When you read a book about computing, you can generally predict how good it's going to be based upon how recently the first edition was released. Things move so quickly in the computing world (thanks to Moore's Law) that by the time a book goes to print, it's often already obsolete.Not so with Accidental Empires. The first edition of the book was released way back in 1992, and even though it was revised in 1996, that was still almost twenty years ago. Despite this, the book still makes for a fantastic read - it's effectively a collection of reminisces anyway, and so it hardly matters whether the story you're reading happened five years ago or thirty years ago.In fact, Cringely's writing is lucid and prophetic, and he mentions things that he couldn't possibly have known at the time - despite wrongfully predicting that Bill Gates would never marry, a prediction that he revised in the later version, he gets everything else spot on. For example, he predicted the development of the smartwatch and the tablet computer, and he also predicted that the computer would be fully assimilated in to our lives by 2005 in the same way that the television became a staple for evening entertainment. Not bad, considering he made these predictions at the start of the 1990s.It's also interesting to see how the same characters keep on cropping up in the computing world - in the same way that Chris Brogan, Seth Godin and Guy Kawasaki pop up everywhere in the world of social media, people like Andy Hertzfeld, John Warnock and Steve Ballmer seem to be everywhere, everywhen. In fact, even Guy Kawasaki, who is now best-known as a technology enthusiast and an authority on social media, is name-dropped somewhere in Accidental Empires.If you're geeky (like me) and fascinated by computer hardware and software and the companies and developers behind one of the most fundamental changes in our lifestyle since the written word was first invented, get this book. Otherwise, go ahead and miss out - your loss.
This is a book which most people, even those pursuing Information Technology careers, will never read. I consider it indispensable in my constant quest for greater insight into PCs, programming, and the technology business in general. I can only pray or hope that today's and future generations will be interested enough in the history of technology to stop tweeting, txting, or killing each other in the latest fps (or whatever other fad happens to be current), and gain some insight by reading something like this book. Maybe even show a tiny bit of gratitude and humility for the hard work and invention that these early pioneers put in. While one book can't cover everything, Robert C. Cringeley writes with the benefit of technological expertise and a clear view of the industry from the inside, and should be required reading for anyone in tech today (and increasingly, just anyone full stop). OK, perhaps I wouldn't want the Call of Duty brigade, YouTube comment writers or the tsunami of teenage twitterers to gain insight they may misuse, but all those who claim to be serious minded, or who tread a political path, should attempt to study this world-changing phenomenon that envelops all of us.
What do You think about Accidental Empires (1996)?
This book was written in 1992, with two add-on chapters from 1996. It's sort of a classic in the genre of histories of Silicon Valley.It's common to read stuff about pirates or knights or whatever and either think you were born too late, or that you can't believe how those primitives endured, or both. It's less common, I guess, to do that with a book about stuff that happened 20 years ago.There are a number of good historical tidbits in here I'd never heard. The reason the book doesn't get more stars is that Cringely, who was then an InfoWorld columnist, wrote it in a conversational stream-of-consciousness kind of style that might be OK if this were an experimental novel, which it is not.
—Bryan
Some of the reservations people have about Cringley's style are forgivable: if you haven't read around the subject of the PC revolution and researched the subjects for yourself, you'll think his attitude is to say the least disrespectful. When you appreciate just how weird some of these guys were/are and how arcane technology met classic American entrepreneurial spirit, you'll realize Cringley is actually being honest if not always generous.As a fun companion to the historical record, it excels. Cringley tries to answer the questions: how did the market evolve? why is it this shape? where will it go? -- and does a reasonable job to answer them. Since the book was published, his long-term view of the structural nature of the computer business has by and large been vindicated. The computer is disappearing, if not all at once and for the expected reasons. The "two standards" market is largely the same, for whatever sector you care to name. And the companies involved are rising and falling for pretty much the reasons Cringley thought they would. So, fun, insightful, reasonably prophetic, what more do you want?
—Sean
The story presented trails off at 1992 (the publishing date) and it is surprising to see how little has been accomplished in the computer industry in almost 10 years. Cringely tries to walk a fine line between describing the personalities of the people involved and guessing their motivations. Too often he fails and the resulting invective just feels childish and trivial. Despite this, it was a fun read for someone who grew up during the birth of home computers. Familiar touchstones abounded and helped to ground each chapter's timeline for me.
—Robert Kennedy
