most (if not all) of the "Fortune 100" companies began as very small operations and that is certainly true of Hewlett-Packard which William Hewlett and David Packard co-founded with $538 in 1938, literally in a garage in Palo Alto, California. Their first product was an audio oscillator and one of their first customers was Walt Disney Studios which purchased eight of them to use during the creation of Fantasia. The company's subsequent growth is largely explained by sales of H-P's testing equipment during World War II (revenue grew from $34,000 in 1940 to almost $1-million in 1943) and expansion accelerated 50-100% throughout the 1950s.
What we have in Michael S. Malone's biography, Bill & Dave, includes a thorough (at times obsequious) account of how Hewlett and Packard led their company's growth until their successor, John Young, became president in 1977 and CEO the following year. In later chapters, Malone shifts his attention to events which resulted in Carleton S. ("Carly") Fiorina's appointment as president and CEO in 1999 and then as chairman in 2000. She was forced to resign in 2000.
Although I greatly admire what William Hewlett and David Packer accomplished throughout the establishment and development of the company whose name properly honors them, I do not share other reviewers' high regard for Malone's discussion of them. Before I even began to read this book, I was put off by the subtitle's assertion that Hewlett and Packard "built the world's greatest company." To the best of my knowledge, neither ever made that claim and it seems to me (one man's opinion) that it is both presumptuous and incorrect for Malone or anyone else to do so. If Malone is to be believed, Hewlett and Packard almost never did anything wrong whereas Fiorina, for example, almost never did anything right.
Malone's perspective is understandably subjective (another person's opinion, fair enough) but his judgment seems biased. Others who had a close association with both Hewlett and Packard throughout the 1940s and 1950s all agree that they were exceptionally intelligent, thoroughly decent human beings. Their talents, skills, and (yes) qualities of character are the core values of what is frequently referred to as "The H-P Way." But they were not deities and would be the first to point that out in no uncertain terms.
My rating of this book is explained by the fact that Malone provides a wealth of historical information about an especially important era (i.e. the birth and adolescence of high technology) and a wealth of biographical information about two men who were among the most effective business leaders during that era. I am grateful for what I learned.
That said, I regret that Malone's perspectives are not more circumspect and his judgment more balanced. In the final section of his book, he provides an especially sentimental account of what occurred on December 6, 2005, in a quiet Palo Alto neighborhood. Here's how he concludes the book: As older visitors to the "Birthplace of Silicon Valley" passed through the garage "like pilgrims at a holy shrine, [they] looked as much at the lovingly restored but still worn and uninsulated plank walls as at the historic items. After all these years, after all that has happened, it is still here, they told themselves. Together, we have survived." The tone of reverence and adoration in this and other passages in the book, in my opinion, compromises the authentic significance of who William Hewlett and David Packard were as well as the authentic importance of what they achieved.
Great Book.......2007-06-04
Very well written, good empathy with characters as they are well described, fascinating time period starting with the invention of the radio and running up to modern days. Good look at the development of Silicon valley and how the culture of universities like Stanford has changed over the last 100 years.
Review of Bill & Dave: How Hewlett & Packard Built the World's Greatest Company.......2007-05-14
I had the preveledge of working at HP from 1963 to 2001. Michael Malone did a great job of capturing the true charter and greatness of Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard and the way they pulled together a group of people that did in fact built the worlds best company. It was a hard working group of individuals that became " family " that believed that collectively they could accomplish almost anything. He captured the spirit of HP through the glory years and the tough times. But through it all it is a testomony to The HP Way and the HP people that kept the company from coming apart. It came colse to losing it's way but it is now begining to find it's way back to the greatness that it is capable of becoming. This is a must read for any student of HP and The HP Way and should be read by anyone wanting to build a truly great organization.
Bruce Myers
Book Description
This book highlights important content necessary to pass the CCS exam. It includes all the content sections found in the exam AND two full practice exams with answers and rationales. Using a general outline format, the text covers anatomy and terminology for each body area, Reimbursement Issues, and an overview of CPT, ICD-9-CM, and HCPCS coding. It also includes a bound-in CD-ROM with a pre-/post-exam modeled after the actual AHIMA CCS certification exam, along with a final exam.
- Basic outline format, with figures for reference as needed, provides quick and easy review for students.
- Text highlights important content information required to pass the CCS exam.
- Bound-in CD-ROM contains a pre-/post-exam to give students more practice with the electronic format, especially now that the actual CCS exam is administered via computer.
- CD-ROM also contains a final exam modeled after the actual AHIMA CCS certification exam.
- IER contains various course planning tools that allow the instructor flexibility to adapt the book to classroom needs.
- Includes suggestions for how instructors can implement the new practice resource The Extra Step: Facility-Based Coding Practice.
