Another new book

The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks created the Digital Revolution

The new tome by Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs: Isaacson will be at the Computer History Museum this next Tuesday nite, there may still be tickets available.

I was a little chary about the Jobs book--Isaacson is a superb, prolific writer with wonderful prose, captivating style, and engrossing stories.   Both books (and his others, about Einstein, Franklin, etc) are eminently readable.

My quibble with the Jobs book was that it was not particularly well researched, nor well balanced, in terms of the Apple story.  Lots of Apple employees and alumni have agreed with me, supplying much energy in their recitations.  The public reception was extraordinary, though, as properly it should have been for this icon of our industry, indeed our world.

The SIG-CIS community--that acronym stands for Special Interest Group-Computers In Society, as part of SHOT, the Society for the History of Technology--was similarly chary about this new book, pointing out (with some glee) errors of commission in some significant (in their view) places.  And I don't disagree with their doting on historical accuracy.

But... this is a terrific tour-de-force, and it should do Silicon Valley proud.  The cover features Ada Lovelace, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Alan Turing, and the book does a fabulous job of covering the emergence and evolution of our digital age.

I tend to go to the index, and follow streams of names and stories i "know" to see how they are cast in any new book.  Isaacson uses Michael Malone and John Markoff selectively to point out observations re the Valley; he doesn't cite Fred Turner, which is a shame, but he arrives at nearly the same point, in terms of strongly endorsing Stewart Brand and his impact, coupled with Doug Engelbart and Alan Kay and what became XeroxPARC.

Get it, read it. love it....