The Soul of a New Machine (Modern Library)

In The Soul of a New Machine, Kidder accompanies a team of young
engineers tasked with building a new computer for Data General. The
project is led by a curt manager with a methodology he calls mushroom
management (keep them in a damp, dark place, and feed them shit) that
would be impossible to instate in any sensible company these days. The
project is of highest significance for the company, and everything is
due yesterday, everyone working in a frantic pace to get the computer
out the door before their rivals within the same company beat them to
it. The pressure and the intense pace of work is tangible all through
the book; especially in the chapters on the debugging of the computer,
one gets a very solid sense of how difficult it should be to fix
horribly complicated hardware bugs under such intense pressure.

Soul of a New Machine hails from a time when the separate parts of a
computer were actually built and tested by hand; a time when the CPU
and the ALU resided on separate boards, a computer was debugged using
oscilloscopes, and when finished, occupied three cabinets. For people
of later generations who grew up with computers that came simply
within a shiny black box, the story of these engineers provides a nice
perspective of where the computer industry came from, and how the
computer market could have developed in many other directions.

The bigger question Kidder is after is what drives young, talented
people to spend most of their waking hours on a new computer. The
engineers he follows all have successful academic studies behind them,
and are technically inclined, having broken and fixed electrical
devices since their childhood. They all admit that money is not really
the driving factor (they are not getting any money for the overtime
they work). What these young people are driven by is the
responsibility they are trusted with (doing the complete design for a
fundamental part of a new computer) which they wouldn't get in other,
more established companies, the team spirit the stressful situation
leads to, and the feeling of belonging up there with the major figures
of the computer revolution.

As the Pulitzer prize would lead one to expect, Kidder does a great
job of depicting the daily life of the Data General engineers.
Especially interesting are how the teams create coping mechanisms to
make it through the grueling schedule, and the lore and humor that
surrounds the people and artifacts (My favorite: "An oscilloscope is
what cavemen used to debug fire"). Unfortunately, the text frequently
feels cold, only tracing the surface of the figures, maybe due to a
voluntary journalistic distance. Some pages read like a software
manual, precise and professional, but lacking the human depth and
warmth. With a little less distance, it might have been possible to
get closer to the real reasons people loose themselves in complicated
technical projects.

I was working in academic computing when this book came out in 1981, and almost immediately after it was published it seemed everyone I knew was talking about it. Kidder had taken what to most was a fairly prosaic, even dull, topic- that of a group of engineers designing a new minicomputer- and presented it in a way that actually conveyed the excitement of their work to a non-technical audience. Topics as esoteric as 16 vs 32 bit architecture, address space, and threading were clearly explained in a way that even the most technologically naive reader could understand.

Today, thirty six years later (as I write this), the once breathtaking performance of the Data General Eclipse MV/8000 has long been eclipsed and the cutting-edge features of that computer are now commonplace. But the human narrative of these engineers working together to create something brand new is no less fascinating today than it was in 1981. Those with a professional or hobby interest in computing will find this especially interesting, but even those with no particular interest in computers will still find the human story engaging.

`The Soul of a New Machine' is a landmark journalistic book-length essay by then `Atlantic Monthly' writer, Tracy Kidder exploring the development of a new computer in those pre-microcomputer days of 1978. I am delighted to find this book issued as a `classic', as I have read it many times and have been meaning to do a review of it for some time. I cannot think of a better occasion than with the release of this new edition.

When it was first published, the book was a narrative of what was then `modern' technology, where the central processing units (CPU) or `brains' of commercial minicomputers and mainframe computers were built up on large circuit boards from individual, specialized integrated circuit chips, with each chip integrating dozens or hundreds of discrete components. This compares to today's microcomputers where the entire CPU is placed on a single chip incorporating tens of thousands of discrete functions, all taking up no more room than the average credit card. Now, the book is more a history of how this technology was developed, and yet its picture of how people work in teams developing technological projects will probably never go out of date.