- Additional quizzes for extra assessment (located on the CD-ROM) give instructors another resource to readily test their students' knowledge.
Customer Reviews:
CCS CODING EXAM REVIEW - CERTIFICATION STEP.......2007-09-18
Even though I have not yet taken the exam, I have found the book to be an excellent resource before the exam, and will continue to use the book as a reference book after I take the exam. Very user friendly.
CSS Exam Prep.......2007-07-30
The book is very complete as information with many details that one would need refreshing every so often. Each chapter has a test, a very good test I can say. The downfall is the CD; there is no feed back to your answers, only the percentage you achieved. That may not be enough for someone who is trying to learn. We do learn from our mistakes, so no feed back, how would one know what did wrong?
The CD is the downfall for this book.
do not buy this book.......2007-05-07
I bought three CCS review guides to prepare for the CCS exam. This one was NO help whatsoever. I had been studying with my other two books (AHIMA's and Thompson's) and picked this one up the weekend before the test. I liked that it had CCS-like exams to take on a CD. I was studying with a friend of mine so we both decided to take the pre-test. This was the day before we took the exam. I scored -103, yes negative 103 and she scored 30, meaning we both flunked. We were so discouraged. so threw that book aside and called it a day. The CD and the book gave us no hint as to what we did wrong with the test, what we needed to study further. No help whatsoever.
We both took the CCS the next day and passed with flying colors. If we had let this book discourage us we would not now be both CCS certified.
If I could give it no stars I would
Amazon.com
Social phenomena happen, and the historians follow. So it goes with Google, the latest star shooting through the universe of trend-setting businesses. This company has even entered our popular lexicon: as many note, "Google" has moved beyond noun to verb, becoming an action which most tech-savvy citizens at the turn of the twenty-first century recognize and in fact do, on a daily basis. It's this wide societal impact that fascinated authors David Vise and Mark Malseed, who came to the book with well-established reputations in investigative reporting. Vise authored the bestselling The Bureau and the Mole, and Malseed contributed significantly to two Bob Woodward books, Bush at War and Plan of Attack. The kind of voluminous research and behind-the-scenes insight in which both writers specialize, and on which their earlier books rested, comes through in The Google Story.
The strength of the book comes from its command of many small details, and its focus on the human side of the Google story, as opposed to the merely academic one. Some may prefer a dryer, more analytic approach to Google's impact on the Internet, like The Search or books that tilt more heavily towards bits and bytes on the spectrum between technology and business, like The Singularity is Near. Those wanting to understand the motivations and personal growth of founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and CEO Eric Schmidt, however, will enjoy this book. Vise and Malseed interviewed over 150 people, including numerous Google employees, Wall Street analysts, Stanford professors, venture capitalists, even Larry Page's Cub Scout leader, and their comprehensiveness shows.
As the narrative unfolds, readers learn how Google grew out of the intellectually fertile and not particularly directed friendship between Page and Brin; how the founders attempted to peddle early versions of their search technology to different Silicon Valley firms for $1 million; how Larry and Sergey celebrated their first investor's check with breakfast at Burger King; how the pair initially housed their company in a Palo Alto office, then eventually moved to a futuristic campus dubbed the "Googleplex"; how the company found its financial footing through keyword-targeted Web ads; how various products like Google News, Froogle, and others were cooked up by an inventive staff; how Brin and Page proved their mettle as tough businessmen through negotiations with AOL Europe and their controversial IPO process, among other instances; and how the company's vision for itself continues to grow, such as geographic expansion to China and cooperation with Craig Venter on the Human Genome Project.
Like the company it profiles, The Google Story is a bit of a wild ride, and fun, too. Its first appendix lists 23 "tips" which readers can use to get more utility out of Google. The second contains the intelligence test which Google Research offers to prospective job applicants, and shows the sometimes zany methods of this most unusual business. Through it all, Vise and Malseed synthesize a variety of fascinating anecdotes and speculation about Google, and readers seeking a first draft of the history of the company will enjoy an easy read. --Peter Han
Book Description
"Here is the story behind one of the most remarkable Internet successes of our time. Based on scrupulous research and extraordinary access to Google, the book takes you inside the creation and growth of a company whose name is a favorite brand and a standard verb recognized around the world. Its stock is worth more than General Motors’ and Ford’s combined, its staff eats for free in a dining room that used to be
run
by the Grateful Dead’s former chef, and its employees traverse the firm’s colorful Silicon Valley campus on scooters and inline skates.
The Google Story is the definitive account of the populist media company powered by the world’s most advanced technology that in a few short years has revolutionized access to information about everything for everybody everywhere.
In 1998, Moscow-born Sergey Brin and Midwest-born Larry Page dropped out of graduate school at Stanford University to, in their own words, “change the world” through a search engine that would organize every bit of information on the Web for free.
