Books about Technology

Excellent book of interviews with founders of different software and hardware companies. The author interviewed many industry icons such as Steve Wozniak and Dan Bricklin, Web 2.0 application creators such as David Hansson and Mena Trott, as well as popular software entrepreneurs and writers like Paul Graham and Joel Spolsky. The founders talk about their dreams and fears, and what they think success is about and how it can be achieved. The book also contains their experiences in many unglamorous aspects of their work such as raising venture capital, dealing with legal issues, etc. A great resource for budding entrepreneurs.

Tags: biography technology

"The Big Switch" is the story of how companies are fast moving their IT infrastructure to cloud computing. Nicholas Carr likens this to the shift in how electrical power displaced local sources of power generation driven by running water, wind and electrical generators, thus freeing up companies from the effort and expense of maintenance. The new paradigm of serving applications from remote servers will bring forth the same change and reduce barriers to entry in different marketplaces. Google, Microsoft and Amazon are making huge plays for cornering this market.

The book starts with an optimistic outlook on the opportunities posed by this new trend, but slowly introduces us to nightmare scenarios of increased unemployment, lost privacy, government intrusion. When the last chapter of a book is termed "iGod", you see where this is heading. I am not so pessimistic about the future, because such long-term trends are unpredictable because of the nature of governmental institutions and economics. I believe that populism will play a huge part in shaping the future and reduce some of the harmful effects we may encounter.

Tags: technology

This is a great collection of interviews with legends in the information technology world. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Andy Grove, Bill Hewlett, etc. - the list goes on. Since the interviews took place in 1997 (during the Internet boom), some of the content is less relevant today. However, each person talks about entrepreneur ship, innovation and leadership and that makes the book worth reading.

Tags: software technology biography

Linus Torvalds' autobiography from his childhood days to his work on Linux and ending with his job at Transmeta. The book also provides a glimpse into Linus's interests and views on various subjects related to Linux and open source. But it is almost pop-like in its approach to the subject matter and ends up doing an average job. You get a feeling that many important issues and events have been glossed over.

Tags: biography technology

The author brings us a close portrait of Jim Clark, one of the most successful serial entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. In the book, he details the journey of Clark from humble beginnings in Plainview, Texas to his founding of several multi-billion corporations. Lewis also devotes considerable space to Clark's obsession with his computer-controlled boat Hyperion. A good read, but note that the book does not cover the period after the dot-com bust.

Tags: biography technology

"The Numerati" is a fascinating look into the analysis of mountains of data collected from online activity and the people and companies engaged in making sense of this information with the idea to convert it into products, services and even votes.

The author's venture into this field comes at a junction in time when the analysis tools and ideas are still in their infancy. The science is not perfect and there will be more hits than misses. However, as some of the people interviewed in the book suggest, even imperfect information is better than what is available at present through conventional means. For example, in the case of targeted political marketing, a slight improvement in messaging can deliver a tight district to a party using the new data analysis techniques.

The book needs to be viewed from a larger perspective. Data analysis techniques should augment and complement business strategies, not replace them. They are tactics for improvement. For example, a politician who does not have the right message for voters will lose even if he is an expert at identifying swing voters.

Tags: technology statistics

Perhaps, this was one book that should never have come out in dead-tree format, because you might as well create the chapters in Wikipedia or another website. On the other hand, people still do like to read books and as long as the market exists, why not? And books sometimes can provide you a linear, chronological narration of events and present a better summary than information online.

Andrew Lih narrates the history of Wikipedia. He also explains how the various decisions relating to the administration of Wikipedia were made. How Wikipedia grew and expanded into different languages. How Wikipedia works and some of the underlying technology. The various crises in its short history. The various communities surrounding Wikipedia. There is some good stuff in this book, but I felt that some topics were not expanded enough, such as SEO gaming, deletionism, etc. Perhaps could have done with a few more pages.

Tags: history technology

"Tribes" is an attempt by Seth Godin at explaining the behavior of virtual communities. The world is moving away from broadcast marketing and other conventional advertising methods. Virtual communities can be harnessed to provide leadership, both for profit and non-profit. Such leadership can be through a blog, Twitter or myriad other Web 2.0 sites on the Web. The book explains how tribes and their followers work, and what you have to do to keep the tribe growing.

Tags: marketing technology

The title is a take on the phrase "What would Jesus do?" and asks a similar question: What should companies learn from the amazing success of Google? What lessons does Google have the rest of us when faced with a business decision on strategy and tactics?

This book is not entirely about Google. At its heart, it looks at Web 2.0, the technology that has put consumers in command instead of companies. Openness and transparency are the important ingredients of today's society and companies that forget that do so at their peril. Today's technologies are enabling small producers to take advantage of worldwide social networks.

Jarvis is generally good when he sticks to the advantages of Google's approaches and also on the point when talking about why Apple (the antithesis of Google) is successful. However, he falters when he takes on government initiatives on the environment by comparing them with Google's. First, although Google is large, it cannot compare with the financial and regulatory clout of national governments. Second, Google is a for-profit organization that takes risks, but would abandon them if results don't come soon enough. Governments have a longer time horizon.

Tags: technology

This is supposed to be the story of Presper Ekert and John Mauchly, the inventors of ENIAC, the first electronic computer. Actually, it is more about the politics and intrigue surrounding the invention and the various claims to fame by the people who were involved in the invention and the aftermath. The author is of the opinion that Ekert and Mauchly deserved more acclaim than they received, because others including John von Neumann received the credit because of their higher/better positions in the establishment.

It depends on what you are looking for in a book such as this. If you are mostly interested in the development of the technology, this book will be unsatisfying. It concentrates more on the personalities and the political games they played, instead of providing us with a deeper understanding of the invention and its challenges. I suppose that may be okay for many non-technical readers, but it was not for me.

Tags: science technology

Books like these irritate me. The author attempts to explore the transformation of Microsoft after the anti-trust trial, but basically spends more ink simply recounting facts and statements. There is very little analysis and opinion. Whenever there seems to be the semblance of an opinion, the author quickly offers a caveat or counter-point. Little mention is made of competitors like Google and Apple. New business and technical strategies are not elaborated upon. When the author describes Microsoft history, many important players like Paul Allen and IBM are given very brief notes. The only saving grace is a description of some of Microsoft's business processes, though some of it is also public knowledge.

Tags: business biography technology

I was reading "The Search" by John Battelle and reserved a copy of the "The Google Story" at the library. After reading it, I am thinking, why did I bother? Battelle's book is a much better one in all respects as it takes the author through the history of search engines and compared Google with other search ideas and implementations.

"The Google Story", however, is a cheerleading exercise for Google Inc. The authors have put the two founders on a pedestal and worship everything that they did. There is no critical analysis of the decisions of Google during its brief history. And if someone just wanted to understand the events during this time, one could just Google for it. :-).

In terms of portraying inspirational figures, it may be useful. The story of Sergey and Brin is remarkable and the extent of success they achieved within a few short years is mind-blowing. The Google movement was totally driven by end user satisfaction. But the excessive praise by the authors provides no real insight into the Internet situation and the milestones of the company.

Tags: technology