Customer Reviews

The Silicon Boys: And Their Valley of Dreams

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I suppose that some people think the most interesting thing about Silicon Valley is how rich people are. Kaplan certainly seems obsessed with the tremendous wealth of his subjects. I almost couldn't get through the opening chapter, which seemed and endless account of extravagant parties, expensive homes and millionaire's toys. The chapter on Larry Ellison is also marred by repeated visits to the subject of his wealth.

The rest of the book is a good overview of the history of hi-tech in the US. You meet innovators and the charismatic leaders. You learn what various companies do and how they got to where they are. If you work in the hi-tech industry you know this stuff, but I didn't know Sun from Oracle and this book cleared that all up for me.

If you're interested in the hi-tech industry AND you enjoy "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" you'll probably give this book five stars!

Kaplan writes a lot of good detail that you don't find in other books, but he misses the boat on describing Silicon Valley's appeal. Firstly, money isn't really the issue for most people. That's not why people are working 16 hour days. These people love what they do, and saying they do it for the $ is like saying a criminal seriously thinks he'll get the electric chair. It's a remote possibility if all kinds of factors fall into place, but it essentially feels like something that happens to other people. Kaplan shouldn't confuse the lifestyles that moguls have with the lives of actual workers.

Secondly, there is no other industry that gives 20-somethings the opportunities, responsibilities and respect that Silicon Valley does. Everywhere else, you have to start out of college and slowly work your way up the ladder.

Thirdly, it is about changing the world. I grew up in a blue collar family that didn't have a lot of books in the house, and any academic interests I had to pursue on my own. I would have killed for the information that is now available on the web, and I'll do anything to get that information to more people who don't currently have access to it. I'm hardly alone.

Did you ever wonder where and how Netscape got its start? Think you know how Yahoo became the search engine powerhouse? Do you what Marc Anderseen did to become a millionaire?

Read this most fascinating and captivating tale of the powerful giants of the silicon valley. Follow along as the "Boys" make their mark in computer history and how each of them made their millions.

Find out who is the one man that Bill Gates fears or what the "boys" think of Steven Jobs. You'll read about greed and the lust for power, the undying quest by these men to become the best at what they do.

The book is more than just the story of the rise to the top, it is laced with so much history of the silicon valley and those that had and has the desire to make it work and prosper. A very good book indeed!

Kaplan's book about Silicon Valley focuses on the big names and he does come up with some great "dirt" on each of them. (How Jobs Screwed Wozniak, how Clark abused Andreessen, etc.) He also throws in some interesting history of the big companies there. Ultimately, though, it's no more satisfying than reading a stack of People magazines. For a more thoughtful guide to the Valley, read Po Bronson.

This book's first chapter at one point refers back to the "Gold Rush fever" that hit San Francisco in the late 1840s. It's a good corollary to those seemingly "seeking gold/riches" in today's Silicon Valley.

What struck me most about the book were the stories of excess and power among the Valley's richest executives. People like Larry Ellison, Jim Barksdale & Jim Clark, and Steve Jobs, for example. And yes Bill Gates, even if he is technically about 800 miles to the north.

Speaking of Gates, the author makes what I found to be an interesting observation: That the Justice Department's "wish" to divy up Microsoft into two or more companies would not create more competition. His feeling is that any company complaining about Microsoft's so-called "monopoly" would do better to study how Microsoft got to be where they are and why. The rationale being that the Valley tends to "eat its young," and that it might be easier to stop this "Godzilla" by beating it at its own game.

Among the other stories told here? Stories about the people and companies that got left "behind." Companies like Shockley Semiconductor, academic institutions like the University of Illinois and their original browser, and even people like the tragic figure, Gary Kildal.

The stories in this book most likely have been told elsewhere judging by other reviews I've seen. Even so, they are told in entertaining fashion in this book.

In this book, by Dave Kaplan, the history of the computer, the Internet, and its innovators are described in real detail. I recommend you buy this book and see how everything started. The basic fundamental infrastructure of this book deals with the lavish lifestyles of the big time CEO's and IPO's. It goes to show what you can do with lots of money such as buy books at Amazon.com, not that the books are expensive.

What a fun book this was to read. David Kaplan's writing is suberb; witty, sometimes sentimental, and observant. "The Silicon Boys" chronicles the life of Silicon Valley, and the people who are building and built it up. By making the book part history of companies, and part biography of people, the reader becomes very well acquainted with the eccentricities, monumental successess and failures of this well-known region of the world.

Kaplan describes the Valley, from the original Gold Rush days of the 49ers to the modern Gold Diggers of the Internet Revolution, and the duality that springs forth from here. The dualities of companies are examined much as the duality of the history of the region, such as the extroverted Steve Jobs of Apple, and his co-founder, the introverted Steve Wozniak. There's the obnoxious Larry Ellison of Oracle, and the down-to-earth Bob Metcalfe of 3Com. Of course, Netscape and Microsoft (Internet Explorer) get some print-time too.

Sure, any writer can detail the life of Silicon Valley, but Kaplan himself makes the difference between this book and any other on the subject. It's not dry and completely objective; there's contempt for Ellison of Oracle, and there's a great little story about how the author could've been worth hundreds of millions of dollars today if he just accepted an offer to work for a certain Web-site back in 1995.

Definitely a fun, interesting and worthwhile book to read on the subject and history of Silicon Valley.

I am not much of a non-fiction reader outside of computer manuals and that sort of thing. I like a book that gets my adrenaline going and that I have a hard time to putting down.

Well, suprise, suprise, for me, Silicon Boys was just that sort of book. I could hardly wait to read it and had a hard time putting it down to turn out the light.

At first I thought it was just going to be sour grapes about the rich boys. But as I read further I got caught up into who discovered what and who stole what from whom and who was on their last dime and then became mega rich and - well- the whole intrigue of it all.

David Kaplan has a way with words and in the future I will definitely be looking for his name in print.

"The Silicon Boys and Their Valley of Dreams" is a well written description of Silicon Valley at it's peak. It describes the culture of the valley during the nineties. It is an interesting peek into the a world of driven software developers and venture capitalists and everyone else in their galaxies. It focuses on companies and names we've all heard of: Apple, Oracle, Netscape, Microsoft, Intel, and many more. For anyone in the technology industry, this book is a good window onto the 90s - pre dotcom mania.

If you've read most of the other books about Silicon Valley then you will find much repeated material in this book, however there were many stories and anecdotes that I had not read elsewhere.

Thoroughly recommended if you're interested in Silicon Valley companies but haven't read too much. If you have read the likes of Accidental Empires then you might want to give this one a miss as there's much repeated material.