Kaplan, David A. The Silicon Boys. New York: William Morrow, 1999. 358 pages.
If you like Hollywood celebrities in long limousines, living in huge
mansions, flying to meetings in private jets, and throwing parties with
ostrich salami appetizers, then you'll love Silicon Valley. David Kaplan,
a writer for Newsweek, provides an educational portrait of the movers and
shakers behind the excess: Steve Jobs, Jerry Yang, Larry Ellison, John Doerr,
Marc Andreessen, Jim Clark, and Jim Barksdale. Bill Gates is covered (his
ghost is everywhere in Silicon Valley), as well as dropout Steve Wozniak,
and historical figures William Shockley and Gary Kildall. Hewlett-Packard,
IBM, Intel, Apple, Oracle, Sun, Yahoo, Netscape, and the venture capital
scene are examined. A broad brush is used, with some well-crafted, witty
sketches of certain personalities wedged between the broader strokes.
This book is no Hollywood celebrity knock-off, but instead is an
excellent piece of historical journalism and social criticism. Over 100
interviews were required, along with attendance at some amazing parties.
The bibliography lists 55 books. The author spent a year at Stanford in
1994-95, where much of the action was, and also spent most of 1998 in
Silicon Valley. When dollars were raining from high-tech start-ups, this
book was barely noticed. Yet the writing was already on the wall from the
very last paragraph: "The Valley once was a new machine. It changed the
world. It may do so yet again. But the machine has no soul anymore."
ISBN 0-688-16148-0
Extract the names from this source
Back to search page