Biographies Books - Page 2

Play Money: Or, How I Quit My Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot

Julian Dibbell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

A wild ride to the outer limits of the virtual world, where real money meets fantasy gaming.

Play Money explores the remarkable new phenomenon of MMORPGs, or Massively MultiPlayer Online Role-Playing Games, in which hundreds of thousands of players operate fantasy characters in virtual environments. With city-sized populations, these games generate their own cultures, governments, and social systems and, inevitably, their own economies, which spill over into the real world.

The desire for virtual goods--magic swords, enchanted breastplates, and special, hard-to-get elixirs--has spawned a cottage industry of "virtual loot farmers": people who play the games just to obtain fantasy goods that they can sell in the real world. The best loot farmers can make between six figures a year and six figures a month.

Play Money is an extended walk on the weird side: a vivid snapshot of a subculture whose denizens were once the stuff of mere sociological spectacle but now--with computer gaming poised to eclipse all otherentertainments in dollar volume, and with the lines between play and work, virtual and real increasingly blurred--look more and more like the future.

The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company (Collins Business Essentials)

David Packard

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A must read classic because of the importance of HP to world business 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This is a wonderful business classic that should be read and studied by everyone interested in business. David Packard and Bill Hewlett created one of the great American companies and that alone is worth knowing. That it is one of the great foundations of Silicon Valley is another reason that you need to know this story. However, as far as I am concerned, the most important reason to know this story is the set of principles these two men used in founding, building, and running their company.

While they were technically brilliant men, they were also geniuses in gathering and grooming talent. However, their ability to inspire amazing loyalty in their employees is something that seems all but lost in our modern age of disposable firms and transient employment. They pioneered open plan offices (few walls and no doors), management by walking around, and much more. They had profit sharing from the very beginning. Not only did they have annual company picnics, they also bought a camp for use by employees. I know there are many reasons for the transition to where we are now, but I still have to ask if we really are better off today than we were then. Well, are we?

The stories about the development of various products are all interesting, but the stories are all in the service of illustrating the principles he is trying to get across. His emphasis on conservative financing is well aware of the use many companies make of leverage. The rejection of Wall Street's focus on the present quarter is heartfelt, and primacy of sound business principles and corporate culture resonate strongly in our time and its emphasis on simply winning in any way possible. The pictures also add to the story.

The recent book, "Bill & Dave" provides background material and fills in some of the gaps you will notice in reading this book, and I recommend it, as well. Still, this is the original and written by the man himself (well, by his staff with his supervision, right?) and deserves our attention.

A must read. Really.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

Editorial Review:

In a dry fashion, Packard tells the true story of the mighty Hewlett-Packard Company: Two college buddies begin a partnership by producing an audio oscillator in a Palo Alto garage in 1938 and wind up 60 years later with a $25-billion-dollar electronics company on their hands. He wraps the book up tidily with a timeline of the company's development milestones. Packard chalks up success to many things, including government contracts during wartime, but mostly to the company's management outlook ("The HP Way"), which champions openness, honesty, and flexibility throughout the organization. Entrepreneurs and technologists alike will be interested in this journey of an American giant. Packard's tone sometimes veers toward the self-congratulatory, but in this case, it somehow seems justified.

The Man Who Knew Too Much: Alan Turing and the Invention of the Computer (Great Discoveries)

David Leavitt

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

The Essential Turing Reading 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

All students studying computer science are introduced to Alan Turing at one time or another. For most, this introduction takes the form of Turing as the inventor of the Turing Machine, a machine unbounded by time and memory that can solve any problem. Once the students perform some perfunctory exercises involving the use of a Turing machine to construct say, the solution to the dining philosophers problem, they promptly forget about Turing and his machine. Which is so sad. Turing can be rightly considered the father of the modern computer where data and memory are mapped to the same address space. This invention is typically attributed to John von Neumann, but the author of the book makes a point that behind von Neumann's contribution was Turing's hand. Turing went on, in his brief life spanning only 42 years, to work on cryptography (credited with decoding the German Enigma machines in World War II, albeit using the groundwork laid down by a Polish cryptographer, Martin Rejewski; see Simon Singh's Code Book reviewed in 2006), artificial intelligence (the Turing Test), and mathematics. The state saw to it that his genius would be, unfortunately, eclipsed by his sexuality. In 1952, Turing was convicted of "acts of gross indecency" after admitting sexual relations with a man. He was forced to undergo hormone therapy in the vain hope of "curing" him. Instead, what these pogroms did was to rob the scientific world of one of the greatest researchers of all times. Turing elected to end his life by biting into an apple laced with cyanide. It was apropos; his favorite fairy tale was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Editorial Review:

A "skillful and literate" (New York Times Book Review) biography of the persecuted genius who helped create the modern computer.

