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Comment by edw519 | Hacker News Reader

Founders at Work. Lots of good true stories. Encourages me to work on my own true story.

Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition, and Still Can't Get a Date

Bob Cringely

(This book gets mentioned in Founders At Work... I think one of the Lycos guys had read it?)

You're thinking of Joe Kraus, who says him reading Accidental Empires lead to Excite succeeding.

Book -> Cringely -> Digitizing job -> VC -> VC -> funding or something like that.

Seconded. Cringely is the only one who doesn't make everything seem ooh-ahh-magical-brains! predetermined.

Altho that tell-all on the Segway (Code Name Ginger) was pretty cool for all the flaws it pointed out.

Where the Wizards Stay Up Late was a book I did an interactive presentation on in 7th grade, so it always has a special place in my heart. In retrospect, it's not fun to read, but at the time, I devoured it. It's boring and nothing really happens, which really is a good metaphor for the most exciting technical change.

Ooh, and "The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing Personal." Especially if you're into UI and unsung heroes.

If the author ever writes a vol. 2, and if karma correlates with startup success, then it looks like you have a good chance to be featured in it:)

Here's hoping, but I kind of doubt it. Correlation not causation, etc.

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