Revolution in the valley
by Andy Hertzfeld · first published 2004
78% recommend22% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Short first-hand anecdotes from the Mac team on building a GUI when others were text-based, told from the engineers' view. Easy to read a story at a time; suits readers who enjoy computing history.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"There was a time, not too long ago, when the typewriter and notebook ruled, and the computer as an everyday tool was simply a vision. Revolution in the Valley traces this vision back to its earliest roots: the hallways and backrooms of Apple, where the groundbreaking Macintosh computer was born. This book traces the development of the Macintosh from its inception as an underground research project in 1979 to its triumphant introduction in 1984 and beyond." "Through period photos (many published for the first time here), original sketches, and Hertzfeld's firsthand accounts, the book reveals w
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…interesting tidbits after you get used to the style. Read only after the other two above] - "The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story", Michael Lewis - "The Second Coming of Steve Jobs", Alan Deutschman - "Revolution in The Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made", Andy Hertzfeld - "Masters of Doom", David Kushner - "Idea Man", Paul Allen - "Where Wizards Stay Up Late", Katie Hafner >> Entertaining stories,…
on “Ask HN: What are more books like “Masters of Doom” or “Showstoppers”?” ↗It's also available in book form as Revolution in the Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made. It's always better to step away from the computer for a quick, inspirational read!
on “The story of round rectangles” ↗I'd love to see a dramatization of the making of the Macintosh. I read Revolution In The Valley not too long ago and it's fascinating to read about the personalities of the people who created that machine. I think it would be a nice compliment to Halt and Catch Fire--a Mac version to their PC-Compatible…
on “How two bored 1970s housewives helped create the PC industry (2015)” ↗Sure. - MacOS (pre-OS X) "Revolution in the Valley" https://www.amazon.com/Revolution-Valley-Insanely-Great-Stor... http://basalgangster.macgui.com/RetroMacComputing/The_Long_V... - NeXTSTEP / Mac OS X Debatable about non-C non-Unixy part, but it…
…http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=The_Grand_Unified... If you want to know more about the invention and early history of the Macintosh in general, there's tons more at http://www.folklore.org (or in the book based on it, Revolution in The Valley, by Andy Hertzfeld).
on “HFS+ is crazy” ↗Also Andy Hertzfeld - Revolution in The Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made. Many of the stories in that book are here, as well: https://www.folklore.org/
on “Jessamyn West, Technology Lady (2015)” ↗…games. Books: - Cukoo’s Egg - https://www.amazon.com/Cuckoos-Egg-Tracking-Computer-Espiona... Has some interesting technical detail, and gives perspective on a very different time on the internet. - Revolution in the Valley - https://www.amazon.com/Revolution-Valley-Insanely-Great-Stor... You can read these stories on folklore.org, but I enjoyed the collected book. Covers the creation of the Macintosh.
on “Ask HN: Recommendations on books and documentaries on tech companies/people?” ↗…is an older book, but interesting to get a sense of MS was like in earlier times. Isaacson's Steve Jobs is obviously focused on Job, but gives a good sense of the companies he ran while he was there. Revolution in The Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made is a good view into the Mac specifically.
on “Ask HN: Recommendations on books and documentaries on tech companies/people?” ↗Revolution in the Valley by Andy Hertzfeld is pretty good. Not purely about the technical details but definitely the mindset, culture and activities that made a huge impact on modern consumer computing.
on “Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?” ↗…Tetzeli, Rick (2015) Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader • Isaacson, Walter (2011) Steve Jobs This one might also be worth lookin in to: Hertzfeld, Andy (2004) Revolution in the Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made I haven’t read it in book form but AFAICT the contents of the book are also available over at https://www.folklore.org/ By the way, you might also want…
on “Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?” ↗I’d recommend reading Andy Hertzfeld’s _Revolution in the Valley_. He, amongst others, was a principle dev on the Macintosh project at Apple. Also see : https://www.folklore.org/ all kinds of short stories about the early days of the Macintosh
on “Designing the First Apple Macintosh: The Engineers’ Story” ↗I recommend reading “Revolution in the valley” by Andy Hertzfeld, who is also the author of this story. The book is a compilation of all stories from folklore.org including more interesting details about development of the Macintosh.
on “Steve Jobs: Fast boot times saves lives” ↗Andy Hertzfeld (folklore's writter) wrote "Revolution in the valley": a book about the Mac history, compiling many stories from his blog. It's a gem! https://www.amazon.com/Revolution-Valley-Insanely-Great-Stor...
on “Scrooge McDuck: The first image on the first Macintosh (1980)” ↗Revolution in The Valley is a fun read on how the Macintosh was created, from the perspective of the engineering team, via the author Andy Hertzfeld who worked closely with Jobs but 'most of the essays in the book are about the…
on “Some strange Macintosh computers” ↗I haven’t read it in physical form, but maybe Revolution in the Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made by Andy Hertzfeld? AFAICT it’s based on the stories from https://folklore.org/, so I ought to be good. You can see how it looks here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMExWOBvmho…
on “Ask HN: Any good Silicon Valley Photo coffee table books?” ↗