Customer Reviews

The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest: A Novel

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Author and Silicon Valley insider, Po Bronson, writes a very funny novel about four quirky guys with the right stuff who want to create something that matters in the realm of computers. From cutting edge software and hardware development companies to Palo Alto think tanks, the plot follows the creation of a less than $300 computer from a list of low priority projects at the think tank level to the actual modeling of a prototype that gets one rival top dog engineer's undies in a knot. The trials and tribulations that face the group compare to the highs and lows of an EKG with enough back-stabbing, personality manipulation and corporate espionage to keep the reading at a wonderous pace up until the last 20 or so pages. The crafting of the dramatic persona, especially the four progtammer/hardware specialists hinges closely to the usual stereotypical portrayals of techno geeks seen in movies and television shows. However this does not detract from the fun level of the story; indeed one gets the sense that these portrayal closely model reality. What does detract is the rather abrupt ending which winds down what could have been an all out page-turning business adventure with a stop-on-a-dime conclusion that certainly did not satisfy me.

Perhaps having seen the rather burlesque film version of this novel, I naively was expecting more bells and whistles and a more thorough troncing of rival engineer and threat Benoit. It never came, but perhaps that is due to the fact that I know nothing about the world of Silicon Valley where Bronson's could-be spoofs on the computer industry's behind the scenes star would lose their bite. Happily, the novel does not force a romance between Caspar and his housemate as in the movie version; here the attraction is noted and the reader can use his imagination to determine the outcome. Thank you, Po.

All in all, I enjoyed the novel; I just wish it had a longer ending.

Po Bronson's first novel, Bombardiers, a slightly surrealistic satire on bond salesmen, was a cross between Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities and Joseph Heller's Catch-22. It won some plaudits for its literary ambitiousness, but Bronson's overkill on the pointlessness of his characters' lives left a bit of a sour taste. This novel, a fictionalized story of the inventions of the Network PC and Java by a small Silicon Valley start-up, is far less stylized, but the characters are more likable, idealistic, and inspiring. This is to Bombardiers as Wolfe's The Right Stuff was to his Bonfire.

The depiction of computer nerds strikes me as realistic and sympathetic, although I'm sure not all Silicon Valley geeks appreciate the portraits. I also liked another realistic touch: there is no sex in the novel, and almost no women characters. This contrasts well with the other Silicon Valley start-up novel, Douglas Coupland's Microserfs, which starts out with a terrific portrait of life as a sleep-deprived minion of Bill Gates, then degenerates into a pilot for a sit-com that could be pitched as "It's like the cast of 'Friends' starts a software company."

I was especially impressed by how Bronson set up certain characters to be the villians of the plot, then showed us that from inside their heads they see themselves, with some justification, as the good guys. The conclusion is quite surprising: the most Machiavellian of the bad guys gets exactly what he was conniving for (a huge investment by a venture capital firm), then has to live with the bureaucratic consequences. I ended up feeling quite sorry about his plight.

Bronson is probably the most true-blue member of the small School of Wolfe (Richard Price is the senior member, with Jay McInerney floating in and out). I haven't yet figured out whether he has a huge amount of literary talent, or whether he'll simply be a very useful recorder of The Way We Live Now, but in either case he's worth reading. One big threat to his chances of becoming a great novelist is that he is probably the most handsome novelist since Hemingway, and that can cause no end of trouble.

Steve Sailer

Po Bronson agains shows his grasp of the ironic is well beyond any other current author. After disembowelling Wall Street in Bombardiers, Po grabs Silicon Valley and exposes the "infite loop" of money, ideas and egos that makes the Valley machine hum. A Machivellian masterpiece! Po, take on Capitol Hill next!!

"The First $20 Million..." is truly an entertaining journey through the dreams, disappointments and above all, egos, that infuse the high-tech industry in Silicon Valley. Po Bronson's style is direct and journalistic, very much in the Tom Wolfe manner. Those who are acquainted with the oncoming battle between PCs and Network Computers will find the plot even more topical: it centers on the development of a programming language strikingly similar to Sun's Java. Be forewarned, it is more a "Bonfire of the Vanities" than a "Primary Colors," and those looking for a straight thinly masked versions of today's industry moguls may be disappointed (although watch for a great lampoon of Intel Chairman Andy Grove). While clearly satirical, the novel is tempered with believable and sympathetic characters, which make it far more interesting than a simple "roman-a-clef" for industry insiders

Great entertainment. Before you begin reading, a caveat. This book was written in 1997 so don't expect cutting edge insider views. Other reviewers wanted to see something highly technical and up to date, not going to happen.
Here's what to expect: a delightful and amusing tale of what happens to a group of dedicated and somewhat naive High Techies after they get set adrift from their cushy,ivory tower jobs and find themselves navigating the seas of the real world (circa 1996). Enough character development to allow you to sympathize with Team Plaid.
Are there stereotypes of engineers? You bet! Not depicted in a mean way, the iron men of high tech are portrayed as all too human. If you are not in the industry (or don't tend to be overly critical)and actually like to laugh out loud while you're reading you'll enjoy this novel!

I haven't had this much fun reading a Silicon Valley culture book since Jerry Kaplan's Startup. It's very well-paced and easy to follow. I loved it!

