#2936
Mentioned in 4 episodes

The Soul of a New Machine

Book • 1981
The Soul of a New Machine is a Pulitzer Prize-winning book that tells the story of a team of engineers at Data General who were tasked with designing a new 32-bit minicomputer, the Eclipse MV/8000, to compete with Digital Equipment Corporation's VAX computer.

The book, written by Tracy Kidder, provides a detailed and compelling account of the engineers' year-long effort, highlighting the intense work ethic, technological innovations, and personal sacrifices involved in the project.

It explores the culture of the high-tech industry, the grassroots approach to innovation, and the tension between engineering quality and time to market.

The book is praised for its narrative art and its insight into the human side of technological development.

Mentioned by

Mentioned in 4 episodes

Mentioned by
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Cal Newport
as a book he read in May 2023, describing it as a well-constructed profile capturing the tech company culture of the 1980s.
776 snips
Ep. 254: The Laws of Less
Mentioned by
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Bryan Cantrill
and
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Adam Leventhal
as a book that influenced them professionally.
38 snips
Crates We Love
Mentioned by
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Steve Klabnik
as a book capturing the effort of building computers in the 80s.
Oxide with Steve Klabnik
Mentioned by
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Jessie Frazelle
as a book that inspired her, focusing on the challenges and excitement of building something new from the ground up.
Zoo with Jessie Frazelle
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Dan Shipper
as a model for writing nonfiction with the flavor of fiction, focusing on how a small change in technology reflects wider cultural shifts.
Prozac and ChatGPT: How Technology is Changing the Way We See Ourselves - Ep. 15 with Peter D. Kramer
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Leo Laporte
as a book about the birth of Windows NT.
IM 812: A Choir of Sentient Cabbages - Gary Rivlin, AGI Test, Section 230
Mentioned by
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Jesper Juul
when discussing books about computer history.
Jesper Juul, "Too Much Fun: The Five Lives of the Commodore 64 Computer" (MIT Press, 2024)
Mentioned by Saranya Dbarak as a 1981 bestseller and Pulitzer Prize-winning book that follows the engineers featured in the episode.
The soul of an old machine (Interview)

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