Rating: 
Summary: The best book I've ever read!
Review: If they gave out awards for books, this one would have tons of them... (oops, it already does). But really, it is a masterpiece. I, as a computer engineer myself have read this book at least six times. It is a great book because it is so easy to follow and it shows you the inside perspective of a bygone era. Even those of the world who have little to no experience with computers can read this book without worrying about getting lost. It is a real look inside of the way computers were born.
Rating:
Summary: A Must For Small Business Owners - Reads Like A Novel
Review: Inc. magazine included this book on its list of the best business books ever written. It seemed a poor choice until I took the time to read it. As a small business owner, I struggle to get my people to "sign up". I learned a few things about teams and motivation. Should be in the library of every entrepreneur as well.
Rating: 
Summary: A readable well told story about building a computer
Review: My main criticism of this book is it failed to reach the soul. It's well written. The pen portraits of the people involved are good. The technical chatter is clear and concise. Only the total effort doesn't produce in my mind a moral of any kind. In fact at one stage the author practically points out building computers may be uneconomical. The driving force of those involved does not surface except to say many of the computer engineers have shown the common characteristic of engineering curiousity from a very early age. The soul of the machine at the end of the day is the technical ingenuity of the people working on it. This is shown several times in the book. I enjoyed these descriptions as some of the best in the book. I don't know how the author approached this project, whether as an intentional chronicler of a engineering project or as an accidentally up close fly-on-the-wall journal, yet clearly the thrust of the book is the building of the computer. I would like to know what questions the author asked himself before writing the book. The issues raised through the story ask for more analysis. I think the book is a snapshot of a bigger story waiting to be told.
Rating:
Summary: Great book; Required reading on Organizational Behavior
Review: Outstanding book. Required reading for an MBA course on Organizational Behavior at Haas School of Business, U.C. Berkeley. Shows the personalities, the culture and the organization that would not have worked in many circumstances but at this time, in this place, succeeded. Note that the experiment was not reproduce-able
Rating:
Summary: We Don't do it for the Money
Review: Soul of a New Machine is an excellent portrayal of a heroic team of young engineers. What defined the book for me was the sort of mad, beautiful work ethic that the team in the story had. This is the best way I can describe it: When you're young and you get interested in something, you get _passionate_ about it. Maybe it's because you don't know the importance of money and responsibility yet, but you really get into a sport, or hobby, or any other interest, and you do that hobby or play that sport, you write stories or fix cars, making whatever sacrifices you need to just so you can do this thing you love, not because you want to make money at it, or gain respect or admiration, but because it gives you priceless rewards and satisfaction. And it's a purest love you can have. When you grow up, you get disillusioned, from paying bills and other responsibilities. You lose the spark. You start doubting your interest in what you used to love, be it the mechanic who used to love cars but has grown jaded, or the teacher on a low income who has to deal with unruly students and demanding parents. The Soul of a New Machine is a throwback to that youthful perhaps almost a bit naive passion. It's about the antithesis of the 9-5, where if the pay is horrible, you couldn't care less, you still work overtime. This pure struggle, the essence of a profession, is what makes the book so great. It's the most archetypal element of a career or profession, the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that only something you put your soul and your sweat and blood into, can give you. In that basement in Data General, this beautiful dream became real in the form of the Eagle minicomputer. If you've felt the kind of spark that drove those young men before, this book will remind you. And if you haven't, maybe this book will kindle a new passion in what you do.
Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: Tells the tale of a bunch of developers who invested body and soul to the creation of Data General's new machine only to find out that the world views the finished product merely as a commodity with a price tag. Indeed, the soul of the new machine got lost in transit from the lab to the marketing department. All credit to the author for coming up with a treatise understandable both to the computer engineer as well as the man on the street.
Rating:
Summary: Good book. A must for a novice yet to enter this field
Review: The book really goes on to show, what it takes to put life in the machine.The author does a great job in addressing the various issues of project development and management.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting
Review: The Soul of a New Machine is an interesting book. It is written in a story like fashion that allows for easy reading. It does not contain material that is difficult to understand.
The author does a good job in revealing real life situations that designers, programmers, and management might encounter while building new computers. Many situations involve challenges such as time, others involve ethics. With respect to ethics, it is clear that the characters representing programmers and designers understand that they have certain obligations to their employer: to accept responsiblity for jobs they agree to do; to respect confidentiality entrusted to them; and to present fair and objective viewpoints regarding their projects. It is also clear that the characters representing project managment understand that they have certain obligations to upper managment and to their customers: the products have to be on time and must be reliable. The project management characters seem to lack any sense of ethics when it comes to their employees. They hire recent college graduates with no experience; they mislead them from the date of hire; they overwork them; and they undercompensate them.
In short, Kidder does not go into great detail about technical details involved in building computers. Instead, he focuses on the souls - the individuals - that create the complicated machines.
Rating:
Summary: A great classic, but no longer the best
Review: This book is a classic description of a high-tech team trying to do the impossible. The motivational methods used by the boss are great lessons. I used to use it to teach my MBAs about the soft side of product development. However, time moves on, and so did my syllabus. Not only is it technically obsolete (4.77 Mhz minicomputer; no ASICS; etc.). But even the team dynamics are now, with the benefit of hindsight, ultimately destructive. Instead, I use a much more recent book, on software development at Microsoft, called "I Sing the Body Electronic". This book describes a year of wandering in the swamp of producing a prototype of an over-ambitious software package. I think it's more relevant today, although admittedly the product they are working on (a children's encyclopedia) is more dependent on aesthetics and creative design than are most contemporary products. Anyway, my students love it, and it really opens their eyes. If you can, read both books. If you have time for only one, it depends on whether you associate with old-timers like me, who will know Soul, or newcomers like my students, who will be interested in Microsoft and software.
Rating:
Summary: Best book i've ever read
Review: This book is great ... i'm not the one who usually reads book in month but ... I read this masterpiece in 4 days ... well ... not goot for my math work ;). I'm 15 and i'm going to do something in that buisiness, and to know how it was 20 years ago is really interresting ...
masterpiece - really and i got an authograph from Wallach ;) ... my dad met him im 89 :D have fun
|
