How We Got Here: A Slightly Irreverent History of Technology and Markets – An Essential Primer on How Breakthrough Innovation Gets Funded from Industrial Revolution to Wall Street

by Andy Kessler

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 essential investments. Indeed, How We Got Here is the book Kessler wishes someone had handed him on his first day as a freshman engineering student at Cornell or on the day he started on Wall Street. This book connects the dots through history to how we got to where we are today.

Genres: History, Economics, Nonfiction, Technology, Business, Science, College

262 pages, Paperback

First published September 5, 2006

About the author

Andy Kessler is an investor, author and businessman.

Andy Kessler has worked for about 20 years as a research analyst, investment banker, venture capitalist, and hedge fund manager. He was also the Co-founder and President of Velocity Capital Management, an investment firm based in Palo Alto, California, United States.

He has written forThe Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Wired, Forbes, The Weekly Standard, the Los Angeles Times and The American Spectator.

Reviews

[Jani-Petri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting chapters, but overall the book is an editing mess. Weirdly disconnected chapters and sometimes I got a feeling that I am reading something that was intended as a script for some TV series. Last part of the book seemed to be there mainly for autobiographical reasons. You are better off just reading the first 100 pages or so.

[Nathan Glenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a history of technology with a focus on how economics drive innovation and development.

Parts of the book are super super interesting. The book gives a fairly detailed history of energy starting with the steam engine, and then moves onto a history of computing and communications technology. The author has personal ties to many modern day pioneers in these areas.

Unfortunately a lot of the book contains jokes and references to a certain in-crowd that I am not a part of. I do not know tons of Wall Street trading jargon. The last 100ish pages were almost unintelligible to me as he detailed the financial history of the modern world (especially the US), but apparently only for an audience that is already completely familiar with this area. I would love it if the author would re-write this book with a more general audience in mind.

[Cliff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Idiosyncratic recounting of the history of modern technology through the lens of the modern stock and venture capital markets with a lot of emphasis on the history of computing (as an enabler). I found the early parts interesting. But as things progressed to topics that I knew something about, his conclusions and explanations kept sounding a bit off to me. So I had pretty much lost faith by the time I got to the last quarter of the book, which turned into a highly political argument for complete deregulation of financial markets. Note that this book was published in 2005, almost immediately prior to the 2007/2008 meltdown, just as the biggest abuses were ramping up. So it comes across as both misguided and ironic.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an ambitious effort to tell the story of the industrial age to the computer age and the development of banking and stock markets alongside it that made it possible. Innovators always need investment to develop their new products and capitalists need substantial capital to scale their products and stay ahead of the other capitalists. The best writing was in describing industrial revolution machines and communications/networking inventions. I appreciate that the author attempts to interject humor often, although often at a clockwork rate of one per paragraph and Dad-joke quality. Often the story is connecting one invention to the next. This is inherently interesting although also very boring at times when the writing is not clear. There is no way most readers could have sufficient knowledge across all these subjects to not deserve some more basic explanations. Some of the writing was condensed and clever enough that I would go back to re-read it.

[Bill Pritchard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found Andy Kessler's "How We Got Here" to at times be a page turner. Consider the incredibly powerful computer you hold in your hand, pocket or purse and all the inventions it took in order to reach its potential - from the steam engine forward. It shows the breakthrough technology and the creation of the markets that funded them. Filled with many interesting details, I found myself reading sections out loud to my wife who at times (but not all the time... :-)) was as surprised at the connections as I was. A great book to binge while on a vacation, as the chapters are concise enough to be consumed in the period of time it takes before one has to turn to keep the tan even. Thoroughly enjoyed.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andy Kessler has a unique style, a style I personally enjoy, very matter of fact yet casual.
I found this title to be extremely informative, but presented in such a way to provide a fresh point of view of well documented content.
This title is particularly valuable as a complimentary resource to Kessler's other works where he further outlines his wealth management principles & market involvement insights.

[Daniel Dod · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid overview of capital markets, entrepreneurship, and a variety of key industrial inventions that got use to our current state of economic affairs.

[Neil]

recommended by Luke H

[Richie Cartwright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting review of tech & finance, through industrial revolution. Not the best written.

[Christy Matthews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and sweet covering some early advances in technology (think steam engines) and how they shaped the world.

[Mark Speed · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the subtitle says - it's a slightly irreverent history of technology and markets. If you're fairly well-read you probably could have written this book yourself after a bit of Wiki-surfing. (Or at least I know I could have... Just kicking myself for not having done so.) But that's not the point. This is the kind of book that does the Wiki-surfing for you, in a readable and logical way. There are some new and interesting facts and connections I'd not quite appreciated. I'd not realised that the first steam engines were actually leased on a 'costs saved' basis; nor had I realised that Cornish tin-miners tended to work in a collective manner. Goes to show: there's no end to one's own ignorance. It's a fun and interesting read. Not quite irreverent enough for my tastes. And he doesn't explain how we got here in terms of the financial 'industry'* being the only one that came out of a massive crash as a winner and having paid next to nothing in penalties for having done it, and being allowed to set up the pins again for an identical rerun. I don't get it. (This guy's a former hedgie and Wall St worker.)

