Jason Cox

This is a fantastic history of what we currently think of as the tech industry. Walter Isaacson's history is extremely well written and eminently entertaining. As a nerdy kid who grew up loving computers in the late 70's and throughout the 80's, I had heard some of these stories before in part, but in each substory covered, Isaacson dives much deeper.

Starting with the stories of Charles Babbage (inventor of the Difference Engine and Analytical Engine) and Lady Ada (the first programmer, Mr. Isaacson follows the progression of the development of the computer. Alan Turing's entertaining yet tragic story is covered in detail as are his counterparts across the pond in America who are working on similar breakthroughs. The creation of Eniac and it's role in the Cold War. The early history of the personal computer is covered in detail. The foundations of Intel and the 8008 processor. Xerox Parc being 15 years ahead of their time (probably more). Hewlett and Packard starting up their company in a garage. The home-brew computer club. Pre-Apple computers. Apple computer's garage start up with Woz and Jobs. The foundation of Microsoft with Bill Gates, Paul Allen and Steve Ballmer. There's even a bit of coverage of the evolution of the internet from early ARPAnet to BBSes and Compuserve to AOL and then the web in general. This is pretty much a skim discussion as you could do whole books on most of these things. Still, it helps bring it all together and makes for a pretty satisfying end.

This looks to be another series with a lead character in the vein of Jack Reacher or Mitch Rapp. I tend to enjoy those types of thrillers, if done well, and this one definitely fits the bill.

Scot Harvath is a good lead character with grit, determination, and skills. The scenarios the author throws at him are fairly believable, suspenseful and pretty original.

Definitely worth the read. Will be adding more to my shelf for sure.

This is a fascinating book on WWI that covers more of the political aspects of the events leading up to and during the war. It reads fairly neutrally and doesn't feel like it “takes sides.” There is general discussion of the military side of the war with various battles and their significance covered, but not likely in the same degree of detail as the political machinations going on are covered.

I will admit that my education on the Great War was woeful. Perhaps this is because I moved cities in 8th grade and somehow missed it. Or maybe it's just that I'm a public school kid and that's what we got. Anyway, I thought this was very well done and I'd love suggestions that cover WWII in the same way.

For those of you who feel like taking the time (the unabridged audiobook was 32 hours) to learn about a war from a century ago, you might be surprised. I was certainly surprised how much similarity there is now to that era. Especially where it comes to some of the reporting from newspapers and propaganda that went on prior to and throughout the war.

A Warning: The propaganda of the time drove the citizens into a frenzy. For the Germans, that made them believe they were justified in their actions. It made them willing to make tremendous sacrifices towards a war effort that maybe shouldn't have been supported so long if their citizens and legislators were more level-headed. For the Entente (Allies), the same thing was true, but it also drove them to a point that they were unreasonable in their expectations for war reparations from Germany/Austria/Hungary. It appears obvious in hind-sight, but this likely lead to the conditions that brought Hitler to power and ultimately directly lead to WWII. Our current political climate is equally divisive. People on both sides of the political street actually believe that the other side is literally “evil.” That if you expose yourself to thoughts from the other side that you are somehow doing yourself harm. In reality, we are all in our own propaganda “bubbles” of information which is self-selected and then algorithmically reinforced through social media which feeds you more ideas that are similar to your own. The best thing we can do is to reverse this trend and burst our own info bubbles. Look openly at the other side. Maybe this way we can prevent WWIII, or a second civil war.

Interesting thriller with a different twist than anything I've read before. Some of the characters are hard to like due to their personal lifestyle choices & there is a lot of sexual violence. However, it is realistically portrayed & I don't think it is actually gratuitous. One of the best thrillers I've read.