The irony of this book is that the computer being developed by the team described in this book, a 32 bit Eclipse computer developed by the Data General corporation, a competitor to the larger and very successful Digital Computer Corporation (Digital), did not really achieve any major breakthrough in technology. While it was intended to compete with a new generation of Digital VAX machines, it ended up being just barely faster than VAX's in a few special tasks. In fact, in a conversation I once had with some Digital engineers, they said that when they went head to head with Data General in bidding for a computer sale, the only thing they had to do was bring out Kidder's book to demonstrate that the Data General box was yesterday's news. Data General may have had the last laugh, as ailing Digital was bought out by Compaq, which has since merged with H-P, further submerging the once great Digital presence in the commercial computer world. Meanwhile, Data General is still around, albeit not the presence it once had when the `minicomputer' was the great alternative to the IBM monoliths in the glass houses.

That does not detract from the fact that this is still a terrific story. I have read it several times and still quote from it after nearly thirty years of reading from it the first time. My favorite image is of the engineer who quit the project to become a farmer, so that the smallest unit of time he had to deal with was the season. My second favorite quote (which may not be original to this book, although this is the first time I ran into it) is that the management style on the project was the mushroom theory. That is, `Keep them in the dark and feed them s**t'.

As I see from Kidder's new introduction, this essay was a bigger accomplishment that it seemed originally, as Kidder was closer to being a Luddite than he was a techie in love with the latest computer tool which, at that time, would have been standalone word processing machines produced by companies such as IBM and Wang. In spite of that limitation, he manages to make it interesting to both the average reader and someone like myself who is (or at least was) familiar with the inner workings of computers.

I also tend to see Kidder's book as the fountainhead of a whole wave of new style journalistic book length works. I almost like to believe that Kidder made possible the writing careers of my foodie-writing hero, Michael Ruhlman (`The Soul of a Chef' and `The Making of a Chef'). The similarity in title of Ruhlman's book with Kidder's title is, I think, not an accident.

So, this is not only a history of a major moment in computer history, it is a superb picture of the dynamics of people in technical development teams and the challenges of achieving a technical goal.

Must read for everyone.

Although Tracy Kidder's Pulitzer Prize winner, The Soul Of A New Machine, was written 28 years ago, it has withstood the test of time. It speaks to early days of the computer industry and the culture that was booming in the 1970s, when companies such as Digital Equipment, Wang and Data General were spreading out from Boston and into its suburbs along the Mass Turnpike and Route 9 - the old post road to Worcester, where I went to engineering school - and on the original Route 128 corridor and out to Marlboro, Westborough and the outer beltway of Interstate 495.

Focusing in on Data General and their Eagle project, this book captures the pulse and personality of a period of time in my life, along with a regional history that I had been associated with and had somehow completely forgotten about. I, like most who had been exposed to this time and place, had been overtaken by the extraordinary dynamics that defined the computer revolution until a doctor friend of mine, who had also lived in the area during this period, recently shared this fascinating bit of nostalgia with me. It reminded me of the engineers and technicians that I had initially worked with within the government, who were tracking the competing minicomputer and microcomputer developments that led to modern desktop computers. I'd forgotten about learning how to read paper tapes and how to perform square roots using a Frieden electromechanical calculator.

Kidder's intimacy with the team and its members offers us a sense of their motivation, dedication and enthusiasm that's not typically what we see in our industries today. It was quite exciting and it brought to mind two other computer books that I recommend that also gave me insight into the people dimensions of these technologies during the course of my career, Weizenbaum's Computer Power and Human Reason from Judgment to Calculation in 1976 and Levy's Insanely Great: The Life and Times of Macintosh, the Computer That Changed Everything in 2000. I found only passing comments among the Data General engineers with regard to the ultimate uses of these general purpose machines and more of the optimism of youth in their quests to build the machines. It is also interesting to note that while technology trends eventually saw the mighty Data General fall by the wayside, Ray Ozzie, a product of that period and a former software developer at Data General during this timeframe, is now the chief software architect for Microsoft.

Maybe because I'm an engineer from the era, I saw this as an interesting people story and a good picture of the technology then... so I really liked it, but so did Dr. Tom! Hopefully, that same type of youthful energy will insure a better future for all of us.

Bob Magnant writes about politics and technology and is the author of 'The Last Transition...', a fact-based Internet tale.

Will the Eagle ever be built? What is going wrong with the engineering team? Why would anyone devote 80-hours a week to building a machine from levels of signals to software? A narrative that will suck you in with heroism, pathos, all those goodies, and the technical details of computers in the late 1970s (before the PC revolution).