To solve one of the great mathematical problems of his day, Alan Turing proposed an imaginary computer. Then, attempting to break a Nazi code during World War II, he successfully designed and built one, thus ensuring the Allied victory. Turing became a champion of artificial intelligence, but his work was cut short. As an openly gay man at a time when homosexuality was illegal in England, he was convicted and forced to undergo a humiliating "treatment" that may have led to his suicide.

With a novelist's sensitivity, David Leavitt portrays Turing in all his humanity—his eccentricities, his brilliance, his fatal candor—and elegantly explains his work and its implications.

Softwar: An Intimate Portrait of Larry Ellison and Oracle

Matthew Symonds

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Softwar is a biography of Larry Ellison and his company, Oracle. As such, it's simultaneously a portrait of a clever and driven man, a case study of a successful software development company, and a tableau of the commercial software industry from its beginnings, through the dot-com craze, and into the present era. Matthew Symonds, who began this project while working as the editor of the excellent technology section of the Economist, has done a great job with all three elements of his project, thanks in no small part to the tremendous access he was given and to his close collaboration with Ellison.

Collaboration is very nearly the right word, as Ellison reviewed Symonds' manuscript before publication and, while he did not alter it, he did make a large number of comments, which appear in the book as footnotes. As Symonds is a good journalist who attributes most of his material, Ellison is able to take issue immediately with statements other people make about him and his company. The overall effect is hypertextual, and represents an important new biographical technique that other writers should imitate. Softwar succeeds because Ellison has a fantastically interesting life, tremendous experience, and carefully considered opinions, and because Symonds communicates them with clarity and style. --David Wall

Topics covered: The life, times, acquaintances, tastes, toys, and opinions of Larry Ellison, the database entrepreneur and CEO of Oracle Corporation.

Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry--and Made Himself the Richest Man in America

Stephen Manes, Paul Andrews

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Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Gates reveals the guiding genius behind the unparalleled success of the Microsoft Corporation-- the biggest and most profitable personal computer software company in history-- and exposes the intensely competitive tactics that help it dominate the desktops of America. Chairman and co-founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates is the most powerful person in the computer industry and the youngest self-made billionaire in history. His company's DOS and Windows programs are such universal standards that more than nine out of ten personal computers depend on Microsoft software. Under the "Microsoft Everywhere" rallying cry, Gates intends to expand his company's worldwide dominance to office equipment, communications, and home entertainment. Vivid and definitive, Gates details the behind the scenes history of the personal computer industry and its movers and shakers, from Apple to IBM, from Steve Jobs to Ross Perot. Uncovering the inside stories of the bitter battle for control of the expanding personal computing market, Gates is a bracing, comprehensive portrait of the industry, the company, and the man-- and what they mean for a future where software is everything.

Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life and Resistance Under the Gun

Wafaa Bilal, Kari Lydersen

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Editorial Review:

Wafaa Bilal's childhood in Iraq was defined by the horrific rule of Saddam Hussein, two wars, a bloody uprising, and time spent interned in chaotic refugee camps in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Bilal eventually made it to the United States to become a professor and a successful artist, but when his brother was killed at a checkpoint in Iraq in 2005, he decided to use his art to confront those in the comfort zone with the realities of life in a conflict zone.

Thus the creation and staging of "Domestic Tension," an unsettling interactive performance piece: for one month, Bilal lived alone in a prison cell-sized room in the line of fire of a remote-controlled paintball gun and a camera that connected him to Internet viewers around the world. Visitors to the gallery and a virtual audience that grew by the thousands could shoot at him twenty-four hours a day. The project received overwhelming worldwide attention, garnering the praise of the Chicago Tribune, which called it "one of the sharpest works of political art to be seen in a long time," and Newsweek's assessment "breath taking." It spawned provocative online debates, and ultimately, Bilal was awarded the Chicago Tribune's Artist of the Year Award.

Structured in two parallel narratives, the story of Bilal's life journey and his "Domestic Tension" experience, this first-person account is supplemented with comments on the history and current political situation in Iraq and the context of "Domestic Tension" within the art world, including interviews with art scholars such as Dean of the School of Art at Columbia University, Carol Becker, who also contributes the introduction. Shoot an Iraqi is equally pertinent reading for those who seek insight into the current conflict in Iraq and for those fascinated by interactive art technologies and the ever-expanding world of online gaming.

Wafaa Bilal, a professor of art and technology at the Art Institute of Chicago, has exhibited his art worldwide and lectured extensively. He has been interviewed on NPR, the BBC, CNN, MSNBC, and the History Channel.

The Difference Between God and Larry Ellison: *God Doesn't Think He's Larry Ellison

Mike Wilson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 43 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

It seems like all of the biggest names in the computer industry are getting the celebrity bio treatment these days. But no corporate CEO deserves it more than Larry Ellison, the charismatic head of Oracle Corp. This isn't your standard, dry, "learn-from-his-example" type of life. It's not that Ellison's life doesn't offer the same lessons in hard-won business success as some of his colleague's, because it certainly does. It's just vastly more entertaining.

