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Summary: The best antidote for recent Orwellian history rewrites
Review: Nobody who has read Paul Freiberger's matchless "Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer" will be fooled by spinmeisters like the author of the last sentence in the following paragraph, which just landed on my keyboard with "spin city!" scrawled in the margin:"..However, even the industry's most innovative pioneers didn't foresee how prevalent computers would become. In fact, in 1943, IBM Chairman Thomas Watson remarked, 'I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.' Despite Watson's outlook, other computer-related companies slowly began to emerge, including Hewlett Packard in 1938, Digital Equipment Corp. in 1957, Microsoft in 1975, and Apple a year later. Then, in 1981, trailblazer IBM revolutionized the industry with the first personal computer." Gag me with a spoon, Harold! If the author of this puff piece had ever read "Fire in the Valley", he/she would never dare to call IBM a trailblazer in personal computers! To read about the REAL trailblazers (which admittedly do include Bill Gates and Paul Allen, as well as the Woz and Steve Jobs), you need this book. Read about Traf-O-Data, the Altair, paper tape readers, DiskBasic, the famous Letter to Users, IMSAI, the first Apple logo, CP/M, KayPro and all the rest. It's in there! I can't believe I ever let my original copy of it get away. .-)
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Summary: Great review
Review: One those books that gives a real pleasure to read. If you are interested on how computers took over control of our lives and how a few advanced thinkers created what computers are today, you'll enjoy this book. It starts from the very beginning. No screens, no keyborads, just switchs!!!!! Have you ever wondered how computers evolved and who made it possible? Here is. Besides, there are some fantastic pictures from all those that started it all. Accurate book and full of interesting information. If you want to know all that happened, buy it. Strongly recommended.
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Summary: Excellent Overview of the Computer Revolution
Review: Originally written in 1984, Fire in the Valley is an excellent synopsis of the beginnings of the computer industry, the devices, the people, and the egos that drive Silicon Valley in it's early days. The book is filled with details about the early computers, the hobbyists, and the fledging corporations (often three guys in a basement) that were building a mega-industry seemingly overnight. While filled with details, the book flows well and reads quickly thanks to generally lucid prose. The authors do a good job of conveying the enthusiasm and idealism of those times and interviewed many of the key participants including Steve Jobs and Bill Gates for their perspective on those days. This version of the book brings the story essentially up to date, documenting the rise of the World Wide Web and the various wars over browsers that eventually got Microsoft into trouble. If you like computers pick this up. If you like historical books about great periods of history (and don't kid yourself, the rise of the personal computer and the world wide web qualify) pick this up. If you want to know why the machine you currently have is designed the way it is pick this up, it's an enjoyable read.
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Summary: Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer
Review: The book is an excellent documentary of what is suggested by the title. However, the authors seem to be much better researchers than writers, things like grammatical errors were distracting and tiring for the reader. I would have rated the book much more highly if the authors "had had" a greater command of the English language. I bought the book hoping to get more detail of the movie story 'Pirates of Silicon Valley' (recommended). The movie was supposedly based upon the book. However, I was a little disappointed in that regard. The movie seems to be based, primarily, on the last few chapters. The book kind of picks up where the book 'hackers' by Steven Levy (recommended) stops, which was very interesting, since I had just finished that title. A good follow up to 'Fire in the Valley' (besides the aforementioned movie) would be the book 'Barbarians Led by Bill Gates'.
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Summary: Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer
Review: The book is an excellent documentary of what is suggested by the title. However, the authors seem to be much better researchers than writers, things like grammatical errors were distracting and tiring for the reader. I would have rated the book much more highly if the authors "had had" a greater command of the English language. I bought the book hoping to get more detail of the movie story 'Pirates of Silicon Valley' (recommended). The movie was supposedly based upon the book. However, I was a little disappointed in that regard. The movie seems to be based, primarily, on the last few chapters. The book kind of picks up where the book 'hackers' by Steven Levy (recommended) stops, which was very interesting, since I had just finished that title. A good follow up to 'Fire in the Valley' (besides the aforementioned movie) would be the book 'Barbarians Led by Bill Gates'.
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Summary: If you loved the TV documentary you will love this book
Review: The TV documentary (The Pirates of Silicon Valley) is interesting to almost everyone who watched it. It focuses, however, on two personalities (Gates and Jobs). The making of the personal computer, however, was much more than a war between two egos. What about all those companies that are no longer around anymore? If you liked the TV documentary you will love Fire in the Valley. Buy it!
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Summary: It's how we got where we are today...
Review: The TV movie based on this book was rather lame, but this is a great read on how the PC revolution got started.
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Summary: FANTASTIC!!!!!
Review: This book is AMAZING if you are interested in computers or even remotely interested READ THIS BOOK provides a great ammount of great info A MUST READ!
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Summary: THIS BOOK IS AWESOME!
Review: This book is awesome it is the computer bible it talks about Jobs, Gates, Allen and the rest. This book would be a great gift for any computer person.
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Summary: A very interesting and informative account
Review: This book is great for anyone new to the history of the personal computer industry, and is also a very good account for anyone who knows about it. I found it very interesting to read since I was very young or not even born yet when most of this happened. The authors are able to express very well the feeling of discovery and new ideas that the people in this industry felt then. I also found that they had a lot of information on the companies that created a lot of the ideas and technologies we have today, beside Microsoft, and Apple.
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