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In Search of Stupidity: Over Twenty Years of High Tech Marketing Disasters
In Search of Stupidity: Over Twenty Years of High-Tech Marketing Disasters, Second Edition is National Lampoon meets Peter Drucker. It's a funny and well-written business book that takes a look at some of the most influential marketing and business philosophies of the last twenty years. Through the dark glass of hindsight, it provides an educational and entertaining look at why these philosophies didn�t work for many of the country's largest and best-known high-tech companies.
Marketing wizard Richard Chapman takes you on a hilarious ride in this book, which is richly illustrated with cartoons and reproductions of many of the actual campaigns used at the time. Filled with personal anecdotes spanning Chapman's remarkable career (he was present at many now-famous meetings and events), In Search of Stupidity, Second Edition examines the best of the worst marketing ideas and business decisions in the last 20 years of the technology industry.
This second edition includes new chapters on Google and on how to avoid stupidity, plus the extensive analyses of all chapters from the first edition. You�ll want to get a copy because it:
Features an interesting preface and interview with Joel Spolsky of "Joel on Software" Offers practical advice on avoiding PR disaster Features actual pictures of some of the worst PR and marketing material ever created Is highly readable and funny Includes theme-based cartoons for every chapter412 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2003
24 people are currently reading
502 people want to read
About the author
Merrill R. Chapman
9 books7 followersRick Chapman is the managing editor and publisher of Softletter. He is the author of "In Search of Stupidity: Over 20 Years of High-Tech Marketing Disasters" (Apress), "The Product Marketing Handbook for Software," and "SaaS Entrepreneur: The Definitive Guide to Succeeding in Your Cloud Application Business." Rick has worked and consulted in the software industry for such industry pioneers as MicroPro (WordStar) and Ashton-Tate and consulted for a wide variety of software and high technology firms such as IBM, Novell, Microsoft, Sun and many others.
In his career Rick has worked as a programmer, sales engineer, product manager, and VP of marketing and product management.
Rule-Set: A Novel of a Quantum Future is his first novel.
In his career Rick has worked as a programmer, sales engineer, product manager, and VP of marketing and product management.
Rule-Set: A Novel of a Quantum Future is his first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
September 28, 2014
I couldn't walk past a book with a title like this, could I? Written in response to In Search of Excellence, this book is an excellent read for anyone in the computer industry and interested in the history behind how some companies became icons overnight and how some others screwed their own markets. The book starts from the halcyon days of the late 1970s and comes on toward the first decade of this millennium. Along the way we get a history lesson on the computer industry, from the genesis days when everyone knew everyone to the boom days of multi-billion contracts. We also get a feel of the way different companies were perceived by the public at different times, the aura that surrounded some (IBM in particular), the mess that various companies brought themselves into, eccentric characters who helped shape the course of history, snippets and two-way accounts of various stories, and lots and lots of absolutely hilarious accounts of decisions made by companies.
October 26, 2010
This book contains some interesting bits about the software industry in 80s and 90s, but as a whole, it was a big disappointment.
The author is quite self-centered, never forgetting to mention that "he was there", whether it has any relevance to the story or not. This quickly becomes very annoying.
The structure of the book is a bit strange, some parts are repeated several times and the "lessons learned" for each chapter are oddly placed at the very end of the book, where you have already forgotten what the chapter was about.
Also, the book mostly fails to deliver what it promises in its title: it is quite easy to pronounce every bad business decision as "stupid" 10 or 20 years after it already happened (and the author, again, never fails to mention that he personally would indeed made better decision), but only in rare ocasions it is really helpful to the reader who is trying to learn how to avoid making such mistakes in future.
To sum it up, this is not a waste of time if you are really interested in history of software (and if you manage to ignore all the bragging of the autor), but do not expect too much practical tips about marketing or too much examples of real marketing failures.
The author is quite self-centered, never forgetting to mention that "he was there", whether it has any relevance to the story or not. This quickly becomes very annoying.
The structure of the book is a bit strange, some parts are repeated several times and the "lessons learned" for each chapter are oddly placed at the very end of the book, where you have already forgotten what the chapter was about.
Also, the book mostly fails to deliver what it promises in its title: it is quite easy to pronounce every bad business decision as "stupid" 10 or 20 years after it already happened (and the author, again, never fails to mention that he personally would indeed made better decision), but only in rare ocasions it is really helpful to the reader who is trying to learn how to avoid making such mistakes in future.
To sum it up, this is not a waste of time if you are really interested in history of software (and if you manage to ignore all the bragging of the autor), but do not expect too much practical tips about marketing or too much examples of real marketing failures.