While the company has done exactly that in more than one hundred languages, Google’s quest continues as it seeks to add millions of library books, television broadcasts, and more to its searchable database.
Readers will learn about the amazing business acumen and computer wizardry that started the company on its astonishing course; the secret network of computers delivering lightning-fast search results; the unorthodox approach that has enabled it to challenge Microsoft’s dominance and shake up Wall Street. Even as it rides high, Google wrestles with difficult choices that will enable it to continue expanding while sustaining the guiding vision of its founders’ mantra: DO NO EVIL."
Download Description
David A. Vise is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Washington Post and the author of three books, including the New York Times bestseller The Bureau and the Mole. Mark Malseed, who has contributed to the Washington Post and the Boston Herald, has won high praise for his research efforts on Bob Woodward’s recent books, Plan of Attack and Bush at War.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
A modern business story that is both unusual and topical.......2007-09-13
This founding and growth of Google is a fascinating story. While this book is very boosterish in its approach, that is fine. We understand what is going on and it is inevitable that the "dark side" of Google will come out elsewhere. Still, at its core and in the surrounding landscape, it is a pretty happy story.
Larry Page, a Ph.D. student at Stanford, wanted to download the Internet to his computer and thought he could do it quite easily and quickly. He met Sergey Brin, also a doctoral student at Stanford, was also interested in working with vast amounts of data, what could be learned from it, an how to organize it. Page came up with the PageRank algorighms that ranked the searches in ways that made them more useful to the person doing the search. (The name is a pun on Larry PAGE and web PAGE).
Stanford approached a number of organizations and venture capitalists to sell the technology, but there were no takers. So, Brin and Page dropped out and started their own company, which became Google. They have always focused on their corporate culture being innovative, oriented towards small teams, doing interesting things and only later worrying about how to make money with whatever comes of the research, and doing the best to live by their motto "Don't Be Evil".
They didn't follow the normal rules for raising money from the Venture Capital community, but were able to raise $25 million. They promised the VCs they would hire a CEO, but put it off for more than a year and when they did accept Eric Schmidt (because the three of them got along) they would not ever report to him nor would they cede control to him. When they finally had to go public (the VC stuff, again), they didn't follow the prescribed and traditional methods the investment banks use and only paid them half their usual fees.
Yes, going into China caused them real spiritual difficulties, and still does. And their goal of gathering all the information in the world and making it available does raise serious questions about personal privacy and freedom that they have not adequately addressed. However, they have great technology. I do use it and love Google Desktop. The book provides some tips about ways to use Google you may not know. Do you know that you can simply type in a math problem and it will solve it for you? That you can type in an address and it will pull up a map? Do you know about Google Book or Google Scholar? Take a look!
Way cool.
Reviewed by Craig Matteson
Excellent business book.......2007-08-15
Very interesting read. The author clearly loves Google but that aside, he covers the story from the start of Google as a research project at Stanford University through to their IPO and after. The best parts of the book for me was the incubation phase where they thought it was a good idea but needed to figure how to make money off it and turn it into a successful business. Lots of details on the key decisions made along the way but not too many details where you'd get bored reading it.
I appreciated how the author covered this as a business story covering the early investors who believed in the value of the idea to the immensely successful branding of the Google name. If business and technology companies in interest you, I don't think you'll be disappointed reading this book.
Great read!.......2007-08-13
This book was a true delight to read! This was so much more than just how two guys from college created a successful company. It was more than that. Those guys were turned away from Alta Vista, Excite, and Yahoo and had suffered disappointment after disappointment but never gave up. Their product (almost overnight) grew to be a massive empire once they got an investor to give $100k to their company. What I LOVED about this book was watching two easy-fun loving guys (who skateboard at their office in jeans and t-shirt) who continued to look to the future in the face of defeat. These guys never gave up and I, for one, was truly inspired after reading the book.
The back-story of how google came to be can be described as the underdog finally reaching the top and overtaking those who turned him down.
Great company summary.......2007-07-31
This book does a wonderful job of explaining that Google's success comes from great timing, great leadership, having a solution to a specific problem, and a bit of luck. A worthwhile read for sure.
Good Book.......2007-07-29
Dear All,
Its very good book, i have never seen before. its good and it needs really a very good time to read about it & to get in touch with that one.
My name is Mohammed Tantawi & in case of you need any thing to return back to me, please feel free & here is my E-mail as well.
[...]
Amazon.com
If you pick your books by their popularity--how many and which other people are reading them--then know this about The Search: it's probably on Bill Gates' reading list, and that of almost every venture capitalist and startup-hungry entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. In its sweeping survey of the history of Internet search technologies, its gossip about and analysis of Google, and its speculation on the larger cultural implications of a Web-connected world, it will likely receive attention from a variety of businesspeople, technology futurists, journalists, and interested observers of mid-2000s zeitgeist.
