The Meaning of the Microcosm (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 105 pages
• Publisher: Progress & Freedom Foundation (June 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965957810
• ISBN-13: 978-0965957816
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,541,235 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

70 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars George Gilder and Technofutures, May 6, 2000

By	Prof. James E. McGregor "gregorach" (Foxboro, MA) - See all my reviews

Not being a TECHIE, which means that I teach Philosophy, Gilder's "The Meaning of the Microcosm" offered me a great insight into what is going on in the world of the COMPUTER. I await his forth coming book TELECOSM with great anticipation. But, Microcosm was a first leap forward in explaining, as someone like Dorvak, the link between the chip industry and economic creativity. In many ways Gilder provides the rationale for Schumpeter's logic about the burst of technological and entrepeneurial creativity at the end of the 20th century. Besides providing an historical context that "qualifies" Fergerson's "Computer Wars", Gilder offers a character analysis of many of the tech players and the high risk professional activities of this period. The book provides one of the best examples of "systemic" analysis in the ASAP high tech world. But, it is eminently readable by a non-tech specialist who wants to know what is going on in the current world of "tech connections". James Burke gives us historical connection, but Mr. Gilder is giving us an entre into the 21st centuries "discoveries" and "beakthroughs". His information on the tragedies and triumphs of many of the technological inventers and leaders is especially fruitful. It is also an invitation into the biographical works of those "tech" leaders of the 70's and 80's who made the 90's a reality. This is nothing short of brillant in its pedagogical impact. So why did I not read it until 8 years after publishing? I was trying to find Aristotle's instruction in De Anima on how to turn on the PC.... This book is worth a serious re-read as well as a "first time go" especially if you are writing for a rethink of the event of the turning of 2000 into 2001.