June 27, 2025
This was another book recommendation from a tech friend. This volume is an insightful overview of 1980s computer history and the mistakes that companies continue to make, despite evidence to the contrary. But Chapman's insights are negated by his annoyingly smug tone. You know, that motherfucker you find in the sports bar AFTER the game, waxing on about how he KNEW the team was going to choke the entire time. But you never saw how the guy reacted WHILE the game was playing? Well, that's Merrill Chapman -- despite the abundant portrayals of corporate greed and the long history of company stealing ideas from others (VisiCalc as the template for Lotus 1-2-3, Apple notoriously stealing from Xerox). Even so, Chapman's anecdotes (interspersed among the annoyingly cutesy illustrations) reveal that nothing has fundamentally changed about boorish men leaning into the worst excesses of capitalism. And this is a useful volume for those who want to brush up on their computer history.
August 8, 2013
In 1982, Tom Peters told the world about how excellent companies were turning around the US economy. What Peters failed to recognize was that many of the companies that he was looking at weren't actually "excellent" but were in fact huge clunking dinosaurs that were producing buggy whips in the age of the automobile. New, smaller companies came around and ate the lunch of the big "excellent" guys and then proceeded to make either the exact same stupid mistakes as the big guys or new and more innovative stupid mistakes.
This book basically deals with the stupidity found in high tech companies of the 1980's and 1990's. Why is Microsoft such a huge company today? It isn't because their products were better or because they cheated other companies out of their rightful place in the market. It's because they weren't as stupid as their competition. Merrill Chapman takes us through the comedy of errors that companies like Digital Research, WordStar, Lotus, and Ashton-Tate went through as they tossed their market leads aside in fits of stupidity. You can't help but laugh (or cry) at the amazing levels of stupidity that these companies exhibited. Examples: WordStar was once one of the finest word processing programs in the world. But somehow the company ended up owning two competing mediocre products. Lotus was the leader in spreadsheets but ignored the rise of Windows and allowed themselves to be knocked out of first place by Excel. These and many more examples are well documented in this book.
The book is not an in-depth study of the business world. You won't find very much analysis of why a particular company made such obviously fatal errors. Why did Borland pay an outrageous sum to buy Ashton-Tate at a time when Ashton-Tate had virtually nothing that Borland needed? You won't find the answer here. What you will find is an amusing, well-written (without being vicious) examination of the collapse of perfectly good companies under the weight of their own serious errors of judgment.
There is a moral to be learned from this book. It isn't necessary to be excellent. In fact, excellence can be expensive and drive up your costs so much that they make your products uncompetitive. The secret is not to be excellent, in fact you don't even have to be very smart. All you need to be is less stupid that your competitors. Just ask Microsoft.
This book basically deals with the stupidity found in high tech companies of the 1980's and 1990's. Why is Microsoft such a huge company today? It isn't because their products were better or because they cheated other companies out of their rightful place in the market. It's because they weren't as stupid as their competition. Merrill Chapman takes us through the comedy of errors that companies like Digital Research, WordStar, Lotus, and Ashton-Tate went through as they tossed their market leads aside in fits of stupidity. You can't help but laugh (or cry) at the amazing levels of stupidity that these companies exhibited. Examples: WordStar was once one of the finest word processing programs in the world. But somehow the company ended up owning two competing mediocre products. Lotus was the leader in spreadsheets but ignored the rise of Windows and allowed themselves to be knocked out of first place by Excel. These and many more examples are well documented in this book.
The book is not an in-depth study of the business world. You won't find very much analysis of why a particular company made such obviously fatal errors. Why did Borland pay an outrageous sum to buy Ashton-Tate at a time when Ashton-Tate had virtually nothing that Borland needed? You won't find the answer here. What you will find is an amusing, well-written (without being vicious) examination of the collapse of perfectly good companies under the weight of their own serious errors of judgment.
There is a moral to be learned from this book. It isn't necessary to be excellent. In fact, excellence can be expensive and drive up your costs so much that they make your products uncompetitive. The secret is not to be excellent, in fact you don't even have to be very smart. All you need to be is less stupid that your competitors. Just ask Microsoft.
August 13, 2010
Another lucky find at the library book sale...
Despite the title (a self-avowed dig at, "In Search of Excellence" by you-know-who), this book covers more than just marketing blunders.
First-off, High Tech here refers to the computer hardware and software industries (mostly software). Other industries that have taken on or been painted with the "high tech" moniker (think gene therapy, designer drugs, etc.) are not part of this work. Nor, for that matter is that most famous marketing disaster of all time, "New Coke".
Mr. Chapman has been there and lived through the early genesis of the PC industry and it's growth into today's industry. Herein you will benefit from his direct involvement in companies that made their fair share of mistakes and his connections within the industry to learn of others'.
