By Andy Hertzfeld
First Edition
December 2004
Pages: 320
ISBN 10: 0-596-00719-1 |
ISBN 13: 9780596007195
(Average of 2 Customer Reviews)
Revolution in the Valley traces the development of the Macintosh computer from its inception as an underground skunkworks project in 1979 to its triumphant introduction in 1984 and beyond. In this vivid first-hand account, author and key Macintosh developer Andy Hertzfeld reveals exactly what it was like to be a key player in one of the most important technical achievements in modern history.
Full Description
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. The book traces the development of the Macintosh, from its inception as an underground skunkworks project in 1979 to its triumphant introduction in 1984 and beyond.
The stories in Revolution in the Valley come on extremely good authority. That's because author Andy Hertzfeld was a core member of the team that built the Macintosh system software, and a key creator of the Mac's radically new user interface software. One of the chosen few who worked with the mercurial Steve Jobs, you might call him the ultimate insider.
When Revolution in the Valley begins, Hertzfeld is working on Apple's first attempt at a low-cost, consumer-oriented computer: the Apple II. He sees that Steve Jobs is luring some of the company's most brilliant innovators to work on a tiny research effort the Macintosh. Hertzfeld manages to make his way onto the Macintosh research team, and the rest is history.
Through lavish illustrations, period photos (many never before published), and Hertzfeld's vivid first-hand accounts, Revolution in the Valley reveals what it was like to be there at the birth of the personal computer revolution. The story comes to life through the book's portrait of the talented and often eccentric characters who made up the Macintosh team. Now, over 20 years later, millions of people are benefiting from the technical achievements of this determined and brilliant group of people.
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Featured customer reviews
An Entertaining and Engaging History, December 06 2006
Rating:
Submitted by Anonymous Reader [Respond | View]
Revolution in The Valley
The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made
By Andy Hertzfeld
Reviewed by Brian M Oldham, for the East Bay Macintosh User Group
(ebmug.org)
"Revolution in The Valley" is an entertaining history of the Macintosh. Andy Hertzfeld has collected stories from and about the original Macintosh team (which he was a member of). Most of the stories are brief, and told in a friendly and engaging manner.
I've read many biographies of Apple. Most are written by people that were not involved in the events, and most also ignore to a great extent the machines and the engineers that created them, instead focusing on Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. There is some of both Steves in "Revolution in The Valley," but the focus of the book is the Macintosh and the people that directly gave it life, as told by these everyday heroes, the Mac's collective parents.
I have rarely been so drawn into a book. The first time I read it, I went through it much faster than I normally read, and I continue to pull it down from the shelf, and revisit the stories.
"Revolution in The Valley" receives and EBMUG rating of Five Bridges out of
five.
Flashback!, December 26 2004
Submitted by Anonymous Reader [Respond | View]
I just found out that the binding problem was a limited anomaly, quickly corrected by attentive folks at O'Reilly, so I have only good things to say about the book now.
Flashback!, December 20 2004
Rating:
Submitted by
Uncle Dave
[Respond | View]
This is a really interesting book for those of us who were around and aware at the Mac's inception, and especially those of us who developed Mac applications usng the toolbox. It was fun to recall products like Alice, Amaze, ThunderScan, and the Calculator Construction Set. It is a relief to have survived the tight memory constraints, the concerns about pre-flights, and hoping all our code really was 32-bit clean. I can't believe we were programming the details of event loops and event handling.
The thinking and discoveries during the development are fascinating. The Mac was so radical that, even though it took five years to come to life, it was still the most advanced personal computer of its time.
I really like seeing the notes people kept at the time.
My only reservation about the content is that most of the anecdotes that still appear humorous to Andy are flat in the reading; you had to be there, I suppose.
And my only complaint about the book is that the binding is very poor for a hardback, with pages loosening up as you read.
But if you were "there" in '84, get this book.
Media reviews "This is an entertaining and engaging book that would be at home on any computer enthusiast's shelf, no matter what he or she thinks about Apple. (Bill Gates shows up periodically throughout the story, after all.) In the end, it's a remarkable story about a scrappy bunch of geeks with an idea that ultimately turned into an infamous part of history that's as strong as ever twenty years later. And how can that not make you feel good inside?"
--Ryan Eanes, The 86th Street Weblog and Blogcritics.org, June 2005
"If you want to learn more about computer history, don't miss Andy Hertzfeld's excellent Revolution In The Valley: The Insanely Great Story Of How The Mac Was Made: the development of Macintosh is followed from its inception as an underground research project in 1979 to its introduction in the 1980s. This isn't just an outsider's view: author Andy Hertzfeld was a core member of the team that built the Mac's systems, one of the few to work with Steve Jobs, and one of the pulses of the system: add color photos and lively, personable writing style and you have a history any Mac enthusiast will relish."
--James Cox, The Computer Shelf, Midwest Book Review, May 2005
"You'll look at your Mac with a newfound sense of endearment."
--Roman Loyola, Mac Addict, March 2005
Read all reviews
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