The Bay Area is a goldmine of for computer buffs interested in corporate history and biography.
The entertaining Apple Confidential: The real story of Apple Computer by Owen Linzmayer, is only one of the corporate histories of Apple Computer available at the library. Steve Jobs’ autobiography, iWoz, offers a more recent insider’s view. Jobs also appears in Price’s fascinating account of the development (sometimes recounted too technically) of computer animation in The Pixar touch.
Intel is well-covered in Yu’s Creating the digital future, CEO Andrew Grove’s autobiography Swimming Across and Andrew Grove by Tedlow. Offering a rival interpretation in Man behind the microchip: Robert Noyce and the invention of Silicon Valley Berlin argues that Intel cofounder Robert Noyce’s should be credited with the company’s spectacular rise.
In High noon: The inside story of Scott McNealy and the rise of Sun Microsystems, author Karen Southwick delivers an in-depth portrait of the computer network company and its CEO (Bill Gates arch-rival) Scott McNealy, ironically pursuing its corporate future with Microsoft-like tactics.
A vibrant and engaging history of Silicon Valley is recounted by Bronson in Nudist on the Late Shift: And other true tales of Silicon Valley. The achievements of individuals is the focus of Kshatriy’s Silicon Valley greats: Indians who made a difference to technology and the world.
If you prefer a more iconoclastic look at the industry, try Newman’s Net Loss: Internet prophets, private profits and the costs to the community. Similarly, in his now-dated but still thought-provoking Silicon Snake Oil, Clifford Stoll underlines the high cost people pay for buying into the mythology that technology must constantly be upgraded to newer, better, faster.
Make your choice and let the chips fall where they may.