*It's not a proper industry. An industry produces useful things IMHO - things other than things that are its own components: i.e. debt and misery. I'm not bitter. Really.

[Christopher Obert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book, it was good, but it could have been much better. The author does a good job telling the story of technology and the stock markets but I think that better editing could have made this book great. To be fair, the subject matter was complex, and to me very interesting, but it did not flow as well as it could have. The author has had many careers and felt that the book should have some humor in it (and I agree) but he is not a stand-up comic and the book could have used less funny business and more serious business. For better examples of just the right amount of lightness to keep the complex readable see books by Hugh MacLeod, Paul B. Brown and the great Henry Petroski.

[Brad Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An insightful look at the process of technological development from the perspective of a tech investor. Kessler really seems to understand the difference between historical narrative and the "generator of history" (as NNT puts it) - he plunges into the non-linear path of historical progression without the usual false inevitability implied by standard historical narrative. This really impressed me with the value of tangible risk taking in sharpening critical thinking - Kessler is used to having "skin in the game", and his thinking shows it.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book. It's one of those books that, with good humor, provides some great 'threads' of innovation that have colored the movements and growth of technology and markets. As it suggests, it is slightly irreverent, which makes it all the more fun. Andy Kessler is a solid author who's style I find to be well flowing and quite enjoyable.

[Adam Boisvert · Rating 5 out of 5]

What the field of economic history needs, in my humble opinion, is more irreverence. Some people are experts in the history of economic growth, other people are experts in the history of technological growth, and the few people that are experts on both tend to take themselves entirally to seriously. Kessler at least provides an informative and entertaining introduction to the subject.

[Princesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read. I liked the way he tied in history with markets and how technology not only fueled growth but eventually became the thing that propelled us forward. Money, technology, trading, markets--all go hand in hand and are extremely reliant upon each other.

The only one of Mr. Kessler's book I have read, although I am familiar with his others via book reviews and the news.

[Ming · Rating 3 out of 5]

nice economic/technological history from a former technology hedge fund manager. irreverent indeed but fun and quick to read.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

calles itself an "irreverant history." in the end its about how technology and market forces join forces: free markets bring funding for tech, tech brings more freedom to markets.

[Farmingkat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andy's best book. A very complicated yet straight analysis on the history of technology, and how event in the old days can still have relevance in today world

[Martin Linkov]

Kessler has an unique style. Writting about complex things in an easy and engaging way!

[Prabhu R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read about technology and stock markets

[Neal Barker]

Excellent introduction to the history of technology and the markets and their eventual meshing.

[Davidius · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful high-level, story-driven accounts of symbiotic evolution between computational devices and capital markets starting with the Industrial Revolution.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andy Kessler’s “How We Got Here” takes readers on a whirlwind tour through the past five centuries, weaving together lines from technology, war, finance, politics, and more to create a compelling story. While I found myself, on more than one occasion, fatigued by the sheer quantity of names, dates, events, etc., I was also delighted by the author’s willingness to dash through various fields and periods, and gladly rode along. Perhaps this says more about my attention span than this book..

I was fascinated by the technical discussions provided by the engineer-financier-author, and enjoyed the survey of modern technology. Towards the end of the book, the author’s apparent biases start to peak through the text (He seems to have been the victor in many of his own battles of tech and money. Certainly this impacts a person’s views) as he simmers at government regulations, glosses over the impact of panics and manias, and left me wondering if his brand of enthusiasm may be needing some temperance. Considering this Capitalistic optimism and the positive ending of the book, I would be interested to read an additional chapter of this book including the author’s analysis of the 2008 financial crisis.

A few major takeaways I took from this book:
The stock market has an important job - raise risk capital for unproven ventures. This accelerated innovation by funneling money to the right ideas, and matching investors to investments with compatible risk tolerance and timeline.

Innovation occurs one step at a time - a small improvement in “true roundness” of the cylinder, added by a canon-maker, unleashed the steam engine. The mosaic web browser inverted the 80-20 rule that had dominated the World Wide Web prior to that time (80% local traffic, 20% wide area traffic) and kicked off the internet as we know it.

Conflict often fuels innovation. This theme is present throughout English/French wars, straight through frequency hopping radios, transistors, and spacecraft.

Innovations in tech lead to changes in business. Sometimes it’s bumpy (especially for the Luddites)

Incentives tend to be misaligned in current insurance agreements - why is their privatized upside but socialized downside?

Risk/equity vs. Debt generally refers to purchasing stock vs. issuing a loan. The Brit’s lost their salt after the South Sea Bubble and they have leaned toward debt since.

The Gold Standard was only recently abolished. Prior to 1971 the gold standard ruled economics throughout much of European history since the Renaissance.

Related to above: even though the Brit’s cleaned up early, their dominance didn’t last. Like the Spanish before them, they found themselves with too much gold. They gave up their edge when they destroyed their Nazi-defeating computers

The author also includes a Maxim List of his own:
Lower prices drive wealth.

Capital sloshes around seeking highest return.