Author: Walter Isaacson
If you live in Silicon Valley you must be curious about how all of the big technology companies got their first start. Walter does a phenomenal job in chronicling these events and putting them in a narrative that is a joy to read. He has interviewed a large number of people who were around when history was being made and you get the feeling like you were watching some of these iconic inventions grow up into adulthood.
The book opens with Ada Lovelace and the interesting times she lived in. I do confess that the subsequent chapters on the early computing inventions like the ENIAC, Atanasoff’s machine, etc. were not too interesting to me and I almost abandoned the book. But Isaacson pulled me right back in with the story of Shockley in Bell Labs, and his inability to collaborate with the other inventors of the transistor. Once they moved to Silicon Valley, I felt like I was reading the history of my neighborhood and could not put the book down.
Apart from just re-telling history, Walter looks for a pattern in all these stories and draws some broad conclusions from them. He highlights the importance of coupling people who have bold visions, with partners who can execute. This quote sums it up well “vision without execution is just hallucination”. Another key insight is the big role that collaboration plays in all of the significant innovations. Visionaries like Shockley who were unable to collaborate effectively did not have as much success as others. Similarly collaborative groups that lack visionaries (like Bell Labs after the departure of some of the visionaries) don’t innovate either. Another clear observation from the stories in this book is how great leadership teams are built by folks with complementary styles.
Anyone who is working for a technology startup or contemplating joining one will find this book inspirational. If you get past the first few chapters you will not be disappointed.