La Honda is a research center staffed by "ironmen" (the author's term for hard-core engineers) who want to design and build the latest and greatest technology (not for the money, but for the pride and thrill to be the first). At the time the story starts, the latest and greatest was a processor called the 686 (a spoof on the Intel Pentium's successor). Francis Benoit is the lead designer for this chip. Ever since the beginning, he's had a grudge against Omega Logic (a chip maker that sponsors several of La Honda's projects including the 686) for "dumbing down" his previous chip (the Falcon). He had designed the Falcon to be exponentially faster than its predecessor and capable of doing parallel processing. But because of business reasons, Omega only used one of the two chips being shipped with every system while charging a higher premium. That made the world think Francis wasn't able to deliver what he promised. He will stop at nothing to make sure this never happens to him again.

Andy Caspar is the main protagonist of the story. He's an ex-employee of Omega, and a new employee at La Honda. All his life, he's wanted to develop software, but his first project was to do testing. He exelled at this. Naturally, when he had a chance to work on the 686 he quickly jumped in only to be talked down by Francis to work on another project (the sub-$300 machine) to guarantee him another year at La Honda. Little does he know that what he thought was a hopeless project would end up forcing him (and his three other teammembers) to part ways with La Honda and try to start up their own business. That's where this story gets interesting, and sheds light on the way Silicon Valley people work and think.

This book shows what a dog-eat-dog world really exists in the realm of entrepreneurship. You can never trust anybody to truly mean what they say. Some people are master-manipulators and think it's the most natural thing in the world. Yet others, like Andy, need time to absorb all that's being done to him and fight back.

The author has imbued Andy with a realism that endears. He's sensitive, caring and smart, yet not perfect. He's a good talker, but he's fairly gullible as well. Each of the other characters - Darrel, Salman and Tiny - are just as human as well.

If there's one negative comment I could make, it would be to say that I wish the author pursued just a tad bit more the romance between Alisa (Andy's neighbor) and Andy. They're a cute couple.

As the other reviewers have mentioned, this story pokes fun at the concept of Network Computers (sub-$300 PC) and the Java programming language (write-once-run-anywhere programs - the "Hypnotizer"). Don't let these concept overwhelm you or scare you into thinking this might be a book about technology. It really isn't. You don't need to know anything about computers to enjoy this book. At the core, this book is about relationships. The author does an outstanding job of revealing each character's vulnerabilities without diluting the plot.

I highly recommend this book!

LEAP rating (each out of 5):
============================
L (Language) - 4.5 (the interactions between each of the characters is what brings this book to life)
E (Erotica) - 0 (a slight hint of romance between Andy and Alisa)
A (Action) - 0 (n/a)
P (Plot) - 4 (Francis Benoit did have a grand plan for how it was going to be played out, or does he?)

I read this book in one sitting. I didn't want it to end. Great dialogue, funny, held my interest. Well written.

I immediately got Bombadiers and it too did not disappoint.
Thank you, Po Bronson

Normally, I but ten or so books at a time, and re-order when the stack gets low. I mention this, not because you care, but because it explains, somewhat, why I wasn't sure if I was reading a real account or life in the Valley, or a fictionalized one. I actually thought it was real for a while.

What finally cinched it for me was when Omega was mentioned as a significant company that made chips. OK. So this is fiction. In that case, the fact that certain things happened became obvious before they happened. The ending was still a surprise.

Most of the reviewers seem to think that the characters depicted are a little too strage to be true to life. Having worked with that sort of person, I didn't find them all that implausible. You'll certainly find people that are a lot stranger wandering around technology companies.

The interesting thing is that the author 'got it'. His explanation of what made an ironman what he is was almost dead on the money. It's actually not brainpower that separates one from the others. It's just that certain quantity that lets some people just do things while others don't. Tiny is a perfect example. He just figures things out and the others don't.

The cross and double cross that was happening in the background until it reached the front at the end was a nice touch. The fact that our fearless heroes were uninterested and clueless about money was another heartwarming touch. Since this was a fictional account, an ending that was a bit too contrived and neat can be forgiven.

Lastly, I found the whole relationship thing to be amusing to say the least. Not that the salesguy gets the girl. Though that was amusing. But the fact that it was just so awkward and unnatural - for the characters. I just had to smile inside at watching it. Again, it was another touch that might have seemed a bit strange for the reader of most fiction, but was pretty true to life as I've seen life.

Either way, this book was absolutely fascinating, and a must read for anyone that might have to work with technical people who just plain can't understand them. Why they are the way they are is all in the book. You might not believe it, but it's roughly true. Except for the psychological warfare that Benoit plays. That didn't sit quite right.

Many of the books I have read in the past I can never put down: this was one of them.

I attribute my luck of reading findings to my author selection. I was looking for a Wired Magazine-type author, and this was exactly that.

He did an EXCELLENT job at character depth. He took people's personalities and detailed them wonderfully. I loved many of the relations he used when the characters were being described, and the book was definitely constructed to love Andy and hate the guys from above. He surpassed this goal.

However, don't anticipate a very intricate ending: it made me only hope there is a sequel to this book.

I've found this book very entertaining and difficult to put down. Okay the story is not his best (Bombardiers is more developed) but I think that Po Bronson managed to grasp the "freedom" spirit that animates Engineers.

The fact that most engineers despise Office Politics but are often dragged into it; the sense of humour, irreverant and cheeky being part of their life. If you like Dilbert, you'll like this sneaky "insider" story!

The story is simply the birth of the Network Computer and quite simpy we could swap names: Bill, Larry, etc...

I would recommend it!