Even though this book is about a product developed more than 20 years ago, and the technology used back then is clearly obselete, this book is one of the best I've ever read that describes the truth behind computer developement, and as a computer scientist for over a decade, I've read quite a few.
This book gets 5 stars because... Most of the environment Tracy describes regarding computer developement in this book STILL APPLIES today (the exception being that nowadays, with computer components much cheaper and produced in much greater amounts, people don't have to struggle as much for shared time on few terminals and test machines).
Examples mentioned in the book that still apply today in computers include:
- Tight deadlines that are seemingly never met and frequently pushed forwards (in computer science, you never know how long a programming project takes until you're actually finished with it, and it always takes at least 3x longer than you initially thought).
- Unpredictable computer errors that crawl in at every other moment, and being forced to accept the fact that your product will never be perfect. ("Quick and Dirty" is the rule, not the exception in the computer industry...)
- The programmers' and engineers' overtime out of love for their product at the cost of their personal lives (and sleep time).
- The company politics and the importance of keeping beauraucratic and administrative issues out of the way of developers so that they get some REAL WORK done. (Tom West, manipulator of Data General's politics, is the most significant example of this mentioned in the book.)

- The miscommunications between developement and marketing, and how this can leads to important discoveries being forgotten or ignored. (Note: Data General isn't the only company to have suffered from this in history. This is believed to be what put Commodore out of business!)
Furthermore, Tracy is very good at communicating these issues and more in a manner that any average Joe can understand. Plus, his portrayal of each developer, and their perspective they provide into the Eagle machine, left me fooled into believing I personally knew these people in real life!

As one who lived and worked in this field through the era that Kidder described, I can tell you that his book totally and accurately captures it. Whether from the marketing standpoint, the business standpoint, the historical standpoint, or (the focus of the book) the engineering development and people standpoint, he got it onto the page. It is also a fun, interesting, and even suspenseful read. As its NY Times reviewer said (as quoted on the flyleaf of the hardback) it is understandable even if you are nontechnical and can't tell software from hardware. Kidder copyrighted it in 1981--the year the first IBM PC came out. It is thus really interesting to read this book from a 2007 perspective, since a lot of what has happened in the PC-microcomputer era is **just** like what Kidder described in 1981 at what turned out to be the end of the minicomputer era. Enjoy!!

Tracy Kidder is one of those people who can write comfortably about a variety of subjects. Whether it is school children or nursing home residents or, in this case, modern engineers and creators, he manages to give us a glimpse of their essence. He manages to delve and reveal their very soul.
I read this book some time ago and marvelled at how it remained in my thoughts for some time afterward. The hopes, the dreams, the interaction, the sheer act of pure thought - these are all captured in brilliant prose right before our eyes. And in spite of all the problems, barriers, egos and behind-the-door dealings, we see a corporate project progress and understand (finally) that all such endeavors are, in the end, human ones.
Men and women stretching the bounds of technology is what has always defined our race. We are the technological animal, the creature that uses other materials to enhance our life. Great story - great book.

I found this book to be a very interesting analysis of the development lifecycle of a new computer. What made it even more interesting was the fact that it is now twenty years old, which makes it practically prehistoric by computer industry standards, yet the intensity and method of attack have really not changed all that dramatically for the developers. It's like going back in a time capsule to a fascinating period in this industry. Also adding to the story was the level of access that Data General gave to the author. I would be very surprised if that would happen today, but it adds a level of knowledge that really draws the reader into the story. There were some humorous moments too - I loved the Mushroom Theory of Management: "Feed them s**t, put 'em in a dark room, and see what grows". Terrific stuff!

The subject of building a mini-computer does not sound like a good read, but this really is an interest book that engrossed me. Found the team dynamics and personalities interesting and also learned a lot about computers and how they are built. I used some of these computers as an engineer and found it interesting to learn how the computer companies competed and then lost out to the micro computers.

If you follow the current history of high-end and consumer technology to any degree, and care about the conditions under which it is created to eventually affect your life, consider getting a copy of this book. If you've been intrigued by the stories you heard about the beginnings of companies like Microsoft or Apple, this book will give you great backstory for those events. This book is a transition between the buttoned-down, dogma-driven company-man era of IBM and the decades in which a couple of greasy guys in a garage could change the entire planet. It is a story of cultural change, and engineering problems solved with soldering irons and trash-talk.

