The Triumph of the Nerds

An account of the rise of one of America's largest industries, after automobiles, arms and illegal drugs, the personal computer industry. Cringley, who prefers to be called an explainer rather than a historian, attributes the growth of the PC industry to accident. He describes the brains behind personal computing giants like Apple, HP and Microsoft as people who had just been trying to find ways of amusing themselves and giving themselves a sense of security from the bullies in the park who used to push them around when they were wiry, gawky, bespectacled kids. Focusing not on the companies but on their founders, the man builds a caricature-ish picture of each one of them. While he portrays Bill Gates as a megalomaniac, he paints Steve Jobs as a sociopath. Anecdotes of how kind Lady Luck and Lord Murphy had been on these amateurs are interesting and also helpful in understanding America's last great success story. The book also explores the new baggy tees, soda cans, basketball playing corporate culture that Apple, MS etc spawned as opposed to the suit-and-tie, coffee, golf playing cultures of IBM, Ford and Citicorp. Full of juicy insider gossip, the book is an OK/Globe for tech-buffs.