This ambitious book comes with a strong pedigree. Author John Battelle was a founder of The Industry Standard and then one of the original editors of Wired, two magazines which helped shape our early perceptions of the wild world of the Internet. Battelle clearly drew from his experience and contacts in writing The Search. In addition to the sure-handed historical perspective and easy familiarity with such dot-com stalwarts as AltaVista, Lycos, and Excite, he speckles his narrative with conversational asides from a cast of fascinating characters, such Google's founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Yahoo's, Jerry Yang and David Filo; key executives at Microsoft and different VC firms on the famed Sandhill road; and numerous other insiders, particularly at the company which currently sits atop the search world, Google.
The Search is not exactly the corporate history of Google. At the book's outset, Battelle specifically indicates his desire to understand what he calls the cultural anthropology of search, and to analyze search engines' current role as the "database of our intentions"--the repository of humanity's curiosity, exploration, and expressed desires. Interesting though that beginning is, though, Battelle's story really picks up speed when he starts dishing inside scoop on the darling business story of the decade, Google. To Battelle's credit, though, he doesn't stop just with historical retrospective: the final part of his book focuses on the potential future directions of Google and its products' development. In what Battelle himself acknowledges might just be a "digital fantasy train", he describes the possibility that Google will become the centralizing platform for our entire lives and quotes one early employee on the weightiness of Google's potential impact: "Sometimes I feel like I am on a bridge, twenty thousand feet up in the air. If I look down I'm afraid I'll fall. I don't feel like I can think about all the implications."
Some will shrug at such words; after all, similar hype has accompanied other technologies and other companies before. Many others, though, will search Battelle's story for meaning--and fast. --Peter Han
Book Description
How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture
• The Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek Bestseller
• Finalist for the Goldman Sachs/FT Business Book of the Year Award
What does the world want? According to John Battelle, a company that answers that question—in all its shades of meaning—can unlock the most intractable riddles of business and arguably of human culture itself. And for the past few years, thatÂ's exactly what Google has been doing.
But The Search offers much more than the inside story of GoogleÂ's triumph. ItÂ's a big- picture book about the past, present, and future of search technology and the enormous impact itÂ's starting to have on marketing, media, pop culture, dating, job hunting, international law, civil liberties, and just about every other sphere of human interest. BACKCOVER: “The Search is a superb story, well written and feverishly researched. Whether you are a student, techie, business executive, budding visionary or just enjoy pop culture, this is a book not to be missed.”
—USA Today
“John Battelle is Silicon ValleyÂ's Bob Woodward. One of the founders of Wired magazine, he has hung around Google for so long that he has come to be as close as any outsider can to actually being an insiderÂ….The result is a highly readable account of GoogleÂ's astonishing rise.”
—The Economist
“ItÂ's a fascinating story, and Mr. BattelleÂ… tells it well.”
—The Wall Street Journal
“A surprisingly gripping story…The Search yields impressive results, pairing a reportorial eye for detail with an evangelical zeal to help readers understand the import of the search revolution.”
—Wired News
“BattelleÂ…manages to keep things compelling, adding his own trenchant analysis about what GoogleÂ's rapid evolution and powerful technology might mean for the company and our society as whole.”
—The Associated Press
“A compelling glimpse of the search industryÂ's early years.”
—BusinessWeek
“Deeply researched and nimbly reported.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Indispensable.”
—London Review of Books
“John Battelle has written a brilliant business book, but heÂ's also done something more: heÂ's used the amazing saga of Google to explore what it means to search. All searchers should read it.”
—Walter Isaacson, CEO of the Aspen Institute; former editor of Time; former CEO of CNN
“Nobody, and I mean nobody, has thought longer, harder, or smarter about Google and the search business than John Battelle. If you want to understand the rise of the search economy and culture, you need to read this book.”
—John Heilemann, author of Pride Before the Fall
Customer Reviews:
Larry and Sergey's Excellent Adventure.......2007-08-25
A very well-researched and well-written book. Most notable is author John Battelle's getting the essence of just how bad search was until the Google Guys came along and nailed the concept. Battelle recounts how major players in the IT industry assumed search was as good as it was going to get circa 1997 - 2000 (and it really s-cked in retrospect), so they went off trying to become traffic and portal sites. [Larry Page archly notes that Yahoo and Excite had 'really good horoscopes' on their home pages. Touché.]
Meanwhile, Battelle recounts how Page and Brin set out with their 'Backrub' project at Stanford to solve search and transform it into what it is today. While Google is taken as a given today, Battelle takes us all back to that moment when we all first used Google and had that "Oh. My. God." moment.
The insider-ish stuff about Page and Brin is fascinating. I could read 500 pages of that stuff alone. It's a thrilling ride from cramped offices at Stanford to the Googleplex. 400,000 percent (!) revenue growth over five years is difficult to fathom, but Battelle gets as close to anyone to the essence of how that happened.