After 25 years of software development, most of it on 'Impossible' projects, I find my 1981 printing to be one of my prized posessions. When you're so tired from months of 75 hour weeks it hurts to get up in the morning, and the project's still not done, its wonderfully reassuring to know that you are part of a relativly few persons who have breathed life into a whole new force in the history of human-kind. As a new generation of CS professionals joins our ranks its comforting to know that those who built the foundations of the industry will not be forgotten. And for the new crew, this book provides ample inspiration for all who wish to join the crusade. A great gift, particularly if signed by a project leader at the end of a long and difficult project! Buy the hardback if you can find it and pass it down as a family heirloom. If you can possibley get there, read this book at Lake Powell Arizona. If you don't come back inspired you're legally dead! Next to the good book, this one rulz!

Hopefully, the recent release of Tracy Kidder's "Mountains Beyond Mountains" will cause some people to go back and look at his impressive body of previous work. Most notably, there's this early eighties effort about Data General's attempts to design and bring a new minicomputer to market in less than a year.
No better book has ever been written about the process of birthing an IT product and running the project to get it done. 'Soul' was written before Project Management became recognized as a discipline. Even so, there's never been a better project manager than Tom West, the head of the team depicted in 'Soul' and the very heart of the book.

As an engineer in high-tech, I assumed our culture of evolved as quickly as our livelihood. Not so, I found, reading about the engineering mindset ("It doesn't matter if you're ugly or graceless or even half crazy; if you produce right results in this world, your colleagues must accept you."), the inability to *completely* verify a design ("it would be possible to test fully... but it would take literally forever to do so."), that we all like video games and Star Trek, that the term "gunslinger" (someone who "shoots from the hip") isn't something our generation of engineers coined, and that what drives us today is the same that drove the previous two generations of engineers ("I'll have to work hard, and if we do a good job, we get to do it again."). Instead of writing an account of engineers building a computer chip, Kidder has created an allegory exposing the roots of engineering to genererations beyond. Wish I had read this early in my career to know what I have to look forward to...

"I'm going to a commune in Vermont and will deal with no unit of time

shorter than a season."

This book, this first best-known book to emerge from Kidder's credible and entertaining non-fiction oeuvre, chronicles the efforts of a group of computer enthusiasts to develop and then gain stake in the then-young (1980) industry. But this book is more than a mere study of technology and its seemingly pervasive sphere of influence. The books speaks to the inherent nature of equity and the just rewards when coupled with good intentions of individuals from where all ideas (great and otherwise) emerge. This book is a judicious and lasting gift to those who know and realize the more positive efforts arising from work in technological field. Highly recommend

A non-fiction novel about a company (Data General) building a computer in the early 1980s. How could that be entertaining? Well, it won a Pulitzer Prize, so that might pique our interest a little. Ah, now I see. It's more about the people building the computer than the computer and the computer industry. The interaction, the relationships, the stress, striving for a goal, working as a team. Tension. Failure. Then Success (or is it?). Any book that you can still vividly remember fifteen years after you read it is a great book--which is why the publisher recently reprinted it. Check it out. You'll read this book fast.

I read this book when it was first published. You might think that a book about developing a new computer would be dull, dull and even more dull. But it's not. Kidder does a great job of bringing all emotions, mayhem and humor in such a challlenge. If you like reading about reaching inside one's pysche then read this book. If you like reading about the process of creating an invention read this book. If you like the stories behind computers then read this book. The book is so good that practically everyone should read this book.

I remember one of my engineering professors told me to get this book many years ago, after I had finished a computer systems engineering degree - and it was a fantastic recommendation.

This book is a truly great read !! Kidder takes all the intricacies of engineering, along with the process of building a great computer, and packages it all into a book that you can read on a cool and balmy Saturday afternoon with a tall glass of lemonade next to you. A really great read !

