The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder
An underlying message
There is I believe a single quote from this book that encapsulates almost entirely its underlying message:
"No one ever pats anyone on the back around here. If de Castro ever patted me on the back, I'd probably quit"
Herein lies the soul, not a soul of silicon or of steel yet no less tangible. It is human soul that manifests itself through the endeavors of a team of computer designers working at the frontiers of human knowledge and engineering.
A vision of high-tech America
Celebrated for its insight into the world of corporate, high-technology America, the book earned the author a Pulitzer and a National Book Award in 1982. But this book holds far more for its reader, so much more than a mere insight, superficial, into the world of high-tech. Its pages are full of an insight that goes far deeper than that. I would venture that most of its insights are not about corporations, nor business, nor high-tech, but about people.
On the surface it gives the reader a factual and extremely detailed account of a team of engineers who between them create a new mini-computer (those machines you more often than not find in businesses and which have now in the most part been surpassed in power by the now ubiquitous desktop PC), a machine, advanced for its day (the story begins back in the late 1970's), but in many ways just another machine that, set against the developments in computing technology that have taken place since then, pales into insignificance performance-wise.
Interwoven throughout its pages are extremely accessible descriptions of the technology that these early machines encompassed, the tangible hardware comprising: the CPU (Cen...
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...ragile bonds that tie the team together as a single unit.
After the race is won
Success eventually comes. There is that coming down' process that often accompanies the ending of a project. From where now will come that goal that can motivate? From where that overarching visionary aim that will drive individuals forward, working beyond their known capacities in order to excel. No matter, something has been learned, something greater than all of them. Kidder try's to define those indefinable's, some may even say spiritual, lessons that are often assimilated when one takes part in a process that demands of us total commitment and dedication that goes beyond personal gain, no matter how high we may perceive our own individual level of importance to be.
The Soul of a New Machine' by Tracy Kidder
1981. New York: Avon Publishing
What is the message the author is trying to convey? How does (s)he convey this to the reader?
“There isn’t any particular relationship between all the messages, except that the author has chosen them carefully, so that,when seen all at once, they produce an image of life that is beautiful and suprising and deep. There is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects. What we love in our books are the depths of many marvelous moments seen all at one time.”
What are the important themes of the book? What questions or issues about teaching and learning does it address?
I believe that one theme of this book is, that you should always watch what you say, how you
1. What is the central idea discussed in the book (what is this book about)?
What is the central message of this text? Please explain it in your own words.
What was the main message? What did I understand was being said by the author; lecturer; practitioner etc… What argument was used to support their position?
One of the main points that I think comes out of this book, is one
Hamm, S., & Greene, J. (2004, October 25). The man who could have been Bill Gates. In Business Week. Retrieved January 14, 2012, from http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_43/b3905109_mz063.htm
Born in the eighties, I entered a world of big hair and bad style. In the technological realm there were tape players, VCR’s, and fresh on the market: personal computers. Apple was domination the computer scene with their introduction of the Lisa computer. But not for long, soon computer technology would jump to unimaginable heights. As I grew up the technology around me would continue to grow and advance – quite rapidly I might add.
First of all, I want to begin by saying that in order for me to make this paper interesting at all, I am willing to pretend that computers are somewhat fun and exciting but the truth is, I honestly can not stand anything that goes beyond the basics of a computer because if I try to go any deeper I am reminded that it has a bigger brain than I. Due to the fact that I have an undying frustration with these boxes of microchips, this may not be the most professional sounding paper in the world, but I will do my best in trying to make it fun and entertaining.
Douglas Engelbart, who was an electrical engineer and former naval radar technician, saw computers as more than number crunchers. “He knew from his days as a radar technician that screens could be used to display digital data, and therefore assumed it was possible to use a screen to display output from a computer (Mitchell).” It was a good ten years before Engelbart had the resources to build the devices that he had been thinking of for so long. Then invention that he knew would change the way computer w...
Erard, Michael. “For Technology, No Small World After All.” The New York Times. N.p., 6 May 2004. Web. 4 Oct. 2011. .
Here are some of the main points that I gathered from each chapter of this book:
The computer evolution has been an amazing one. There have been astonishing achievements in the computer industry, which dates back almost 2000 years. The earliest existence of the computer dates back to the first century, but the electronic computer has only been around for over a half-century. Throughout the last 40 years computers have changed drastically. They have greatly impacted the American lifestyle. A computer can be found in nearly every business and one out of every two households (Hall, 156). Our Society relies critically on computers for almost all of their daily operations and processes. Only once in a lifetime will a new invention like the computer come about.