No matter what you may have heard about Digital Research and how it lost the IBM PC, read this book for yet another true account. Make up your own mind which seems most likely.
Chapman has a very good, engaging, writing style and lots of facts, instances, and opinions to go around each topic. I liked the way this book read and how it presented the material.
And lastly, not every disaster was started by the sales or marketing departments. Many were created by poor or uniformed management, but others were started and kept in place (long enough to sink a company) by the software developers. So, pickup this book and see how every part of a company can pull disaster out of victory.
Despite the title (a self-avowed dig at, "In Search of Excellence" by you-know-who), this book covers more than just marketing blunders.
First-off, High Tech here refers to the computer hardware and software industries (mostly software). Other industries that have taken on or been painted with the "high tech" moniker (think gene therapy, designer drugs, etc.) are not part of this work. Nor, for that matter is that most famous marketing disaster of all time, "New Coke".
Mr. Chapman has been there and lived through the early genesis of the PC industry and it's growth into today's industry. Herein you will benefit from his direct involvement in companies that made their fair share of mistakes and his connections within the industry to learn of others'.
No matter what you may have heard about Digital Research and how it lost the IBM PC, read this book for yet another true account. Make up your own mind which seems most likely.
Chapman has a very good, engaging, writing style and lots of facts, instances, and opinions to go around each topic. I liked the way this book read and how it presented the material.
And lastly, not every disaster was started by the sales or marketing departments. Many were created by poor or uniformed management, but others were started and kept in place (long enough to sink a company) by the software developers. So, pickup this book and see how every part of a company can pull disaster out of victory.
November 7, 2011
As someone who enjoys the history of the computer industry I think this book is on the top of my list up there with Accidental Empires. Some good insight into why many of the high tech companies didn't survive in the twenty-first century and how a company like Microsoft with there own stupidity (he uses the example of the period between NT 4.0 and Windows XP, but leaves out other disasters like Xenix). I think it also gives one of the better arguments why CP/M and Gary Kildall eventually lost out to Bill Gates and MS DOS as the default Operating System in the rise of the clones era in the PC industry. The summation of the failures of IBM PS/2, WordStar and similar products reveals the old maxim that you don't have to be faster then the bear just faster then the guy behind you.
April 8, 2010
Two words: Freakin' Awesome.
You will read the sweet nectar, that is, corporate failure through very, very public stupidity.
Lots of people read books about economics, business, and management written by some academic or some feel-good expert who hasn't a clue what he's talking about.
I like the contrarian view, learn through the mistakes of failures. Not necessarily stupid people, but definitely people who made big mistakes.
You will read the sweet nectar, that is, corporate failure through very, very public stupidity.
Lots of people read books about economics, business, and management written by some academic or some feel-good expert who hasn't a clue what he's talking about.
I like the contrarian view, learn through the mistakes of failures. Not necessarily stupid people, but definitely people who made big mistakes.
March 31, 2008
If you want to know why IBM finally left the market of personal computers, what happened to Netscape Navigator browser, or how so many software companies managed to went bankrupt, this book is an excellent source of knowledge. Sometimes you can disagree with the author – it was not all about stupidity – but the facts are really interesting. The author put a lot of irony and jokes in the book, but most marketing and technical details are also there.
September 23, 2014
Una lettura brillante e divertente su un argomento difficilmente trattato con questi toni. Certo, forse è il caso di glissare sul contenuto didattico; per dire, uno dei messaggi dell'autore è che Apple ha sbagliato a puntare troppo sui prodotti di qualità, e per questo ha perso nei confronti di aziende "vincenti" come Dell e HP. Se però si ha l'accortezza di prendere il libro come una semplice raccolta di aneddoti e gustosi retroscena, vale sicuramente la pena di leggerlo.
October 31, 2014
A basic rehash of failures in the computer industry. Written like someone was at a barstool at a corner drinking hole telling some young bucks about the history of goofs and failed efforts over the last 50 years,,,,Borland, 1-2-3, Netscape, the 1999-2001 dot.com bubble and more. Very little analysis, zero quotes from those in the offices making decisions. For lessons learned, this could have been much much better, but a simple rehash relegates it to Old Joe at the corner bar....
February 7, 2015
Very fun book to read, with some great examples from Chapman's first-hand experiences. The beginning is much better than the ending, as his first-hand knowledge of senior executives and their approach to business and marketing seems to wane. But overall a good book with many examples of what NEVER to do. I will use some of these timeless examples in my own Marketing classes.
April 13, 2010
As a tech guy who has had to deal with marketing people, the schadenfreude to be found within was delicious. The author has been involved with so many failed companies that he is either extremely experienced and sought-after, or he is what epidemiologists refer to as "Patient Zero."