It's nice to see the chapter here about Bill Gross of Idealab. The original incarnation of Google AdWords was a blatant copy of Idealab's Goto.com (later named Overture) incubation.
A non-technical, solid read for those interested in Google and how Search Works.......2007-07-20
Interested in learning how Google went from the smallest of startups to one of the largest IPO's in history? Do you wonder how Google and companies like it will impact our future? Are you interested in finding out just how Google returns the results when you type something in the search box? If so, then The Search is for you!
Written by John Brattle, an accomplished author (Wired) and well respected journalist and entrepreneur, The Search first walks the user through the rise of Google from a dorm room at Stanford to the corporate giant it is today.
The book is well researched and contains information from over 300 interviews documenting the rise of the biggest and most profitable media company in the world. The interviews are some of the most interesting reads in the book making you feel like you were in the room when Battelle was conducting them.
In the early chapters, the reader gets what seems to be an inside view of the rise of Google as a startup during the dot-com boom. As Google grows, Battelle starts to focus on how Yahoo and Google (and others) struggled to get the search algorithm "right" and become the leader in the "search" industry. Google was clearly the winner of this competition and went out to streamline their algorithm and business to be one of the most successful media businesses in the world.
Battelle uses the last chapters to discuss the future of Google and how the technology that Google is developing today could impact our culture. Considering Google has significantly changed out culture in the short eight years it has been around, one can only imagine what the future holds!
An excellent, non-technical read, The Search, is a great book for anyone interested in Google, how search engines work and/or portal developments are sure to find this book enjoyable, insightful and well worth the read!
[...]
Page-turner & night-burner.......2007-07-12
This book has delighted me, to me it was an enlightening read, and it almost wasn't slipping from my hands until I got to the end.
Great Business and Historic lessons.......2007-06-19
This is an excellent book.
First, from the business stand point it describes perfectly how google beat the internet bubble and came up with a very lucrative business model. It has a lot off lessons of how to be an entrepreneur.
Second, from the historic stand point i tells very easy haw the internet and the search technology have grow and evolve and hand by hand, because both are the reason why we have an intenet like we have now.
Third, the book is a lot of fun and very easy to read, it has a lot of inspiring little story like the story of Altavista or the great Bill Gross, what an enterpreneur.
Great book you won't be disapointed
Very Informative.......2007-05-04
Being a non techy, I was enthralled with the way search has developed and the possibilities for the future. The future of not only search, but business models as we know them.
Customer Reviews:
Wow... I read this in 5th grade and it was worth it!.......2003-05-10
Wow... I read this in 5th grade and it was worth it! And then I read it again in eigth grade... The reason i love this book so much is that i won the contest for Nintendo with the information in this book. (animal crossing pioneer)
Well, I can't say enough for this book. I own the hardback, and plan to get the updated paperback soon!
An Nsider Delight.......2000-03-31
This is ONE book that I just can't get out of my mind! This book is a must get for gamers & Nsiders (The Official On-line Nintendo Club)!
Game Over gave a near-perfect insite to Nintendo's beginning of a handfuda card company (Japanese cards), develop into a game / toy company, & eventually entering the Video Game company.
David Sheff did an excellent job in writting this book & does go in depth into things as well as actual translation of the name ("Leave Luck to God" is my favorite).
If the Nsiders is a cult/ religion, this would be our bible!
This is a great book to read, even though there are slight minor flaws & this version only goes up to 1993. It's a must read good & would Highly suggest picking up the revised sequal, "Game Over: Press Start to continue"
Excellent handbook on Nintendo's past........1999-12-11
Game Over is a terrific account of Nintendo's past, and is must reading for video game enthusiasts and historians. Mr. Sheff had what seemed to be unparalleled access to Nintendo's inner workings, and brought back a fascinating story on a family business made good in the international community. Unfortunately, the book falls for Nintendo's predictions for the future (many of which were designed by Nintendo solely to draw attention away from its rivals rather than to provide insight into their future business plans.) As long as the last parts of the book that attempt to chart the future course for video games and Nintendo are ignored, the book stands as an important work in video game journalism.
I do have a few complaints with the contents and focus of the book; there are the usual small factual errors which may obscure future historical video game research; there are the regurgitations of various industry spokesmen without proper interpretations; and there is the unwavering focus on Nintendo which tends to downplay the parts played by their competitors/rivals in the industry. I have yet to read the updated version of Game Over (Press Start to Continue), and the new version may rectify some or all of these shortcomings. Regardless, Game Over stands as a slightly flawed, but amazingly useful research tool and entertaining book.
