The supermen
by Charles J. Murray · first published 1997
80% recommend20% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Detailed biography of supercomputer pioneer Seymour Cray and his engineers, with technical history of CDC and early machines; recommended for readers curious about computer history and engineering culture.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
In 1951, a soft-spoken, skinny young man fresh from the University of Minnesota took a job in an old glider factory in St. Paul. Computer technology would never be the same, for the glider factory was the home of Engineering Research Associates and the recent college grad was Seymour R. Cray. During his extraordinary career, Cray would be alternately hailed as "the Albert Einstein," "the Thomas Edison," and "the Evel Knievel" of supercomputing. At various times, he was all three - a master craftsman, inventor, and visionary whose disdain for the rigors of corporate life became legendary, and
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…(different edition, forgive me; free through NCBI, thanks jkimmel!) "Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age" - http://www.amazon.com/Dealers-Lightning-Xerox-PARC-Computer/... "The Supermen: The Story of Seymour Cray and the Technical Wizards Behind the Supercomputer" - http://www.amazon.com/Supermen-Seymour-Technical-Wizards-Sup... (note: "that one's particularly good") "Hateship, Friendship,…
on “Sam Altman's Twitter AMA” ↗Wonder whats left of old Cray besides the name ? Book tip: https://www.amazon.com/Supermen-Seymour-Technical-Wizards-Su...
on “Cray and Microsoft Bring Supercomputing to Azure” ↗Recommended reading for all Cray fans http://www.amazon.com/Supermen-Seymour-Technical-Wizards-Sup...
on “Seymour Cray and the Development of Supercomputers” ↗…outlier on the talent side, comes to mind. He was basically a senior team lead from the moment he got his first job, and that was in 1951. I got that from this wonderful book, btw: https://www.amazon.com/Supermen-Seymour-Technical-Wizards-Su...
on “Show HN: A job board for companies fighting ageism in tech” ↗A very good book about this topic: The Supermen: The Story of Seymour Cray and the Technical Wizards Behind the Supercomputer http://www.amazon.com/The-Supermen-Seymour-Technical-Superco... It's a great book about Seymour Cray (biography) that details…
on “The search for the lost Cray supercomputer OS” ↗If you haven't already done so, I highly recommend reading "The SUPERMEN" by Charles J. Murray. http://www.amazon.com/Supermen-Seymour-Technical-Wizards-Sup...
on “Seymour Cray: Cray-1 Introduction (1976) [video]” ↗If these kinds of machines interest you I highly recommend the book "The Supermen" by Charles Murray. It has all the details you would ever want on Seymour Cray and others in the business. I was working at a geophysical company in the 80's and we lusted after a Cray-1. Best we could…
on “The Cray-1 Computer System (1977) [pdf]” ↗First person I thought about when I read the title. If you haven't already, I would highly recommend this book[1] on Seymour Cray. An amazing read. 1. https://www.amazon.com/Supermen-Seymour-Technical-Wizards-Su...
on “So You Want to Build a Tunnel” ↗A fun read is https://www.amazon.com/Supermen-Seymour-Technical-Wizards-Su...
on “Truths programmers should know about case (2018)” ↗…https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Drive-Making-Microsoft-Empire/dp... Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture - https://www.amazon.com/Masters-Doom-Created-Transformed-Cult... The Supermen: The Story of Seymour Cray and The Technical Wizards Behind the Supercomputer - https://www.amazon.com/Supermen-Seymour-Technical-Wizards-Su... Bitwise: A Life in Code - https://www.amazon.com/Bitwise-Life-Code-David-Auerbach/dp/1...…
on “Ask HN: Material on early computing history and innovation?” ↗The only good book on Cray I've found is he Supermen: The Story of Seymour Cray and the Technical Wizards Behind the Supercomputer by Murray. Besides two or three videos, The Supermen, and tangentially related books about the history of CDC, it's hard…
on “Seymour Cray: "Cray-1 Introduction" (1976) [video]” ↗Definitely. For an insight into that great man’s life, I highly recommend reading The Supermen: The Story of Seymour Cray and the Technical Wizards Behind the Supercomputer by Charles J. Murray. I remember reading it back when I was in high-school so it’s more than twenty years old by now, but…
on “What made the 1960s CDC6600 supercomputer fast?” ↗“Becoming Steve Jobs” is a much better book than Isaacson’s lazy effort. I wish someone would write more about Univacy, CDC, and Cray big iron. “A Few Good Men From Univac” and “Supermen” are fine books, but not exactly comprehensive the way the IBM 360/370 books are.
on “The Joy of Computer History Books” ↗Some of my favorites, that haven't been mentioned yet - The Supermen (Charles Murray), essentially a biography of Seymour Cray. A Few Good Men from Univac (Lundstrom and Aspray), similar thoughts about the same era of computing. Showstopper (Pascal Zachary), essentially…
on “Ask HN: What are some great posts or articles about history of computing?” ↗…guess who didn't see the sun for their first six months at Atari? If you liked this book, I also recommend: Lundstrom's A Few Good Men from Univac (essentially a biography of Seymour Cray) Murray's The Supermen (well . . . ditto :-) )
on “Revolutions and NAND Gates, Eight Cents, Wholesale” ↗