December 11, 2012
Not being a die- hard techie, I didn't understand all of the most technical references in the book, but that didn't take away from my enjoyment of the writing and the subject matter. Very entertaining and interesting read.
June 9, 2014
Excellent summary of the past several decades of high tech business, told with a fun tone. Chapman knows how to tell engaging, amusing stories about the tech industry. His advice: learn from history, hire an excellent team of managers (both business and technical).
February 5, 2008
Humorous, interesting look at the history of well-known high tech companies' blunders. Some experience in programming might be required in order to truly appreciate the stories.
December 28, 2009
Fascinating anecdotes of the consequences of mis-reading the market and confusing customers with conflicting product lines. Not to mention insane egotism.
October 17, 2013
I enjoy stories about the beginnings of the computer industry ... this was a very entertaining take on the subject! An easy read.
October 31, 2013
Concise, fun and useful. Just read it.
November 23, 2020
La storia dell'informatica raccontata da uno che c'è stato dentro fin dagli inizi, e che ha potuto assistere in presa diretta a tutte le sciocchezze che nel suo nome sono state compiute, raccontandole in questo volume con spirito divertito e ironico (anche auto-ironico, dato che quello sulla copertina, che sta per essere investito dal treno alle sue spalle mentre è intento a scrutare avanti col binocolo, è proprio lui).
February 7, 2019
Серия захватывающих историй про компьютерную индустрию от первых настольных компьютеров до периода зрелого интернета. Написано внимательным, но плохо образованным человеком. Впрочем, американец начинавший с низов.
December 31, 2023
Interesting but also kinda boring. Could have been written way shorter.
September 24, 2014
The title has promise, so as a software developer myself, this looked like a worthwhile read. Sadly, there’s no delivery. Forget I said ‘sadly’. It’s a repetitive, dull book with little to no informative value. If you scratch the surface of tedious reminiscing – and boy does the author love to remind you ‘he was there’, just in case you’re also stupid, and forgot he’d mentioned it on the previous page – there are some attempts to provide marketing advice, but none of it is ground-breaking, original or new.
The main focus is the author’s self-centred boasting. If an editor crossed out the endless ‘in hindsight’ bragging, this would be a very thin book. Anyone can write ‘in hindsight’ wise words and proclaim to be a marketing guru. I use the phrase ‘wise words’ cautiously here as I don’t want people to think there are any to be found.
In a nutshell, this book is misleading as a “Product Marketing Handbook for Software.” A more appropriate subtitle would be, “An arrogant self-serving rant from a man who likes the sound of his own voice.” It’s more about the author than it is about high-tech marketing, because in tearing down others, the author proves he has nothing, in fact, to say for himself.
The main focus is the author’s self-centred boasting. If an editor crossed out the endless ‘in hindsight’ bragging, this would be a very thin book. Anyone can write ‘in hindsight’ wise words and proclaim to be a marketing guru. I use the phrase ‘wise words’ cautiously here as I don’t want people to think there are any to be found.
In a nutshell, this book is misleading as a “Product Marketing Handbook for Software.” A more appropriate subtitle would be, “An arrogant self-serving rant from a man who likes the sound of his own voice.” It’s more about the author than it is about high-tech marketing, because in tearing down others, the author proves he has nothing, in fact, to say for himself.
May 12, 2013
Il libro è farcito di metafore allo scopo di rendere la lettura più accessibile, ma ci sono anche imprecisioni qua e là (ad un certo punto con nonchalance viene detto che Apple è di proprietà di AOL).
Gli ultimi due o tre capitoli sono comunque più interessanti e meglio scritti rispetto al resto del libro, secondo me. Qualità un po' altalenante, rivolto comunque al grande pubblico.
Gli ultimi due o tre capitoli sono comunque più interessanti e meglio scritti rispetto al resto del libro, secondo me. Qualità un po' altalenante, rivolto comunque al grande pubblico.
December 10, 2016
A very good overview of some of tech's more infamous marketing blunders - the IBM DOS deal, Ashton-Tate/Borland/Novell flameouts, the Sony rootkit imbroglio and many others.
The author's colorful turns of phrase make this an even more entertaining read.
The author's colorful turns of phrase make this an even more entertaining read.
March 13, 2008
More marketers need to read this. Seriously. That high risk, high reward phrase we all love to bandy about? Sometimes it ends going down in flames.
September 23, 2012
Basically a collection of tech companies doing stupid things in the 80's and 90's. Pretty entertaining and possibly helpful!
August 14, 2016
Read it a long time ago but I have fond memories about how entertainung it was. Not sure how relevant it would be if read now.
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