Amazon.com
Like other "totemic firms" of recent years, Microsoft attained astounding power and profitability in stunningly short order--along with a slew of rivals who desperately wanted it broken into less threatening pieces. Few really believed it would happen when the U.S. Department of Justice first began looking into its operations, however, which made the eventual judgment against the company even more significant. "The humbling of Microsoft is the last great business story of the 20th century and the first great riddle of the 21st," writes John Heilemann in Pride Before the Fall, his insightful examination of the epic antitrust battle that began as a Wired magazine cover story. "There are fancier ways of putting it," he adds, "but the riddle is: how did it happen?" In the pages that follow, Heilemann examines the behind-the-scenes machinations that drove United States v. Microsoft, based largely on exclusive interviews he conducted with Bill Gates and his top lieutenants, Justice Department prosecutor Joel Klein, special trial counsel (and lead Democratic Florida recount litigator) David Boies, Intel chief Andy Grove, Sun Microsystems' Scott McNealy, and various "unknown soldiers" who arguably played the biggest role of all. With Microsoft's future still uncertain, Pride helps reset the tone in a case that will shape our high-tech future. --Howard Rothman
Book Description
John Heilemann's Pride Before the Fall uncovers the secret history of the antitrust trial that shook an economy: United States v. Microsoft. Drawing on years of reporting -- including extensive interviews with Gates and other top Microsoft executives, Justice Department trustbuster Joel Klein, superlitigator David Boies, Intel chief Andy Grove, Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy, and scores of lesser-known but pivotal players -- Heilemann lays bare the chaotic confluence of forces that shattered Microsoft's aura of invincibility and the climate of fear that held an industry in thrall.
Based on an acclaimed Wired magazine cover story, Pride Before the Fall is packed with rich personalities, dramatic scenes, and explosive revelations. It tells the stories of the largely unknown men and women who turned their opposition to Gates's company into a crusade, laboring for years to persuade the government to indict Microsoft for its monopolistic practices. Pride Before the Fall explains in compelling detail how the high-tech kingpins whose businesses Gates had tried to destroy or strong-arm (Netscape, Apple, Sun, and even Intel) worked in secret to help the Justice Department bring down Microsoft. It explores the lasting damage the trial has inflicted on the first great empire of the Information Age. And Heilemann offers a vivid and sometimes shocking portrait of Gates himself -- describing a man who in 1993 told his friends, "I have as much power as the president," only to be thrown into rage and depression a few years later, when he discovered just how wrong he'd been.
Like a figure from Greek tragedy, Heilemann writes, Gates sowed the seeds of his own undoing. From lengthy visits to Redmond before, during, and after the trial, Heilemarnn paints a picture of a culture that can only be described as the Cult of Bill, a culture that had few limits when it came to eviscerating the competition, a culture that grew out of Gates's fiercely single-minded determination to keep Microsoft from meeting the fate of a company that he had studied, admired, rivaled, and then surpassed: IBM. But when that culture came under scrutiny on Capitol Hill, in the halls of the Justice Department, and in the courtroom of Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, it provoked a verdict far harsher than anyone could have predicted -- and guaranteed for Microsoft the very fate that Gates had struggled so desperately to avoid.
With Pride Before the Fall, John Heilemann confirms his reputation as one of Silicon Valley's most talented and respected journalists. Years of inside access to the Valley's boardrooms have given him a unique understanding of the technology industry, just as his years as a reporter in Washington have informed his grasp of the political currents that swept the U.S. government into a battle it never wanted to fight. But what sets Pride Before the Fall apart isn't simply Heilemann's mastery of the dynamics of business, public policy, and the law. This superbly gifted writer has also given us a revelatory tale of human ambition and human frailty -- a timely saga of arrogance, ruthlessness, and revenge.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent book on Microsoft anti-trust trial.......2007-05-21
This book puts out a lot of factual information while keeping the read interesting. I've used this in a college ethics class, and most students liked it. I know of an attorney's office that used it to familiarize their staff with the case.
The book is biased against Microsoft, but shows enough of their side that it doesn't come across as a shallow review. Lot's of interviews keep the book interesting.
An excellent analysis of the case.......2001-08-26
Heilemann has done a fabulous job with this book. The Wired article was really gripping and the full length book is just as difficult to put down! It really makes you wonder what they're thinking in Redmond - at the end of the book I couldn't help feeling that Gates (as Heilemann presents him) seems a lot like Mr. Burns in the Simpsons episode where Lisa teaches him about recycling and he ends 'recycling' all the fish in the sea for livestock feed. He couldn't figure out why he was wrong and Gates seems to have the same difficulty.
whiny.......2001-06-09
This book is more of a whine session than an informative look into the microsoft case. Poor writing and questionable facts make this book impossible to read. Save your money!
Save Your Money.......2001-05-15
This book was more than "based on" the Wired article, it was the Wired article. I read both the article and the book, and in my opinion there was very little added to the book. I would suggest buying the Wired Magazine that had this article, ... .
