Soul of a New Machine, The

Author: Tracy Kidder List Price: $14.95 Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price ISBN: 0316491977 Publisher: Back Bay Books (01 June, 2000) Edition: Paperback Sales Rank: 30,071 Average Customer Rating: 4.63 out of 5

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Customer Reviews

I found this book to be riveting (I finished it in a day and a half), and though I am not qualified to comment on the accuracy of Kidder's use of ECE terminology, it most certainly passed my limited geek muster. Kidder presents complex technical information adroitly, creating analogies understandable to the lay person. At the end of the book, I emerged feeling as if I personally knew the characters, and I found myself rooting for the success of the Eclipse Group. Overall, I loved this book. A hacker classic.

When you're young and you get interested in something, you get _passionate_ about it. Maybe it's because you don't know the importance of money and responsibility yet, but you really get into a sport, or hobby, or any other interest, and you do that hobby or play that sport, you write stories or fix cars, making whatever sacrifices you need to just so you can do this thing you love, not because you want to make money at it, or gain respect or admiration, but because it gives you priceless rewards and satisfaction. And it's a purest love you can have. When you grow up, you get disillusioned, from paying bills and other responsibilities. You lose the spark. You start doubting your interest in what you used to love, be it the mechanic who used to love cars but has grown jaded, or the teacher on a low income who has to deal with unruly students and demanding parents.

The Soul of a New Machine is a throwback to that youthful perhaps almost a bit naive passion. It's about the antithesis of the 9-5, where if the pay is horrible, you couldn't care less, you still work overtime. This pure struggle, the essence of a profession, is what makes the book so great. It's the most archetypal element of a career or profession, the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that only something you put your soul and your sweat and blood into, can give you. In that basement in Data General, this beautiful dream became real in the form of the Eagle minicomputer. If you've felt the kind of spark that drove those young men before, this book will remind you. And if you haven't, maybe this book will kindle a new passion in what you do.

I read this book some time ago and marvelled at how it remained in my thoughts for some time afterward. The hopes, the dreams, the interaction, the sheer act of pure thought - these are all captured in brilliant prose right before our eyes. And in spite of all the problems, barriers, egos and behind-the-door dealings, we see a corporate project progress and understand (finally) that all such endeavors are, in the end, human ones.

Men and women stretching the bounds of technology is what has always defined our race. We are the technological animal, the creature that uses other materials to enhance our life. Great story - great book.

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