Engineering the World: Stories from the First 75 Years of Texas Instruments [Hardcover]

Caleb Pirtle III (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Southern Methodist University Press (October 18, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870745026
• ISBN-13: 978-0870745027
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #971,816 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Caleb Pirtle III is the author of more than fifty-five books. He is a graduate of The University of Texas in Austin with a bachelor's degree in journalism. He served as sports editor for The Daily Texan and became the first student at the university to win the National William Randolph Hearst Award for feature writing.

He began his career in the newspaper business, working with the Plainview Daily Herald and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, winning both the Texas Associated Press and Headliner's Awards.

When Governor John Connally began the Texas Tourist Development Agency, he named Pirtle as his chief of media relations, which introduced Pirtle to the world of travel. He left Texas to become the travel editor of Southern Living Magazine for a decade, capturing the Discover America Award three times. At Southern Living, he wrote three books - The Unending Season, XIT: The American Cowboy, and The Grandest Day, all Southeastern Library Association award winners. He wrote two novels for Berkeley based on the Gambler series: Dead Man's Hand and Jokers Are Wild.

Pirtle served as editorial director for Dockery House Publishing in Dallas for twenty-five years, developing and producing books and magazines for the corporate and retail marketplace.

He has written three teleplays: Gambler V: Playing for Keeps, a mini-series for CBS television, Wildcat: The Story of Sarah Delaney and the Doodlebug Man, for a CBS made-for-television movie, and The Texas Rangers, a TV movie for John Milius and TNT television.

Pirtle's novels include: Place of Skulls, Last Deadly Lie, Cloverleaf, and Friday Night Heat. His non-fiction books include: Gamble in the Devil's Chalk, Trail of Broken Promises, This Great Land, Other Voices, Other Towns, Tennessee Through the Looking Glass, Georgia Through the Looking Glass, The dark Side of the Rainbow, Texas: Its Lore and Its Lure, The Texas Outback, Deep Roots, Texas: The Rare Breed, Texas: Legacy of a Proud Land, Echoes from Forgotten Streets, Visions of Forgotten Streets, Life on Kilgore's Unforgettable Streets, The Lonely Sentinel, The Glory Days, Place of Miracles, Engineering the World, Texas Cooking, and The Official, Old-Fashioned, Down-Home, Home-Grown Texas Cookbook.

Pirtle lives in Hideaway, Texas, with his wife, Linda.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good overview of a leading American enterprise, October 12, 2005

By 

Keith Nichols (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Engineering the World: Stories from the First 75 Years of Texas Instruments (Hardcover)

This handsome volume, lavishly illustrated with photos from Texas Instruments archives, is the culmination of a TI-history project that proceeded spasmodically over many years and which reportedly produced an earlier manuscript that was vetoed by the company's then president. What has finally come forth as "Engineering the World" will surely grace the public spaces of all TI facilities, providing visitors waiting to see TI engineers or interview for jobs an excellent overview of the company's considerable innovations and achievements during its first 75 years (e.g., the transistor radio and the integrated circuit). But the book is not a definitive examination of the interpersonal dynamics among the extremely bright, ambitious, and hardworking men involved. A chronicle such as Gay Talese's saga of the evolution of the New York Times ("The Kingdom and the Power," London, Calder & Boyars, 1971) was not the model for this endeavor. And at this point, with TI's founders and many principal participants gone, such a work is probably not possible. Since, as far as I know, none of those folks was inclined to publish a memoir elaborating on his part in the company's creation and evolution, I assume that journals or diaries may not be available.

For more detailed TI nuts and bolts, you might enjoy the story of Cecil Green, a founder of TI and its parent company, Geophysical Service Inc ("Cecil and Ida Green: philanthropists extraordinary," by Robert Shrock, MIT Press, c1989), or the humorous memoir of 37 years at TI by engineer/inventor Ed Millis ("TI, the Transistor, and Me, " Dallas, Ed Millis Books, 2000). Mr. Millis was also a member of the research committee for "Engineering the World."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engineering the world, April 25, 2006

By 

Cal Coolidge 1976-97 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Engineering the World: Stories from the First 75 Years of Texas Instruments (Hardcover)

If you have ever worked at TI you know that it was and still is a special company. This book will remind you why you love the company. The history of the founding of the company reminded me how special the culture is. The willingness to take risk and tackle the impossible emerged from the early days in the oil exploration business and thankfully stayed with the company through the years. Buy this book!

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Hype, Hype, Hooray!, March 27, 2010

By 

Joseph T. Reinckens II (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Engineering the World: Stories from the First 75 Years of Texas Instruments (Hardcover)

Cough ... cough ... gag ... choke ... spit ...

Excuse me a moment ... just hocking up some of the endless marketing hype and buzz words that fill this book ...

"founded on innovative technology" ... "worlds first independent" ... "launched a new strategy" "completely change" "ignited a revolution" ... "leading the industry" ... "critical innovations"

AND THAT'S JUST THE *FIRST* PAGE !!!

"Even though the odds were stacked against it, a small company faced down the Great Depression and built a visionary geophysical business that brought a new technology to the old-fashioned art of oil exploration. GSI [TI's original name] sent shock waves into the earth to map underground structures that might hold accumulations of oil and gas, and its innovative methods sent shock waves through an industry at home and abroad." (beginning of page 2)

THE WHOLE BOOK IS LIKE THAT!

This might actually be a good book. ... Honestly, I don't know. I got through about 6 pages of endless hype and just couldn't stomach any more. If you would enjoy reading a 259-page ad telling you how the latest version of Windows is so great or how the Model X Car is "the best in its class", you'll love this book. It's a shame really ... I've lived in Texas since January 1982 and Dallas since February 1995 and I really was hoping to learn something about TI. But there's only so much marketing hype a person can take before it becomes just unbearable.