In The Difference Between God and Larry Ellison, author Mike Wilson delivers a fascinating and genuinely interesting portrayal of Silicon Valley's most notorious bad boy, constructed from hundreds of interviews with friends, colleagues, and those unfortunate enough to stand in Ellison's way. There are plenty of behind-the-scenes stories of the growth and worldwide success of Oracle, which Ellison founded in 1977. Plus, there's plenty of the good stuff: tales of Ellison's truly fast-lane lifestyle, filled with big boats, beautiful women, and celebrity friends. While this book probably won't transform you into a fan of Ellison's, you will be grateful for a chance to observe him--from a safe distance.

The punchline is "God doesn't think he's Larry Ellison," of course.

The Essential Guide to Computing: The Story of Information Technology (Essential Guide Series) (Essential Guide Series)

E. Garrison Walters

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Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Lots of circumstances conspired to make information technology what it is today. Business decisions (both wise and foolish), scientific discoveries (both old and recent), marketing campaigns (founded both in truth and otherwise), and plenty of random chance have played parts in defining the industrial, social, and cultural phenomena that personal and business computing have become. The Essential Guide to Computing: The Story of Information Technology tells the technical, commercial, and social stories behind the electronic computer and related technologies, such as telecommunications and software development. Along the way, author E. Garrison Walters reveals a lot of general knowledge about computers. This book is highly readable. It's essentially a general-interest nonfiction book, and a good one, at that.

As you read this book, you can't avoid picking up the little technical facts that have become part of our culture, particularly its younger parts. What's an embedded operating system? What's object-oriented programming? What is the open-source movement? Walters teaches you enough about these subjects--and the ways in which they fit together--to enable you to speak intelligently about them and perform further research, as your needs require. You'll enjoy this book, regardless of your level of computer expertise or your area of specialization, because you're sure to learn something and enjoy the process. --David Wall

Topics covered: The state of the art in electronic computing, data storage, and data communications, in a historical context. The operations of processors, memory chips, persistent storage devices (e.g., disks), and other hardware subsystems. Software development--including compression, encryption, and the challenges and promise of parallel computing--receives attention. Ditto for network communications infrastructures, protocols, and applications. It's all explained in detail and with style.

Father, Son & Co.: My Life at IBM and Beyond

Thomas J. Watson, Peter Petre

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Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In this eloquent first-person account of a family drama that changed the face of American business, the man who transformed IBM into the world's largest computer company reflects on his lifelong partnership with his father--and how their management style and shared dedication to excellence united to create a unique corporate culture that became the blueprint for the entire technology boom.

In the course of sixty years Thomas J. Watson Sr. and his son, Thomas J. Watson Jr., together built the international colossus that is IBM. This is their story: a riveting and revealing account of two men who loved each other--and fought each other--with a terrible fierceness.

But along with the story of a father and son, this is IBM's story too. It chronicles the management insights that shaped its course and its unique corporate culture, the style that made Thomas Watson Sr. one of America's most charismatic bosses, and the daring decisions by Thomas Watson Jr. that transformed IBM into the world's largest computing company. One of the greatest business-success stories of all time, Father, Son & Co. is a moving lesson for fathers who dream for their children, as well as a testament to American ingenuity and values, told in a disarmingly frank and eloquent voice.


Promising to remain an important business reference as we move into the next century, FATHER, SON & CO. takes a look at the management insight that helped to shape IBM's course and unique corporate culture.  It looks at Watson, Sr., one of America's most charismatic bosses, and Watson, Jr., who spurred IBM into the computer age.

Ten years after its original publication, FATHER, SON & CO. remains a uniquely honest book. Watson's willingness to write about the loving but ferociously combative relationship he had with his father and the turbulent battles behind some of IBM's most far-reaching decisions gives readers rare insights into the realities of leadership. -->

He Walks Like a Cowboy: One Man's Journey Through Life With a Disability

Jonah Berger

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Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In any one lifetime, part of the work of living is to go from figuring out what you got dealt, to accepting it. Learning to wield your unique situation to best get your point across. I have found through my life lived with a physical challenge that there are two versions of how a disability is dealt with. One is the version you show to others. The other is the version you are really and truly feeling inside.

In my life, these two versions started out light-years apart. And over the span of 35 years, and the influence of many magic people, they have been growing closer all of the time. There is something incredibly free about showing the world what you have going on inside. It helps to keep the struggle of your situation confined to the actual challenge, and not intensified by shame. The pages of this book are a true marriage between my two versions. Charting the affect of a disability on the physical, emotional, and spiritual. Containing an honest view of how struggles can be beautiful, and strength can be found in the weakest of places.