Monday, January 01, 2007

The soul of a new machine

I just finished reading "the soul of a new machine" by Tracy Kidder. This is a fantastic book about a small group of engineers who build the first 32 bit computer for a company called Data General. It describes all the technical and political problems involved. The book is also very good about the motivation of the people working on the project. It explains why many engineers move into management in their 30s, because of heavy burn out. A postdoc recommended that I read it, when I was a graduate student. I don't plan to be involved in any computer building, so perhaps I should have read it five years ago.