This book, this first best-known book to emerge from Kidder's credible and entertaining non-fiction oeuvre, chronicles the efforts of a group of computer enthusiasts to develop and then gain stake in the then-young (1980) industry. But this book is more than a mere study of technology and its seemingly pervasive sphere of influence. The books speaks to the inherent nature of equity and the just rewards when coupled with good intentions of individuals from where all ideas (great and otherwise) emerge. This book is a judicious and lasting gift to those who know and realize the more positive efforts arising from work in technological field. Highly recommend

A non-fiction novel about a company (Data General) building a computer in the early 1980s. How could that be entertaining? Well, it won a Pulitzer Prize, so that might pique our interest a little. Ah, now I see. It's more about the people building the computer than the computer and the computer industry. The interaction, the relationships, the stress, striving for a goal, working as a team. Tension. Failure. Then Success (or is it?). Any book that you can still vividly remember fifteen years after you read it is a great book--which is why the publisher recently reprinted it. Check it out. You'll read this book fast.

I read this book when it was first published. You might think that a book about developing a new computer would be dull, dull and even more dull. But it's not. Kidder does a great job of bringing all emotions, mayhem and humor in such a challlenge. If you like reading about reaching inside one's pysche then read this book. If you like reading about the process of creating an invention read this book. If you like the stories behind computers then read this book. The book is so good that practically everyone should read this book.

I remember one of my engineering professors told me to get this book many years ago, after I had finished a computer systems engineering degree - and it was a fantastic recommendation.

This book is a truly great read !! Kidder takes all the intricacies of engineering, along with the process of building a great computer, and packages it all into a book that you can read on a cool and balmy Saturday afternoon with a tall glass of lemonade next to you. A really great read !

Tracy Kidder takes a subject that would be incalculably boring to most readers, and creates a story with all the characteristics of fictional masterpiece. However, the most striking part of Kidder's story is the fact that it's true. In The Soul of a New Machine the reader is plunged into the chaotic world of Data General, a leading minicomputer company just before the turn of the 80's. As in the film Dances With Wolves, Kidder watches from a distance, and is soon assimilated into their circle, becoming able to live and speak among them; the engineers. His firsthand experience allows him to offer a well crafted look into the high pressure world of the computer industry and the men and women who make it tick.
From the first words of the epilogue the reader is drawn into a story that he or she cannot completely grasp. Piece by piece the reader is allowed to realize that this is a story about a computer. As the mists begin to clear the reader finds the setting to be a basement lab at building 14A/B in the Data General compound in Westborough, Massachusetts. Here the tale unfolds as a company finds itself behind in the race with its arch rivals and in need of savior product line. To spice up the plot, internal competition has allowed two separate teams with different means for reaching the same end to enter into a fierce combat of engineering and technical mastery. Suddenly the reader is off on a race to build the better machine, faster.
The birth of the 32 Bit Eclipse compatible unwinds throughout the pages of the book. From logic design to the product rollout as the Eclipse MV/8000, the reader is whisked through the rapid-fire world of computer engineering - through the eyes of those who experienced it. The lives of managers, engineers, programmers, and more of the same are brought to life. Instead of the typically nerdy or aloof stereotypes of engineers, the Eclipse team is presented as a cadre of human beings working on a common goal. Their struggles, fears, triumphs, embarrassments, and the entire gamut of human emotion is displayed as this core group of thirty odd men and women race to build the next great thing.
Surprisingly, the story of something as technical as birthing a computer is made understandable and enjoyable. Instead of drowning in a sea of "engineering-ese," the reader is rafted down the rushing waters of human struggle. In an industry that has routinely been vilified as the thief of all that makes us human, Kidder has restored hope in the "little guys" who are fighting to stay afloat. The passion with which he presents this story is equaled only by the passion of those whom the story is about. As one finishes the final pages of the book, he will find himself unusually compelled to read the epilogue, and then disappointed at the thought of putting the book down. The Soul of a New Machine is truly a masterpiece in its own right.
Ultimately, The Soul of a New Machine will find a captive audience in more than just computer enthusiasts. This book will appeal to a wider audience interested in studying the human side of industry. Accordingly, it does not bog down in the technical details, but instead presents them through the eyes of a journalist, whose specialty is writing and not engineering. Some more conservative readers might find themselves offended at the uncensored vulgarity of some of the protagonists, but will most likely still be drawn in by their humanity. Tracy Kidder has opened up the world of the engineer to the outside world, and the outside world will be fascinated.

