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Commodore: The Amiga Years Hardcover – January 1, 2012

by Brian Bagnall (Author)

4.6 155 ratings

Book 1 of 3: Commodore

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Seeking to ascertain how the Commodore Amiga, a computer now widely regarded as having been five years ahead of its competition, failed so spectacularly in the marketplace, this book takes an in-depth look at the people andÂ personalities behind it. The often unflattering picture that emerges is one of top-level executives who had little understanding of how to market their product to the public and a company that struggledÂ to remain relevant. Other products that Commodore produced and tried to market, such as the C128, Geos, game consoles, and the untold story of the proposed successor to the record-breaking C64âthe C65âare also examined in depth. Told through firsthand interviews with company insiders, this examination of the now defunct company traces the often baffling decisions that led to the eventual demise of Commodore.

Book 1 of 3

Commodore
Print length

540 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Variant Press
Publication date

January 1, 2012
ISBN-10

0973864990
ISBN-13

978-0973864991
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Variant Press (January 1, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 540 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0973864990
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0973864991
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.74 pounds

Customer Reviews:
4.6 155 ratings

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W. Ragsdill

Good read if you grew up with Commodore

Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2022

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I grew up with the C64, could never afford an Amiga, but was a diehard Commodore enthusiast. As kids we didn't know about the company turmoil, but later on read about the management missteps and financial problems. But to read first hand reports from all the major players involved is unreal as to how screwed up it all was.

This book goes a little too far into the technical weeds.... even as a big computer guy myself I was getting glossy eyed at some of the encyclopedia level technical details. It's a little too long, and the timeline jumps around a bit which is confusing. But it's still a good read if you are interested in such things, and paints a much deeper picture than online articles I've read about Amiga (primarily the Ars Technical series).

TLDR Thomas Rattigan saved Commodore from self destruction in a very short period of time, turned it around and back into a profitable company. And he got fired for it.

I guess I have to read the next book now....

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Jeffrey S. Johansen

Best. Commodore. History. Period!

Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2019

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No long winded review. If you ever loved a Commodore computer and wonder what went on behind the scenes to make it and what every happened to the Commodore company this book (THIS 3-PART SERIES!) is for you! So many never before details are shared with the author from the people who were there. The cast of characters and the projects are legion! Every computer company needs an author to share its history and Brian Bagnall is the man for the job for Commodore!

Well written and very entertaining. Informative to a fault. A non-fiction page turner that you can't put down? This book is it! Well worth the acquisition. Order or download. Will be one of your best reads of your year. It was mine.

One person found this helpful

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Man967

Weird obsession with GEOS aside, quite informative

Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2020

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The Amiga story is covered well, and is an interesting read. A bit more on the German side of things would have been interesting, but this book is primarily built from interviews and I guess the language barrier was an obstacle.

On the C64 side of things, the author covers the facts quite well: they sold well for as long as K-Mart carried them at $99, eventually being displaced by the NES. After that it was essentially dead in the USA but continued to sell well in Europe where the regional Commodores weren't so beholden to a single distributor. He spends a weird, inordinate amount of time detouring on the never-commercially-relevant GEOS curio operating system though, so be prepared to read around that.

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Michael L

Awesome book on the history of Amiga.

Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2018

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I haven't finished this book yet but I really enjoy it. I loved Brian's first in the series "Commodore: A company on the edge" and this is a great follow up.
I've read a lot of books about the computer industry and technology but these 2 are up among my favorites for sure. It's a good combination of business history mixed with the technology.
Maybe for some people it's too many specifics on hardware but you can skip over it if it's not your thing and focus on the other parts of the book.

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Brian Monette

Great book.

Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2017

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This book was well written and a joy to read. There is no way Mr. Bagnall could have done the topic justice if he had tried to include the last 7 years in this book as well. I look forward to reading the last book when it comes out next year.

3 people found this helpful

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Scott A Julian

Great story about the computer company who was responsible for ...

Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2018

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The continuation of the history Commodore. Great story about the computer company who was responsible for putting more computers in the hands of users than anyone else.

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D. Arnett

As a former employee, very eye-opening

Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2021

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Not very well edited but does have internal history of the company. As a former employee, I was somewhat surprised with what was happening "behind the scenes. I was a plasma process engineer in the Pennsylvania semiconductor fab during 1984-5.

One person found this helpful

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Darek

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2018

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Great, but I don't want to wait next five years for the last book in series :)

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Paulo Sousa

Amiga Years - Livro excelente

Reviewed in Spain on March 31, 2021

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O segundo livro da saga da empresa Commodore... Aconselho a todos os retromaniacos a leitura não só deste livro como dos outros da coleção

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Hex Triplet #002147

Wow! Very informative and well written... better than expectations

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 19, 2021

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My second foray into the history of Commodore with Brian was a success. Once again, his research and interviews with ex-staff was perfect. The emotion and annoyance of staff were successfully captured, and examples of management incompetence and short-sightedness clearly explained. The final book of this trilogy is on coffee table, ready to be read... which moron will ultimately ruin a great company?

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David V

A close and personal look at early microscomputing history

Reviewed in Canada on January 3, 2019

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I am reading this book now and I must say, it's fascinating. It really gives a close and personal look at the early age of micro computing. I stayed up last night until 7 am because it was so fascinating I couldn't put it down. I wasn't aware that AmigaOS designer Carl Sassenrath asked for an MMU for virtual memory and memory protection, and it would have cost about 50 cents per unit, but Jay Miner turned it down because at the time the plan was for Amiga to be primarily a video game console. I also didn't know that the original specifications for the Amiga filing system were far more advanced and unix like but the contracted developers didn't deliver. extremely highly recommended to anyone who is either interested in computer scientist, software or hardware architecture, electrical engineering, venture capitalism, history of Silicon Valley, early microcomputing, or likes story's of people overcoming incredible personal trials. Anecdotes about key personalities in early computing history and the relationships between Atari, Apple, Amiga, Commodore, Microsoft, HP and others.

ThunderBlade

spannend wie ein Krimi

Reviewed in Germany on April 30, 2020

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Als Commodore / Amiga Fan ist dieses Buch ein absolutes Muss!

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Valerio Pastore

ontinua il racconto più affascinante di una grande azienda informatica

Reviewed in Italy on February 14, 2018

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La Commodore ha perso Jack Tramiel, ma non la sua creatività, la passione, il fuoco dei suoi ingegneri! Ora. però, deve affrontare la sua più grande sfida contro un management conflittuale e a tratti impreparato, in un mercato che si evolve e recupera il passo…
Brian Bagnall indubbiamente riesce a narrare a 360° gradi ogni aspetto della seconda vita della Commodore dopo l’acquisizione della Amiga, dalle parti puramente aneddotiche a quelle tecniche, tenendo ben per mano il lettore. Si respira l’aria di quei tempi ‘artigianali’, l’eccitazione di nuovissime tecnologie che per noi sono già archeoinformatica, quella BRAMA di fare unica nella storia.
La serie non è ancora completa, ma anche così ormai le aspettative sono altissime!

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Commodore: The Amiga Years Hardcover – January 1, 2012

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Brian Bagnall

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