Fire in the valley
by Paul Freiberger, Michael Swaine · first published 1984
75% recommend25% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Broad, narrative history of the early personal computer industry in Silicon Valley, told through the people and companies of each era; suits readers who missed that period and want the backstory.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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What Hacker News says
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…McCullough [just started; very promising] - "Troublemakers: Silicon Valley's Coming of Age", Leslie Berlin - "Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of WWII", Liza Mundy - "Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer", Paul Freiberger / Michael Swaine >> Others worth mentioning (but just read a few chapters): - "The Supermen: The Story of Seymour Cray", Charles Murray [about…
on “Ask HN: What are more books like “Masters of Doom” or “Showstoppers”?” ↗…Systems " https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/ibms-360-and-early-370-system... * "Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35953464-broad-band * "Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1427580.Fire_in_the_Vall...
on “Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?” ↗…still need a good OOP book, for OOP I've liked PHP Objects, Patterns and Practice by Matt Zandstra Some Classic Computing Non-Fiction (circa 80s and earlier): * Soul of a New Machine - Tracy Kidder * Fire in the Valley - Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine * Hackers - Steve Levy * Commodore: A Company on the Edge - Brian Bagnall (get the second edition) * The Psychology of Computer Programming by Gerald M. Weinberg -…
on “Ask HN: My Birthday's Tomorrow, I Need Book Recommendations” ↗…All Demos: http://youtu.be/yJDv-zdhzMY I'd also suggest reading Ted Nelson's book, "Literary Machines." Another book would be Steven Levy's "Hackers." And Paul Freiberger & Michael Swaine's book, "Fire in the Valley."
on “Ask HN: Alan Kay says programing is pop culture. Where can I find the classics?” ↗I like the doorstopper Fire In The Valley a lot and have read it several times. It hits basically every part of SV history, following personal narratives of major players in each time period. This style makes it very interesting to read. Disclaimer:…
on “Silicon Valley History” ↗His shelf seems to be an almost perfect superset of mine, the only obvious thing I don't see is Fire In The Valley by Michael Swaine and Paul Freiberger, a very nice history of the early PC revolution in Silicon Valley. I should probably get him a copy so I can just use a picture of his wall with the stuff I don't…
on “Bret Victor's Bookshelf” ↗Some of the middle era SV history books are quite good, although they cover the combination of hardware, software, and startup stuff. Fire in the Valley, Dealers of Lightning, Where the Wizards Stay up Late by Katie Hafner, Soul of a new Machine by Tracey Kidder, The Dream Machine. There are histories of Apple, Microsoft, and many smaller (and now gone)…
on “Ask HN: Books about programmers and programming culture?” ↗Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer High Stakes, No Prisoners - history of the birth of the Internet written by the founder of FrontPage, with a keen critique of Netscape's history - Charles Ferguson…
on “Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?” ↗"Fire In The Valley (The making of the personal computer)" by Freiberger & Swaine (McGraw-Hill) is an excellent book telling many stories about individual companies in the early days of Micro computers. A television film…
on “Ask HN: What are books/biographies narrating the early days of businesses?” ↗Several books on the history: Fire in the Valley: The Birth and Death of the Personal Computer 3rd Edition by Michael Swaine (Author), Paul Freiberger (Author) Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins Of The Internet Paperback – January 21, 1998 by…
on “Ask HN: What are some great posts or articles about history of computing?” ↗"The Jargon File" might be a good place to start. From there, maybe read one of The Cathedral and the Bazaar, The Soul of a New Machine, or Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution. I read Fire in the Valley when I was young and it impacted me, although there might be a better book that's similar. I might also recommend something by Jaron Lanier or Stallman if you don't might being a little political.
on “Ask HN: Best resources for non-technical founders to understand hacker mindset?” ↗Here are two great books on the topic: - xerox dealer of lightning, about PARC: https://archive.org/details/dealersoflightni00hilt - fire in the valley, about the development of personal computers : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1427580.Fire_in_the_Vall... My personal favorite is The soul of a new machine, an account of a team trying to create…
on “-2000 Lines of Code” ↗Fire in the Valley, Freiberger and Swaine. Soul of a New Machine, Tracey Kidder. Dealers in Lightning, Michael Hiltzik.
on “Ask HN: What are some good ebooks about the history of the computer industry?” ↗Thank you for mentioning Wasniak book! I really enjoyed iWas. Another great book is “Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer” (Second Edition) 2nd Edition by Paul Freiberger (Author), Michael Swaine (Author) And I like as well a book from Merrill Chapman. “In search of stupidity: Over Twenty…
on “The Joy of Computer History Books” ↗A couple of books... #1 - Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age https://dl.acm.org/doi/book/10.5555/518513 #2 - Fire In The Valley - Paul Freiberger & Michael Swaine (Mc Graw Hill) Each chapter explains the importance of individuals and companies during the early days of personal computers.
on “Ask HN: Best Tech articles in popular media like NYTimes, newyorker, wired etc.?” ↗