Off of Route 495 in Massachusetts new companies have replaced old textile mills. In the new companies there are cubicles, permitting an increase in the people to area ratio and creating an opportunity for making quick changes. Tom West, the book's hero, worked at Data General in Westborough. Data General also had a facility in North Carolina.

West arrived at Data General in 1974. He was adept at finding flaws in a computer. He had attended Amherst, majoring in physics. He was dubbed an underachiever there and spent a year on leave doing folk music in Cambridge. His father was a senior executive at AT&T. He had worked at the Smithsonian, building digital clocks. After seven years he went to RCA where he taught himself computer engineering.

West headed the Eagle project under the auspices of the Eclipse Group. One of the leaders of the group, Alsing, had worked with West earlier. The two were fascinated by a statement made by Seymour Cray, inventor of the Cray computer, that he hired engineers straight out of school because they were too inexperienced to know what could not be done.

Alsing and West decided to hire some kids. There were two crews on the project--one for the hardware, the other to do micro code, a synaptic language. Alsing ran the second crew. In going through a process the writer came to term signing up, the worker became committed to doing whatever was necessary to make the project a success. The Eclipse Group could sign up the best new engineers because the project, designing a new computer, was so sexy.

Architecture in the context of computer building tells what a machine will do in detail. West wanted Steve Wallach for the task, but Wallach said no. Before coming to Data General Wallach had been at Honeywell and Raytheon where machines built were successful technically but never went into production. At Data General he had experienced similar near misses. After ten years and five such events, Wallach was roaring. He was a man ready to get a machine out the door, as it is termed. Since conceiving architectures was in his job specifications, Wallach was brought around to join the team. Before joining the group he went to the president of the company, de Castro, to ask what the new computer was supposed to be. The answer was a 32 bit Eclipse, (a previous model), and no mode bit.

Computer engineering, decidedly arduous, can also become intense for reason of short product life. At Data General there was competition for resources and engineers competed with each other to produce good designs. Mushroom management, keeping everyone in the dark, was practiced at all levels. Computer designers have to learn there is no such thing as a perfect design. The entire Eclipse Group, especially the managers, seemed to be operating on instinct.

After the design was completed in six months, the next step was debugging. There were many long days and weeks worked by the members of the team of about thirty. Computer engineering appeals to people who like to climb mountains. In April 1980 Data General would announce the existence of the machine, Eagle, to the world. Some members of the Eclipse Group went on the roadshows. The name was changed from Eagle to Eclipse MV/8000. As the machine moved to the sales force, it no longer belonged to its makers, West and the group.

I read the book many years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. It read in ways like a Tom Clancy or Robert Ludnmum thriller. The people aspect of the book made it fascinating reading. How and why they were able to complete this project coupled with what happened to the people afterwards was the one thing I carried away from the book. A few months latter I bought a copy of the book for a friend at the same time a man was buying something like 20 copies of the book here in Southern California. I told him I knew the book was good but 20 copies? He explained that he was a recruiter and he was using the book to explain to candidates what the company he was recruiting for was like. He found it one of his most effective recruiting tools.

Soul of a New Machine is an excellent portrayal of a heroic team of young engineers. What defined the book for me was the sort of mad, beautiful work ethic that the team in the story had. This is the best way I can describe it:
When you're young and you get interested in something, you get _passionate_ about it. Maybe it's because you don't know the importance of money and responsibility yet, but you really get into a sport, or hobby, or any other interest, and you do that hobby or play that sport, you write stories or fix cars, making whatever sacrifices you need to just so you can do this thing you love, not because you want to make money at it, or gain respect or admiration, but because it gives you priceless rewards and satisfaction. And it's a purest love you can have. When you grow up, you get disillusioned, from paying bills and other responsibilities. You lose the spark. You start doubting your interest in what you used to love, be it the mechanic who used to love cars but has grown jaded, or the teacher on a low income who has to deal with unruly students and demanding parents.
The Soul of a New Machine is a throwback to that youthful perhaps almost a bit naive passion. It's about the antithesis of the 9-5, where if the pay is horrible, you couldn't care less, you still work overtime. This pure struggle, the essence of a profession, is what makes the book so great. It's the most archetypal element of a career or profession, the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that only something you put your soul and your sweat and blood into, can give you. In that basement in Data General, this beautiful dream became real in the form of the Eagle minicomputer. If you've felt the kind of spark that drove those young men before, this book will remind you. And if you haven't, maybe this book will kindle a new passion in what you do.

