Customer Reviews

Microchip: An Idea, Its Genesis, And The Revolution It Created

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I cannot believe that this book got published. Within the first chapters, it claims that William Shockley attended Stanford University for his undergraduate degree and gives a fictional account of Shockley packing up to head east to MIT from Palo Alto.

But Shockley attended Cal Tech (California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California) for his undergraduate degree. You can find this information anywhere on the Web. What kind of revisionist history is this? The author claims in the preface to have had a lot of help from the staff of the Stanford Silicon Valley Archives, and even has a Hoover fellow writing praise for him on the book jacket. Is this the kind of "help" they give? Hopefully Stanford is not altering the other documents in their collection to give Stanford a good spin, such as the entire Apple documents archive (Apple was founded by UC Berkeley alum Steve Wozniak and Reed College drop-out Steve Jobs).

And that's the stuff that I know. What other inaccuracies abound in this book? A sad waste of trees, this rubbish.

Interesting attempt but way too slow and repetitive. Mostly assumes the reader is a moron who needs things explained 3 different ways. Too much verbage; too much "fat".

It is hard to understand how a book bulging with so many factual errors could have slipped through even a cursory editorial review. Zygmont exhibits a jaw-dropping ignorance of his subject at the technical level, and a remarkably poor grasp of the history of semiconductor devices and integrated circuits. One is bound to wonder about the author's objectives, in view of the numerous excellent texts that have already been publised on this topic, for both the casual reader and the serious researcher. His obsessive use of fancifully florid language would be inappropriate even in pulp fiction: here it only makes an already poor piece of journalism ludicrously unreadable. I offer as my credentials a lifetime of contributions to this field, with an international reputation, and Life Fellow of IEEE.

I'm not a scientist or a professional reviewer. I like to read about a wide variety of topics. While I hope for accuracy, I don't "fact check" and I am not outraged that Cal Tech might have been slighted in this account. I liked the Microchip. In fact, I enjoyed it more than I thought I might. It was easy to follow and I enjoyed the human drama - rather than diagrams that one reviewer claimed were necessary for the book to be any good. I thought the chapter titles were clever - it's the kind of thing I notice - it's what a "casual" reader might appreciate and for whom I imagine the book was written. I was reminded just how much the microchip has permeated out lives. Just what I was looking for!

It always seems to be a shame to see such a great story, the development of the microchip, turned into a sort of turgid exposition of bad writing overlayed with the veneer of a strained plot.

The essential problem with this book if twofold in my estimation:

1) it lacks any central defining thesis or reocurring thematic elements in which to group the story of semiconductor design and development.

2) There is a strained attempt to overlay the background of the "exciting individuals" and entrepeneurial hype associated with these people as a central element of the book. Although I am sure that there are some interesting anecdotes here about some rather idiosyncratic personalities, authoritarian personalities and science/tech nerds, the stories aren't told too tolerably well.

Also annoying is the lack of any diagrams to describe any of the features and fundemental designs for the semiconductors. I am not talking about circuit designs, I am talking about schematic diagrams common in any well written pop-science book. If the writing was clearer the prose could stand alone even without such diagrams, but as it was I had to give up on the text after about half way through.

In sum, the author is trying to tell a narrative history of the semiconductor. But the story just does not come off and I am left sort of shaking my head not exaclty knowing what it is I am getting from the investment of time in this book. For better reads on technology I would recommend "ENIAC" and "Silicon Valley Snake Oil" for those who love exciting reads and clear descriptions of technology for the layperson.

This appears to be a book by a journalist who lacks a basic understanding of how semiconductor devices work. Although the author uses the usual journalistic devices (for example, providing a brief biography as each new character is introduced), it's not enough to carry the book's story.

For example, the author uses phrases like "metal-oxide semiconductor," which set the knowledgable reader's teeth on edge: as near as I can tell, the author truly believes that MOS semiconductor devices are actually made from ... metal oxides (example: "RCA made plans to introduce a line of ready-to-use metal oxides" [pg. 99] ).

Another annoyance is the author's cutesy tone. Thus, bipolar junction transistors are repeatedly referred to as "oreos." Is there an English teacher alive who wound not flunk you for writing, "Field-effect transistors didn't fire as fast as bipolars, and therefore some critics complained that they were poorly suited for such products as computers, which could keep you waiting too long for an answer if their transistors didn't blink like rapid bug eyes ..." (pg. 98)?

In short, I found this book so astonishingly bad that I was surprised it found a commercial publisher.

As a semiconductor device specialist, I am shocked by the huge amount of errors in this book. Just two examples (my wordings):
"silicon is not a semiconductor, it becomes one only when it is doped with particular impurities." (page 27)
"MOS is not a type of electronic device, but instead a type of chip made from Metal-Oxide semiconductors." (Pages 94-95).
It is unbelievable that such writing has gone to print without (apparently) any sanity check on the technical content. The lack of accuracy renders this account of recent history useless.

Not only does this book make the microchip tangible to the layman, it tells the human story behind the technology. Well done.

Stumbled on this book completely by accident. Found it fascinating, educational and very informative. Inspiring, too. I think some computer nerds and related geeks won't find it technical enough. But it's not meant to be technical. Seems like the writer wanted to create a book for a general, intelligent reader. Seems like he succeeded big time.

Techies will hate this book as it takes liberties in simplifying the basic concepts of semiconductor design.
Literary types will hate it for excess descriptions and sometimes awkward prose.

Personally, I found it to be an entertaining and worthwhile read. If you're not a graduate student looking for an authoritative history of silicon valley, the book effectively captures the essence of the entrepreneurial spirit and innovation that drove a handful of small start-ups to invent a new era of technology.
The book does not attempt to be a tech manual or even a history book, but rather a lens focused on a small slice of history where the elements of technology, invention, marketing, and necessity combined in a short period of time with world-altering results.
For those of us that remember amazement at holding a portable calculator in our hands for the first time, or of being the proud owners of the first microwave oven on the block, it's also a pleasant trip down memory lane. Through this book, I was able to relive a bit of the wonder and novelty we felt at the latest technological wonders to appear on the market, a feeling that is largely lost these days as we expect innovation and exponential improvements as a matter of course.
For those who have always had the ubiquitous microchip in their life, it could be an inspiring eye opener and for those that haven't, a revealing look back.