Fire in the Valley
by Paul Freiberger | 
Dealers of Lightning
by Michael Hiltzik | 
The Soul of a New Machine
by Tracy Kidder |
Insanely Great
by Steven Levy |
Apple
by Jim Carlton | 
Hackers
by Steven Levy | 
What the Dormouse Said
by John Markoff |
Computer
by Martin Campbell-Kelly |
Nerds 2.0.1
by Stephen Segaller | 
The New New Thing
by Michael Lewis |
A History of Modern Computing
by Paul E. Ceruzzi |
The Chip
by T. R. Reid | 
The Innovators
by Walter Isaacson |
Engines of the Mind
by Joel N. Shurkin | 
In The Plex
by Steven Levy | 
The Ultimate History of Video Games
by Steven L. Kent |
Deluxe
by Dana Thomas | 
The End of Fashion
by Teri Agins | 
Engines of Change
by Paul Ingrassia | 
Chocolate Wars
by Deborah Cadbury |
Computer manufacturing is--after cars, energy production and illegal drugs--the largest industry in the world, and it's one of the last great success stories in American business. Accidental Empires is the trenchant, vastly readable history of that industry, focusing as much on the astoundingly odd personalities at its core--Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mitch Kapor, etc. and the hacker culture they spawned as it does on the remarkable technology they created. Cringely reveals the manias and foibles of these men (they are always men) with deadpan hilarity and cogently demonstrates how their neuroses have shaped the computer business. But Cringely gives us much more than high-tech voyeurism and insider gossip. From the birth of the transistor to the mid-life crisis of the computer industry, he spins a sweeping, uniquely American saga of creativity and ego that is at once uproarious, shocking and inspiring.