Excluding that, the book was well written and entertaining, but somewhat disappointing. The amount of access the author had provided great visibility into the trial, but I felt the author squandered that information. There was very little analysis, and often the author missed humorous/interesting snippets that other books/articles had picked up (e.g. in "The New New Thing" and Upside's news coverage of the trial).
This book felt more like a synapse or a chronology, and it left me wanting more...
Wow, What a Thoroughly Great Book.......2001-05-11
No superlative is adequate to describe the high quality of this incisive reporting. How did this author ever stitch all of this story together? Incredible sources, great insights, and to think Gates almost pulled off the monopolistic crime of the century! Thank you U.S. government for protecting us from this abuse. Thank you John for taking time out of your busy schedule to clue the rest of us in to how this proud giant was humbled, for his own good.
Amazon.com
The computer revolution brought with it new methods of getting work done--just look at today's news for reports of hard-driven, highly-motivated young software and online commerce developers who sacrifice evenings and weekends to meet impossible deadlines. Tracy Kidder got a preview of this world in the late 1970s when he observed the engineers of Data General design and build a new 32-bit minicomputer in just one year. His thoughtful, prescient book, The Soul of a New Machine, tells stories of 35-year-old "veteran" engineers hiring recent college graduates and encouraging them to work harder and faster on complex and difficult projects, exploiting the youngsters' ignorance of normal scheduling processes while engendering a new kind of work ethic.
These days, we are used to the "total commitment" philosophy of managing technical creation, but Kidder was surprised and even a little alarmed at the obsessions and compulsions he found. From in-house political struggles to workers being permitted to tease management to marathon 24-hour work sessions, The Soul of a New Machine explores concepts that already seem familiar, even old-hat, less than 20 years later. Kidder plainly admires his subjects; while he admits to hopeless confusion about their work, he finds their dedication heroic. The reader wonders, though, what will become of it all, now and in the future. --Rob Lightner
Book Description
The computer revolution brought with it new methods of getting work done--just look at today's news for reports of hard-driven, highly-motivated young software and online commerce developers who sacrifice evenings and weekends to meet impossible deadlines. Tracy Kidder got a preview of this world in the late 1970s when he observed the engineers of Data General design and build a new 32-bit minicomputer in just one year. His thoughtful, prescient book, The Soul of a New Machine, tells stories of 35-year-old "veteran" engineers hiring recent college graduates and encouraging them to work harder and faster on complex and difficult projects, exploiting the youngsters' ignorance of normal scheduling processes while engendering a new kind of work ethic. These days, we are used to the "total commitment" philosophy of managing technical creation, but Kidder was surprised and even a little alarmed at the obsessions and compulsions he found. From in-house political struggles to workers being permitted to tease management to marathon 24-hour work sessions, The Soul of a New Machine explores concepts that already seem familiar, even old-hat, less than 20 years later. Kidder plainly admires his subjects; while he admits to hopeless confusion about their work, he finds their dedication heroic. The reader wonders, though, what will become of it all, now and in the future. --Rob Lightner
Customer Reviews:
Kidder captures the essence of engineering.......2007-07-20
If you're an electrical, computer, or software engineer, you must read this book. Even though the technology described is dated, "The Soul of a New Machine" really does capture what it's like to work in technology. The fight to work on something cool, to try and have ownership over what you do, and the different types of relationships and people you encounter as an engineer are all described right here in gory detail.
This book is outstanding.
Engineering Must-Read.......2007-05-07
As an engineer in high-tech, I assumed our culture of evolved as quickly as our livelihood. Not so, I found, reading about the engineering mindset ("It doesn't matter if you're ugly or graceless or even half crazy; if you produce right results in this world, your colleagues must accept you."), the inability to *completely* verify a design ("it would be possible to test fully... but it would take literally forever to do so."), that we all like video games and Star Trek, that the term "gunslinger" (someone who "shoots from the hip") isn't something our generation of engineers coined, and that what drives us today is the same that drove the previous two generations of engineers ("I'll have to work hard, and if we do a good job, we get to do it again."). Instead of writing an account of engineers building a computer chip, Kidder has created an allegory exposing the roots of engineering to genererations beyond. Wish I had read this early in my career to know what I have to look forward to...
"I'm going to a commune in Vermont and will deal with no unit of time
shorter than a season."
