How we got here
a slightly irreverent history of technology & markets
by Andy Kessler · first published 2005
83% recommend17% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Traces the parallel histories of technology and markets from the steam engine onward, in a brisk, irreverent style. It is a fast, fun read that draws clever lines between inventions like swords and microchips.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Best-selling author Andy Kessler ties up the loose ends from his provocative book, Running Money, with this history of breakthrough technology and the markets that funded them. Expanding on themes first raised in his tour de force, Running Money, Andy Kessler unpacks the entire history of Silicon Valley and Wall Street, from the Industrial Revolution to computers, communications, money, gold and stock markets. These stories cut (by an unscrupulous editor) from the original manuscript were intended as a primer on the ways in which new technologies develop from unprofitable curiosities to essent
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I've really enjoyed reading http://www.amazon.com/How-Got-Here-Irreverent-Technology/dp/... "How We Got Here: A Slightly Irreverent History of Technology and Markets" by Andy Kessler "Expanding on themes first raised in his tour de force, Running Money, Andy Kessler unpacks the entire history of Silicon Valley…
on “Ask PG/HN: Recommended reading on the history of technology” ↗This might be a bit broader but I enjoyed "How We Got Here" by Andy Kessler, which is available for free (emailed link[1] or direct[2] if you prefer. It's more about how the systems and engineering that predated computing influenced its development to where it…
on “Ask HN: How to learn about the history of computing?” ↗Andy Kessler's How We Got Here. Only a few hundred people have rated it on GoodReads, but if you wanted to trace a march of technological progress from swords to the Internet, it does a good job. There are definitely other stories…
on “Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?” ↗The best fast and fun one is "How We Got Here" by Kessler, I think it's free if you send an email. Draws a really clever line of related inventions from swords to microchips. Specific areas after that... "Brilliant" by Brox on the history of lighting.…
on “Nuclear fusion on brink of being realised, say MIT scientists” ↗I think this is a good thread to recommend Andy Kessler's book "How We Got Here" which can be downloaded from here (http://akessler.blogs.com/andy_kessler/2005/04/hwgh.html). It's a parallel history between economy and technology evolution up from the steam engine genesis.
on “Frighteningly Ambitious Startup Ideas” ↗Here's Kessler's excellent How We Got Here (pdf): http://www.andykessler.com/andy_kessler/excerpts/How_We_Got_...
on “Nuclear fusion on brink of being realised, say MIT scientists” ↗…https://allthatsinteresting.com/norman-borlaug-green-revolut... [5] http://graphics.wsj.com/oil-barrel-breakdown/ [6] https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20272240W/Brilliant [7] https://openlibrary.org/works/OL6038624W/How_We_Got_Here [8] https://openlibrary.org/books/OL24080190M/The_master_switch [9] https://openlibrary.org/books/OL23276740M/The_box [10] https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1958850W/The_Singularity_Is_... [11] https://openlibrary.org/works/OL792952W/The_ascent_of_money…
on “World’s consumption of materials hits record 100bn tonnes a year” ↗It's called chasing the cost waterfall from monopoly to commodity and making sure you own it with economies of scale (from the book How We Got Here: A Silicon Valley and Wall Street Primer (A History of Technology and Markets) by Andy Kessler). Larry Page has also talked about the same phenomena (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v...).…
on “David Gelernter predicted Dropbox in 1996” ↗