Amazon.com
Hard Drive charts Gates's missteps as well as his successes: the failure of OS/2 and the embarrassing delays in bringing Windows to the marketplace; the highly publicized split with IBM, which then forged an alliance with Apple to battle Microsoft; the public relations fallout over various exploits of Gates; and the investigations by the Federal Trade Commission. Wallace and Erickson also examine the combative, often abrasive side of Gates's personality that has alienated many of Microsoft's rivals and even employees, and led to his being labeled "The Silicon Bully" by Business Month Magazine. They report:
In the early 80's, Microsoft's Multiplan lost out to Lotus 1-2-3 in the marketplace. According to one Microsoft programmer, a few of the key people working on DOS 2.0 had a saying at the time that "DOS isn't done until Lotus won't run." They managed to code a few hidden bugs into DOS 2.0 that caused Lotus 1-2-3 to breakdown when it was loaded. "There were as few as three or four people who knew this was being done," the employee said. He felt the highly competitive Gates was the ringleader.
The first two female executives hired at Microsoft in 1985 were recruited to meet federal affirmative action guidelines so that the company could qualify for a lucrative Air Force contract. One source says,"They would say, 'Well, let's hire two women because we can pay them half as much as we will have to pay a man, and we can give them all this other crap work to do because they are women.' That's directly out of Bill's mouth...." Gates treated one of these executives so badly that she asked to be transferred away from him.
Microsoft managers used the company's e-mail system to secretly spy on employee work habits. Only those employees who worked weekends could collect bonuses. In time word got out and some employees logged into their e-mail on weekends with a modem from home so it would appear they had come in.
Book Description
The true story behind the rise of a tyrannical genius, how he
transformed an industry, and why everyone is out to get him.
In this fascinating exposé, two investigative reporters trace the hugely successful career of Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Part entrepreneur, part enfant terrible, Gates has become the most powerful -- and feared -- player in the computer industry, and arguably the richest man in America. In Hard Drive, investigative reporters Wallace and Erickson follow Gates from his days as an unkempt thirteen-year-old computer hacker to his present-day status as a ruthless billionaire CEO. More than simply a "revenge of the nerds" story though, this is a balanced analysis of a business triumph, and a stunningly driven personality. The authors have spoken to everyone who knows anything about Bill Gates and Microsoft -- from childhood friends to employees and business rivals who reveal the heights, and limits, of his wizardry. From Gates's singular accomplishments to his equally extraordinary brattiness, arrogance, and hostility (the atmosphere is so intense at Microsoft that stressed-out programmers have been known to ease the tension of their eighty-hour workweeks by exploding homemade bombs), this is a uniquely revealing glimpse of the person who has emerged as the undisputed king of a notoriously brutal industry.
Customer Reviews:
Intense, highly relevant.......2007-07-21
Delightful book. Its one flaw is its addictiveness, I couldn't put it down which did cost me sleep (I'm an IT professional with an entrepreneur spirit- your results may vary).
The Microsoft/Gates biography is impeccable in its wealth of interesting details and engaging story-telling.
Bill Gates is a fantastic decision maker. He would be as successful selling water or space suits, he just happened to be at the right time in the right booming industry and pushed with his business-business mentality to the limit. Right decision after right decision, the Microsoft journey is a story that any entrepreneur should nitpick and absorb as much as possible.
Of course, his terrible capitalistic drive is a perfect subject for a discussion on morals, social responsibility and related matters, but without a doubt when it comes to maximizing outcome while playing by our economic rules, Hard Drive tells a tale of epic proportions featuring a superhero / villain that rivals the best of science fiction.
Great tracking of a complex personality...........2007-05-13
This is the definitive Book about Bill Gates (and the history of Windows). It covers all the management aspects of how he drove Microsoft and how the work became his life. The man doesn't do business... He LIVES it. And this book describes it in very much detail.
The details includes how Bill "turned over" IBM... Promissing them the OS/2 under the "NT Technology" flag and how he realeased Windows 95 and killed IBM forever from the Desktop business. It also shows Gates apreciation for Older woman (and many that took him to bed). As part of this "private" package, it also explains the problems that He had with Steve Ballmer. How Ballmer was showing poor management and leadership under Gates perspective and how Ballmer got over it and made his loyalty to Gates forever.
I was more interested on the part that explains how Microsoft Windows 1.0 was developed. How disastrous the first Office was compared to the competition and how they managed to "work around" and fix it, by "coping" the competition and improving it "the Microsoft way".
Buy this if you want to know how business can be done... or be "copied".
critical, but admiring: a balanced book, if outdated.......2007-05-03
This is really a story of how Gates led Microsoft to its apex, ending in about 1992. It is well written and a good balance bewteen criticism, an explanation of the business model, and historical detail. The story is, to put it mildly, remarkable no matter what you think of MS and Gates.
While a student at Harvard in December, 1974, Bill Gates III and Paul Allen informed Ed Roberts by telephone that they had invented a BASIC computer language for the MITS Altair 8080, which was the first "personal computer" kit for hobbyists. Could they license it along with each Altair kit, Gates asked, to customers for a royalty fee? It was an audacious proposal, because not only had Gates and Allen invented no such thing, but they neither owned an Altair kit nor did they even know the technical specifications for the Intel 8080 chip. Skeptical of their claim, Roberts replied that whoever demonstrated a working BASIC would win the account: Gates and Allen were in competition, he told them, with 50 other "geeks" who already had made the same claim. Gates and Allen then hunkered down for 8 weeks to write the first BASIC for a microcomputer. The resulting "software", which immediately won over Roberts, was the first application of what would become Microsoft BASIC. Gates was 19.
As the company founders, Gates and Allen shared a vision that virtually every home and every office desk would eventually have a PC on them, all operating with their software. To run Microsoft full time, Gates dropped out of Harvard in January, 1977. Their business quickly expanded beyond the Altair as competing brands of personal computers emerged, including the Tandy from Radio Shack and the Apple II computer; they were also called upon to program BASIC into a number of other electronic devices. All along, Gates' goal was to gain market share, in effect setting the software standard for most, if not all, PC users. As a true believer who intimately knew the product, