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“It [Intel’s foundry division] was shuttered after just several years.”

Just several years. There are a lot of sentences like this in the book. It’s got a strange aversion to specifics, like there was an editorial decision to steer clear of facts that could be disputed, or things that would confuse readers (where the reader is really underestimated, in my opinion).

This book calls time-division multiplexing “time division multi-access”, for no apparent reason other than the author and their editors don’t think their readers know anything about the subject of the book.

That’s just one example It’s been a while since I read something that had such low expectations of its audience.

According to this book, more or less, the personal computer was introduced by IBM in 1981. Nothing is said about the 4 or 5 years previous to that. It’s kind of stunning.

It’s conspicuous how he doesn’t name who was apparently the sole initial investor in Fairchild.

“When I heard that Long Term Capital had collapsed, my initial reaction was a sneaky relief: Hans Hufschmid was no longer worth $50 million. Anyone who has quit one life for another will understand the importance of insuring that none of the people you leave behind do so well for themselves as to suggest that you have made a truly colossal mistake.”

So far it seems to be a postmodern novel about the children of the ViewController (Swiss?) family. No plot to speak of, but it kind of reminds me of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Really sets a mood.

Not super Christmas-y. ;) The pages keep turning though.

If I had the weekend, I could just read the second half of this in one push. The pages turn themselves.

I gotta go run, before I just keep reading this until I have to go to work on Monday.

Avenue of the Giants!

Almaden is a neighborhood, not a suburb of San Jose.

Yes, I’m nitpicking. Can’t help it though. Enjoying the book!

My feet hurt.

My feet hurt.