The Soul of a New Machine is an interesting book. It is written in a story like fashion that allows for easy reading. It does not contain material that is difficult to understand.
The author does a good job in revealing real life situations that designers, programmers, and management might encounter while building new computers. Many situations involve challenges such as time, others involve ethics. With respect to ethics, it is clear that the characters representing programmers and designers understand that they have certain obligations to their employer: to accept responsiblity for jobs they agree to do; to respect confidentiality entrusted to them; and to present fair and objective viewpoints regarding their projects. It is also clear that the characters representing project managment understand that they have certain obligations to upper managment and to their customers: the products have to be on time and must be reliable. The project management characters seem to lack any sense of ethics when it comes to their employees. They hire recent college graduates with no experience; they mislead them from the date of hire; they overwork them; and they undercompensate them.
In short, Kidder does not go into great detail about technical details involved in building computers. Instead, he focuses on the souls - the individuals - that create the complicated machines.

This book is a classic description of a high-tech team trying to do the impossible. The motivational methods used by the boss are great lessons. I used to use it to teach my MBAs about the soft side of product development. However, time moves on, and so did my syllabus. Not only is it technically obsolete (4.77 Mhz minicomputer; no ASICS; etc.). But even the team dynamics are now, with the benefit of hindsight, ultimately destructive. Instead, I use a much more recent book, on software development at Microsoft, called "I Sing the Body Electronic". This book describes a year of wandering in the swamp of producing a prototype of an over-ambitious software package. I think it's more relevant today, although admittedly the product they are working on (a children's encyclopedia) is more dependent on aesthetics and creative design than are most contemporary products. Anyway, my students love it, and it really opens their eyes. If you can, read both books. If you have time for only one, it depends on whether you associate with old-timers like me, who will know Soul, or newcomers like my students, who will be interested in Microsoft and software.

If you're an electrical, computer, or software engineer, you must read this book. Even though the technology described is dated, "The Soul of a New Machine" really does capture what it's like to work in technology. The fight to work on something cool, to try and have ownership over what you do, and the different types of relationships and people you encounter as an engineer are all described right here in gory detail.

This book is outstanding.

Inc. magazine included this book on its list of the best business books ever written. It seemed a poor choice until I took the time to read it. As a small business owner, I struggle to get my people to "sign up". I learned a few things about teams and motivation. Should be in the library of every entrepreneur as well.

Very interesting account of the development of a new computer system. Although the subject could be either mind-numbingly technical or superficial, the author avoids both traps by focusing on the interesting and quirky people involved and introducing technological concepts only as needed to support the material. This book is enjoyable for people at every stage of technological sophistication, but people who've been involved with new system development will appreciate the ironies more readily than people who have just used technology or non-techs.

A must-read for engineers and designers and their managers. Everyone else should give it serious consideration.

The team Tracy Kidder follows through the creation of a new minicomputer built hardware that was obsolete within a year or two of its creation. However, the result of Kidder's labor shows that the social structures they worked in and the processes they followed are uncommonly close to those we still see today. Anyone who works with machines - or, for that matter, with other people - will find something in common with this team.

This book is great! Not terribly lengthy and covers some interesting technical topics in the form of an interesting story. I highly recomend this book for anyone, especially anyone interested in technology/computers.

Being an author (occasionally) and having book events (rarer than occasionally), people often recommend other books or authors I should read. Usually the books pertain to what I have written about (technology) or possibly the style in which I attempt to write (sarcastic humor?).

Almost every time some suggests a book to me, I look into it and consider reading it. If I trust the person, I seek out the book, as is the case with "The Soul of a New Machine" by Tracy Kidder.

The nonfiction book takes us back to 1981, when the home computer was on the verge of becoming immensely popular. Kidder essentially followed a few of the important employees at Data General, a decent-size technology firm, throughout the building of a few new computers. During the explanations of what the programmers do at work, Kidder also brings to light the personality traits and backgrounds of many of the individuals.

Now I know why people have the mentality that all computer programmers are geeks.

