A review by ericpschoon
The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder

informative lighthearted slow-paced

This book engages in a lot of blatant hero worship of the men (it's a book about the tech industry in the 70's, the fact that it even lists two women by name is astounding) who built a pretty good computer. Understandably well received in its own time, but reading it in 2022 can feel murky especially with what "big tech" has grown to mean in the modern era.

There is novelty in reading about this early phase of computer engineering and the both very different and, at times, how eerily similar the market functioned then versus now. You can also feel how much the author engaged with the subject at hand with surprisingly thorough breakdowns of technical concepts and clear human connections with the people he was writing about. Bundle that with a few legitimately well written passages and the book is an enjoyable read if you've ever found looking at computer specs interesting.

If you're outside of that bubble though I don't think a lot will hold your interest unless you want to read a book that regularly hides, justifies, and shields blatant corporate abuse of employees in exchange for making those employees sound really smart (which, as detailed in the book, are the same tricks the company used to perform that abuse in the first place).