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Portraits In Silicon Paperback – February 15, 1989

by Robert Slater (Author)

4 customer reviews

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Who are the masterminds of today's electronic revolution and what motivated them? That's the question Time correspondent Robert Slater asked as he traveled to Silicon Valley to interview the designers, entrepreneurs, hardware engineers, and software writers who have given us the modern computer.Robert Slater is a member of the reporting staff of the Time Jerusalem bureau.

Portraits In Silicon

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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Slater, a Time correspondent based in Jerusalem, has written sketches of 34 key individuals in the electronics revolution. They range from Babbage and Turing to Richie and Thompson (UNIX), Jobs (Apple), and Knuth ( The Art of Computer Programming ). Many of these figures have been similarly dealt with elsewhere (e.g., David Richie's The Computer Pioneers, LJ 2/15/86). However, Slater does include a number of individuals overlooked by others: Jay Forrester of IBM, H. Ross Perot of EDS, and others. The sketches, well written and thoughtful, provide a good overview of the evolution and development of the computer field. Hilary Burton, Lawrence Livermore National Lab., Livermore, Cal.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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"The book contains clearly written thumbnail sketches of 31 people who were of paramount importance in the conception and creation of the computer industry... Slater's portraits always manage to be interesting and occasionally riveting. There are 10- to 15-page portraits of the early workers, such as Babbage, Turing, and von Neumann.... Also included are silicon chip inventors such as Jack Kilby, mainframe designers Gene Amdahl and Seymour Cray, and software specialists Grace Hopper (COBOL), John Backus (FORTRAN), Kemeny and Kurtz (BASIC), and Richie and Thompson (UNIX).... [Slater's] breezy journalistic style reveals the personal side of these computer industry pioneers." Science Books & Films

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Product details

Paperback: 398 pages
Publisher: The MIT Press; Revised ed. edition (February 15, 1989)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0262691310
ISBN-13: 978-0262691314
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.9 x 8.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,726,644 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #867 in Books > Computers & Technology > History & Culture > History
- #18193 in Books > Computers & Technology > Computer Science
- #36996 in Books > Textbooks > Computer Science

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solid and fairly interesting

ByErica Robinsonon December 13, 2013

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I didn't read all of the portraits, but it was all right. I would have liked to hear more about the people behind the people in the book - there is too much stand-alone ideology and not enough acknowledgement of the people who helped. It's still good,though, and does a good job summarizing the lives it profiles.

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The People Behind the Computers

ByDavid Gurgelon October 28, 2000

Format: Paperback

The book starts with a brief bio of Charles Babbage from the nineteenth century and then continues with twenty-seven twentieth century masterminds behind computer software, hardware, and business models. Each subject receives ten to twelve well-written pages by prolific journalist Robert Slater - Von Neumann and Shannon, Mauchly and Aiken, Shockley and Cray, Gates and Jobs, Backus and Knuth, and many others.
This book is for the serious reader, interested in the history of science and technology.
The book is part of my 900-volume library on science and technology, and I strongly recommend it. With the short chapters on each subject, the book would make a good gift - something to be carried in a brief case on long trips.

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Necessary Reading For Computer Types

ByC. Wingraveon November 15, 1997

Format: Paperback

This book is a series of bibliographic essays on the people behind the computer revolution. The subjects range from hardware builders to software writers to those that expanded the uses of computers. If you are a computer enthusiast, a lover of history or just a fan of a good book, this is definite reading.

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Very good book.

Byesatuo@pp.kolumbus.fion January 18, 1998

Format: Paperback

This is the choice when you need to know how the computer came possible.

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Portraits In Silicon Paperback – February 15, 1989

Editorial Reviews

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