I know there are businesses out there currently where the employees work all day, every day, and think they are saving the world. First, this just doesn't happen in the technology world; go ask a workaholic in any field. Second, people in the computing industry, at least nowadays, do usually have a life outside of work. Maybe things were drastically different back in the early '80s.

Kidder did capture the essence of someone who works nonstop, which is a scary thing, if you have ever been in that trap. In that way, I think he probably relates to a lot of people who have been in that scenario. At the same time, all of the characters seem to be the same person: A hard worker who is determined to finish the project, no matter how long it takes. Yes, that makes a great worker, but when everyone is like that, it's difficult to distinguish all of the characters.

Overall, I liked the book, but I wouldn't call it one of my favorites. The copy I read had a ton of typographical errors, which was somewhat bothersome, especially considering I was told by a Barnes and Noble rep once that my book cannot possibly have enough editing to be decent. Hello, this book won the Pulitzer Prize!

Unless you are interested in the history of computers or the history of companies in general, I'm not sure you'll get much out of this book. The writing is pretty decent, however, so even if you just want to relax while reading about people who relax only a few hours a month, maybe the irony will carry you through.

I've read a lot histories of computing and technology companies and this book is good company for any of them. While this took place 30+ years ago, many elements are still relevant in today's tech businesses. Definitely recommended.

Anyone that wants to know what makes an electrical engineer tick can find it here.

It is he quintessential reference into nearly every aspect of how high-tech companies operate, from the individual personalities to the office and corporate politics.

Kidder's prize-winning bestseller fascinates because it succeeds to capture creativity as integrated in an extremely profit-oriented organization. At the same time, we are talking here of designing a computer in 1979 - really an antiquated period, from our present point of view, especially computerwise. However, antiquated as the computer they design may seem to us, the interactions and processes in the high-pressure atmosphere of Data General's young men's thinking tank (hardly any women!) are still interesting to us today. Whether you're in HRM or in some creative occupation, you will find fascinating notions in this book. If you are a decision maker on funding innovation projects, read this book to find the ideal profile of your risk-manager. Always wanted to know what "mushroom-management" really means? Read this.

Hans Stegeman

Tracy Kidder has captured the heart and soul of the daunting task of making a technological marvel. The constraints of time, budgets, personalities, plus competitors breathing down their necks. It's a breathtaking ride as the team works to achieve a miracle, and bring their idea to birth.

The book explores the history of computers way back. For readers in the new generation used to Tablets and extremely powerful mobile phones, this book may not leave the reader impressed. While the author explains computer terminology in a lucid way, most of the book seems way too long and winded to tell the real story. The book's ending doesn't match the story woven throughout the earlier chapters. The end seems rather lame.

I cannot begin to imagine how TSOANM garnered a Pulitzer in its publication year. I can only guess that it dealt with a subject matter -- a case study in the history of the computer -- so mysterious and cutting-edge in the view of awards committee members, that its incisiveness was simply assumed. How else to explain the praise that has been heaped on this tepid piece of computer science/management science journalism? How else to explain the fact that so little actual history -- of the computer industry or computers themselves -- and so little actual case study is to be found between the covers of this book? I don't doubt the author's earnest interest in his subjects. He strikes this reader as very well-intentioned, and his project had tremendous potential, to be sure. But he also strikes this reader as the unkeenest of observers. TSOANM could have been brilliantly realized by a writer like Steven Levy. Kidder fails to impress in every way possible: as a journalist, a historian, a thinker, and a writer. I must ask, again, whence the Pulitzer?

This is kind of a breathless story about some bright computer engineers in the 1970s trying to do something that had never been done before. Runs long, with what seems like a great deal of redundant information. And there's often melodrama (grinding, at times) when straightforward character portraits should have been employed instead.

I have a strong computer background. I am an engineer not a writer, but how this could have gotten a Pulitzer Prize is beyond me. It is so poorly written that I had to force myself to finish it as I was sure it would pick up in the end....it did not. I cant even recommend it to a single friend in the industry as it really has nothing to say other that a lot of sweat went in this development, but again if you have been involved in any cutting edge development project they are not 9-5 jobs....so what is new. Sorry I spent my time. Perhaps it needs context to appreciate it. The development was fantastic but the book was equality not up to it.