The Silicon Boys: And Their Valley of Dreams (Paperback)

by David A. Kaplan (Author) "Once upon a time, but not a long ago, Silicon Valley was just a dry, sleepy patch of orchards between San Francisco to the north..." (more)
Key Phrases: largest legal creation, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Bill Gates (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Pop quiz: Where are American kids taught the nuances of being millionaires as part of their junior high curriculum? Where do guests at a posh outdoor party grouse about the defects of high-end flushable Porta-Johns? Where does a school auction rake in $439,000? The answer: Silicon Valley, of course. David A. Kaplan captures all that excess and more in The Silicon Boys.

Kaplan's book is a history of the Valley, from the time when Stanford professor Frederick Terman encouraged David Packard and Bill Hewlett to establish their own company to when Sequoia Capital invested $1 million in a startup founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo. In between are the many Valley legends, including Fairchild Semiconductor, Intel, Kleiner Perkins, Apple, Oracle, and Netscape--as well as some of its most notable failures and tragedies, such as William Shockley and Gary Kildall. While the book begins with the opulence of Woodside, California, it ends surprisingly enough in Portland, Maine, with Bob Metcalfe, founder of 3Com, who fled the Valley for something "fresher" and "more alive."

As he traces the short history of the area, Kaplan, a senior writer at Newsweek, detects a not-so-subtle change in its values. He writes, "Nobody appears to be having quite as good a time in Silicon Valley. Passions have become mere professions; impulsiveness is now compulsiveness.... The Valley once was a new machine. It changed the world. It may do so yet again. But the machine has no soul anymore." Here's a thoughtful and colorful read for anyone interested in one of the most dynamic places on the planet. --Harry C. Edwards --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly
While Po Bronson's The Nudist on the Late Shift (Forecasts, June 7) delves into the daily life of Silicon Valley's hungry strivers (some of whom succeed), Kaplan takes a broader view and focuses on the menAand the Valley bigshots are almost all menAwho have already become legends and made Silicon Valley into the "Valley of the Dollars." As Kaplan sees it, men like workaholic venture capitalist John Doerr, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, and Jim Clark (Silicon Graphics, Netscape, Healtheon) pay lip service to the Valley ethos of innovation while relentlessly searching for the quickest way to the next buck. In addition to his rough handling of figures accustomed to VIP treatment, he takes a historical perspective, looking back further than the 1970s, when the area earned its name, all the way to the 1930s, when two prized pupils of Fred Terman, a Stanford professor commonly thought of as the "Father of Silicon Valley," started a company. Their names were David Packard and Bill Hewlett. Kaplan, a senior writer for Newsweek, salts his story with tart observations of Valley culture: Where else, he asks, is there a "junior-high curriculum that teaches basic skills in How to be a Millionaire. Every year the first math assignment for seventh-graders is spending one million hypothetical dollars and plotting it on a spreadsheet." Mixing history, reportage and healthy irreverence, Kaplan gently punctures the Valley's most cherished myths about itself, and, in a nod to Tracy Kidder's The Soul of a New Machine, concludes somewhat wistfully that "the machine has no soul anymore." (July)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial; 1st Perennial Ed edition (April 4, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688179061
• ISBN-13: 978-0688179069
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #674,838 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Marred by money, December 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Silicon Boys: And Their Valley of Dreams (Hardcover)

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!

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but he doesn't understand SV's real draw, October 11, 1999

By	Madtea (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Silicon Boys: And Their Valley of Dreams (Hardcover)

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.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, fascinating and highly revealing., December 17, 1999

By	Michael J Woznicki "Michael J Woznicki" (Holland, MA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Silicon Boys: And Their Valley of Dreams (Hardcover)

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!