The Innovators
How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution
2014 • 542 pages
Ratings22
Average rating3.8
15
How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution
Ratings22
Average rating3.8
Following his blockbuster biography of Steve Jobs, The Innovators is Walter Isaacson’s revealing story of the people who created the computer and the Internet. It is destined to be the standard history of the digital revolution and an indispensable guide to how innovation really happens.
What were the talents that allowed certain inventors and entrepreneurs to turn their visionary ideas into disruptive realities? What led to their creative leaps? Why did some succeed and others fail?
In his masterly saga, Isaacson begins with Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron’s daughter, who pioneered computer programming in the 1840s. He explores the fascinating personalities that created our current digital revolution, such as Vannevar Bush, Alan Turing, John von Neumann, J.C.R. Licklider, Doug Engelbart, Robert Noyce, Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs, Tim Berners-Lee, and Larry Page.
This is the story of how their minds worked and what made them so inventive. It’s also a narrative of how their ability to collaborate and master the art of teamwork made them even more creative.
For an era that seeks to foster innovation, creativity, and teamwork, The Innovators shows how they happen.
Reviews with the most likes.
Mooi toegankelijk en genuanceerd geschreven geschiedenis van de pc / internet. Vanaf Ada Lovelace tot Google. Twee dingen die vaak terugkwamen:
- Innovatie ontstaat waar verschillende mensen samenwerken.
- Uitvindingen zijn zelden toe te schrijven aan één iemand.
Boek was dik 500 pagina's, maar las als een trein.
Disappointing. The author cannot hardly go a chapter without mentioning 1) Steve Jobs (subject of his last biography) and 2) how teamwork only creates innovation, despite many examples to the contrary. Often repetitive as well.
This book deserves all the hype and myriad accolades touted in the press - it's a GREAT READ.
Accessible, clear, simple and compelling, “The Innovators” is a great historical survey of the names and personalities behind many of the big technological advances of our time, particularly in computer science.
Ever wonder why it's called Silicon Valley? Curious if Al Gore really DID invent the Internet? Want to know who made the first computer? It's all in there, along with some interesting insights for managers and leaders (if on the lookout). Highly recommended!
Excellent compilation of the history of digital technology. It starts in the 1800's, which Ada Lovelace and Babbage, going through Vacuum Tubes, Capacitors, Alan Turing, Grace Hopper, John von Neumann, the breakthrough invention of transistors, Bell Labs, Intel, Texas Instruments, Hacker culture, Video Games, Xerox, ARPANet, BBS, the Altair 8800 computer, Internet, Blogs, Wikipedia, Microsoft, Apple, Google.
It is a detailed exploration of how innovation is driven by collaboration and all advances are built on top of the past experiences. There is no one genius creator, innovation is most vibrant where there is room for idea sharing between communities. And the Internet allowed for a new level of collaborative process, the author calls it “the collective wisdom of crowds”.
I loved that he closes with a reflection on Ada Lovelace's ideas of integrating Arts and Humanities with Math and Physics, resulting in what she called “Poetical Science”.
A must read to understand where we are and how we got here.