Slow Year for the Pulitzer Committee.......2007-04-23
I cannot begin to imagine how TSOANM garnered a Pulitzer in its publication year. I can only guess that it dealt with a subject matter -- a case study in the history of the computer -- so mysterious and cutting-edge in the view of awards committee members, that its incisiveness was simply assumed. How else to explain the praise that has been heaped on this tepid piece of computer science/management science journalism? How else to explain the fact that so little actual history -- of the computer industry or computers themselves -- and so little actual case study is to be found between the covers of this book? I don't doubt the author's earnest interest in his subjects. He strikes this reader as very well-intentioned, and his project had tremendous potential, to be sure. But he also strikes this reader as the unkeenest of observers. TSOANM could have been brilliantly realized by a writer like Steven Levy. Kidder fails to impress in every way possible: as a journalist, a historian, a thinker, and a writer. I must ask, again, whence the Pulitzer?
A true journalistic classic. Buy it and Read it!.......2006-04-26
`The Soul of a New Machine' is a landmark journalistic book-length essay by then `Atlantic Monthly' writer, Tracy Kidder exploring the development of a new computer in those pre-microcomputer days of 1978. I am delighted to find this book issued as a `classic', as I have read it many times and have been meaning to do a review of it for some time. I cannot think of a better occasion than with the release of this new edition.
When it was first published, the book was a narrative of what was then `modern' technology, where the central processing units (CPU) or `brains' of commercial minicomputers and mainframe computers were built up on large circuit boards from individual, specialized integrated circuit chips, with each chip integrating dozens or hundreds of discrete components. This compares to today's microcomputers where the entire CPU is placed on a single chip incorporating tens of thousands of discrete functions, all taking up no more room than the average credit card. Now, the book is more a history of how this technology was developed, and yet its picture of how people work in teams developing technological projects will probably never go out of date.
The irony of this book is that the computer being developed by the team described in this book, a 32 bit Eclipse computer developed by the Data General corporation, a competitor to the larger and very successful Digital Computer Corporation (Digital), did not really achieve any major breakthrough in technology. While it was intended to compete with a new generation of Digital VAX machines, it ended up being just barely faster than VAX's in a few special tasks. In fact, in a conversation I once had with some Digital engineers, they said that when they went head to head with Data General in bidding for a computer sale, the only thing they had to do was bring out Kidder's book to demonstrate that the Data General box was yesterday's news. Data General may have had the last laugh, as ailing Digital was bought out by Compaq, which has since merged with H-P, further submerging the once great Digital presence in the commercial computer world. Meanwhile, Data General is still around, albeit not the presence it once had when the `minicomputer' was the great alternative to the IBM monoliths in the glass houses.
That does not detract from the fact that this is still a terrific story. I have read it several times and still quote from it after nearly thirty years of reading from it the first time. My favorite image is of the engineer who quit the project to become a farmer, so that the smallest unit of time he had to deal with was the season. My second favorite quote (which may not be original to this book, although this is the first time I ran into it) is that the management style on the project was the mushroom theory. That is, `Keep them in the dark and feed them s**t'.
As I see from Kidder's new introduction, this essay was a bigger accomplishment that it seemed originally, as Kidder was closer to being a Luddite than he was a techie in love with the latest computer tool which, at that time, would have been standalone word processing machines produced by companies such as IBM and Wang. In spite of that limitation, he manages to make it interesting to both the average reader and someone like myself who is (or at least was) familiar with the inner workings of computers.
I also tend to see Kidder's book as the fountainhead of a whole wave of new style journalistic book length works. I almost like to believe that Kidder made possible the writing careers of my foodie-writing hero, Michael Ruhlman (`The Soul of a Chef' and `The Making of a Chef'). The similarity in title of Ruhlman's book with Kidder's title is, I think, not an accident.
So, this is not only a history of a major moment in computer history, it is a superb picture of the dynamics of people in technical development teams and the challenges of achieving a technical goal.
Must read for everyone.
Surprised and pleased.......2006-03-01
I'd never heard of 'Soul' or Tracy Kidder or Tom West until my class with University of Phoenix. Something compelled me to purchase it and read it and I was very happy about it. It was a relatively fast read, technically informative but not too much so...and that's what I wanted. I wish there were more historical accounts of extraordinary things that have more diverse people in them. It was never mentioned but I'm pretty positive there wasn't a black person among that whole group. Black people are not 'let in' to those kinds of circle...special and extraordinary things; given an opportunity to stretch, given a chance to grow into something. Black people have to have 'credentials and experience' before a special project is even offered to us. I couldn't help but know - instinctively - that there were none. Good story though.
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- History: Fiction or Science
- Covering Globalization: A Handbook for Reporters
- Century 21 Accounting: General Journal
- Government and Not-for-Profit Accounting: Concepts and Practices
- Fear No Evil: A Novel
- Firebrands: Building Brand Loyalty in the Internet Age
- Problem Tests, C21 Acctg 1st Yr
- Econometric Modelling of World Shipping
- Fly Away Peter
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company
Jack: Straight from the Gut
The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done (Harperbusiness Essentials)
What They Don't Teach You At Harvard Business School: Notes From A Street-Smart Executive
Confessions of an Advertising Man
