Computing Reviews
Today's Issue Hot Topics Search Browse Recommended My Account Log In
Review Help
Search
Troublemakers : Silicon Valley’s coming of age
Berlin L., Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, 2017. 512 pp. Type: Book (978-1-451651-50-8)
Date Reviewed: Jun 15 2018

I like books about the history of the computing field. Those of us who lived through all of it delight in stories of folks who pioneered all of what we have today. This is a very good example of one of those books.

It tells the story of six Silicon Valley principals (it variously refers to them as “upstarts” and the title term “troublemakers”), who during the short period of 1969 to 1976, on “the narrow peninsula south of San Francisco,” began “the most significant and diverse burst of technological innovation of the past 150 years. In the space of 35 miles and seven years, innovators developed the microprocessor, the personal computer, and recombinant DNA.” They set the stage for the high-tech sector that today accounts for “9 percent of US employment, 17 percent of gross domestic product, and 60 percent of US exports.”

It was truly an amazing time, and the people the book covers--Bob Taylor, Al Alcorn, Fawn Alvarez, Mike Markkula, Niels Reimers, and Sandra Kurtzig--though not perhaps the most famous of the Silicon Valley upstarts, are amazing folk. Their stories make for heroic telling.

The book divides its story into five eras: “Arrival: 1969-1971,” “Building: 1972-1975,” “Challenges: 1976-1977,” “Triumph: 1979-1981,” and “Transition: 1983-1984.” And then, to satisfy the curiosity of those of us who naturally wonder whatever happened to those “upstarts,” it provides a final “Postscript: The Troublemakers Today,” which tells us, as of the book’s publication in 2017, what they are all doing now.

There are lots of takeaways from this book, some technical, some historical, some personal. But my favorite takeaway is the following collection of thoughts.

There is huge opposition to illegal immigration in countries all over the world. But all too often, that opposition is extended to all immigrants. That’s a deeply flawed belief. Here’s what this book says about that:

The most recent waves of innovation have been sustained by the constant refresh of immigrants to the valley. This mixing of new ideas and new perspectives has been essential to Silicon Valley’s continuing vitality ... Today, one person born outside the country moves into Silicon Valley every half hour. Thirty-seven percent of the population is foreign born ... More than half of the people in Silicon Valley over the age of five speak another language than exclusively English at home. [...] The next great “Silicon Valley idea” can pull its energy from, or export its energy to, anywhere in the world.

If this is a country that welcomes “your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” as the Statue of Liberty states, then Silicon Valley is this country not only at its absolute best, but as a superb proof of concept.

More reviews about this item: Amazon, Goodreads

Reviewer:  R. L. Glass Review #: CR146088 (1808-0420)
Bookmark and Share
  Editor Recommended
Featured Reviewer
 
 
History of Computing (K.2 )
 
 
People (K.2 ... )
 
Would you recommend this review?
yes
no
Other reviews under "History of Computing": Date
Binding time: six studies in programming technology and milieu
Halpern M., Ablex Publishing Corp., Norwood, NJ, 1990. Type: Book (9780893916916)
Sep 1 1993
An interview with Fernando Jose Corbató
Frenkel K. Communications of the ACM 34(9): 82-90, 1991. Type: Article
Sep 1 1992
Route 128
Rosegrant S., Lampe D., Basic Books, Inc., New York, NY, 1992. Type: Book (9780465046393)
Jun 1 1993
more...

E-Mail This Printer-Friendly
Send Your Comments
Contact Us
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.   Copyright 1999-2024 ThinkLoud®
Terms of Use
| Privacy Policy