The Soul of a New Machine - Tracy Kidder Audiobook

Written by Tracy Kidder
Read by Ben Sullivan
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Publisher: Hachette Audio
Release date: May 17, 2016
Duration: 09:03:48

Tracy Kidder’s “riveting” story of one company’s efforts to bring a new microcomputer to market won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and has become essential reading for understanding the history of the American tech industry.

Computers have changed since 1981, when The Soul of a New Machine first examined the culture of the computer revolution. What has not changed is the feverish pace of the high-tech industry, the go-for-broke approach to business that has caused so many computer companies to win big (or go belly up), and the cult of pursuing mind-bending technological innovations.

The Soul of a New Machine is an essential chapter in the history of the machine that revolutionized the world in the twentieth century.

“Ben Sullivan does a solid job narrating Kidder’s 1981 account of a team of engineers outside Boston who are designing a new computer. At the time, the book was considered groundbreaking reporting–now it recalls a long-ago time of “super minis,” the size of a suite of kitchen appliances, when the internet was unknown. Kidder won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for patiently documenting how the engineers thought and interacted. Here, Sullivan enlivens the sometimes arcane engineering disputes. He has a strong, pleasant voice, and his pacing is good, and his delivery clear–although he sometimes mangles Massachusetts place names. Kidder’s careful observations withstand the test of time.”—AudioFile