Rating: 
Summary: A spectacular read!
Review: I can't remember a more absorbing book. Crystal
Fire is the story of the humble transistor-because
of its invention, you are reading this on-line.
The authors not only write beautifuly, it's
obvious that in-depth historical research was
involved. The main protagonists won the Nobel
Prize for their achievement, but in many cases
were less than worthy human beings. But Crystal
Fire is a compeling, absorbing read. Please don't
miss this one. In fact, Crystal Fire would make
one helluva movie. Hello, Holywood?
Rating:
Summary: True Genius: The Life and Science of John Bardeen
Review: October 25, 2002 Hoddeson & Daitch, "True Genius" (Bardeen) Our university bookstore (809 S. Wright St.) kindly informed me of your listing of Hoddeson and Daitch's John Bardeen biography, "True Genius," and, of course, I read the brief "Publishers Weekly" review, as well as the more cryptic but more positive comments of others. From the very first sentence I knew that the "Publishers Weekly" review would be superficial, and maybe even wrong, which then is of what help to a reader and potential book customer? Living in the U.S. democracy, how can we not be curious and not read about the Founders? Similarly, how can we be immersed in all the new electronics (computers, cell phones, DVD and CD machines, MRI's, digital machinery---in fact, Si here, Si there, Si everywhere) and not be curious about how all this happened, what sort of ingenius mind, or minds, might be at the beginning of it all? Imagine the calamity on the planet if the transistor vanished for a day. Does that help in understanding the scale of a Bardeen, of "True Genius"! I knew John Bardeen for 40 years (as my teacher, friend, colleague) and still I learned something further from Hoddeson and Daitch and the material they unearthed for "True Genius", a fascinating biography (a different kind of story). Hoddeson and Daitch do not disappoint in their biography of Bardeen and in elucidating over many chapters his kind of genius, which "Publishers Weekly" doesn't seem to appreciate. Genius is a diamond of many facets, and Hoddeson and Daitch reveal a Bardeen facet. It isn't the last chapter of "True Genius" that matters. It's the whole book, all the chapters, that reveal an American hero---if you will, a genius. Nick Holonyak, Jr.
John Bardeen Chair Professor of
Electrical and Computer
Engineering and Physics, and
Center for Advanced Study
Professor of Electrical and
Computer Engineering
Rating:
Summary: True Genius: The Life and Science of John Bardeen
Review: October 25, 2002 Hoddeson & Daitch, "True Genius" (Bardeen) Our university bookstore (809 S. Wright St.) kindly informed me of your listing of Hoddeson and Daitch's John Bardeen biography, "True Genius," and, of course, I read the brief "Publishers Weekly" review, as well as the more cryptic but more positive comments of others. From the very first sentence I knew that the "Publishers Weekly" review would be superficial, and maybe even wrong, which then is of what help to a reader and potential book customer? Living in the U.S. democracy, how can we not be curious and not read about the Founders? Similarly, how can we be immersed in all the new electronics (computers, cell phones, DVD and CD machines, MRI's, digital machinery---in fact, Si here, Si there, Si everywhere) and not be curious about how all this happened, what sort of ingenius mind, or minds, might be at the beginning of it all? Imagine the calamity on the planet if the transistor vanished for a day. Does that help in understanding the scale of a Bardeen, of "True Genius"! I knew John Bardeen for 40 years (as my teacher, friend, colleague) and still I learned something further from Hoddeson and Daitch and the material they unearthed for "True Genius", a fascinating biography (a different kind of story). Hoddeson and Daitch do not disappoint in their biography of Bardeen and in elucidating over many chapters his kind of genius, which "Publishers Weekly" doesn't seem to appreciate. Genius is a diamond of many facets, and Hoddeson and Daitch reveal a Bardeen facet. It isn't the last chapter of "True Genius" that matters. It's the whole book, all the chapters, that reveal an American hero---if you will, a genius. Nick Holonyak, Jr.
John Bardeen Chair Professor of
Electrical and Computer
Engineering and Physics, and
Center for Advanced Study
Professor of Electrical and
Computer Engineering
Rating: 
Summary: Original research for a change
Review: The authors created this book the old fashioned way with in depth interviews and research into unpublished materials. This makes it particularly interesting and credible. From discussion of the original patents to Bell Labs office politics and Shockley's diary, this book is a treasure trove of info.
Rating: 
Summary: New in the popular Sloan Technology Series:
Review: The Sloan Technology Series presents to a general audience highly readable accounts of the development of 20th century technologies and the ways in which these have shaped and are shaped by society. For other Sloan Technology series books, searching using title keywords "sloan technology".
Rating:
Summary: An admirable telling of the transistor's history.
Review: The story of the transistor's birth and early life is a long one, spanning decades. In Crystal Fire, the authors do a remarkable job of picking and choosing the relevant events in the world of physics and tying those events with the lives of the story's principal characters. This book gets particularly high marks for explaining quantum mechanical phenomena without resorting to higher levels of math than many of us remember. I was somewhat annoyed at first blush with how far back the authors start the story, but in the end my understanding of the workings of transistors, the personalities of its inventors, and the historical context in which it was invented was very well served by their narrative. The only fault I found was with the authors' propensity for referring to characters only by last name. There were many people involved in the transistor's birth, and I found the plethora of last names somewhat confusing. I have loved books about the history of science for years; in reading them I feel some shred of the excitement and glory that the scientists themselves must have felt. In that respect, this book holds up beautifully, and I recommend it to anyone who loves science, and particularly electronics, as much as I do
Rating:
Summary: An admirable telling of the transistor's history.
Review: The story of the transistor's birth and early life is a long one, spanning decades. In Crystal Fire, the authors do a remarkable job of picking and choosing the relevant events in the world of physics and tying those events with the lives of the story's principal characters. This book gets particularly high marks for explaining quantum mechanical phenomena without resorting to higher levels of math than many of us remember. I was somewhat annoyed at first blush with how far back the authors start the story, but in the end my understanding of the workings of transistors, the personalities of its inventors, and the historical context in which it was invented was very well served by their narrative. The only fault I found was with the authors' propensity for referring to characters only by last name. There were many people involved in the transistor's birth, and I found the plethora of last names somewhat confusing. I have loved books about the history of science for years; in reading them I feel some shred of the excitement and glory that the scientists themselves must have felt. In that respect, this book holds up beautifully, and I recommend it to anyone who loves science, and particularly electronics, as much as I do
Rating:
Summary: Great Book - A Technology Must Read
Review: This book is very well written, and does a good job of telling the history of the invention of the transistor. The book focuses on the technological aspects of the invention, but also does a great job of telling the story of the personalities, and (now multi-million dollar) businesses that were involved with the invention.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book - A Technology Must Read
Review: This book is very well written, and does a good job of telling the history of the invention of the transistor. The book focuses on the technological aspects of the invention, but also does a great job of telling the story of the personalities, and (now multi-million dollar) businesses that were involved with the invention.
Rating:
Summary: Science as Thriller
Review: Who would have thought a book about the invention of the transistor could be so compelling? And yet here it is. The authors tell two parallel stories, one about the inventors, and one about the developments in physics that led to, and followed from, the invention of the transistor. The interplay between pure science and technology has seldom been explained as well. I'd put this book alongside "The Invention That Changed The World" as the two best popular histories of science an technology of the decade.
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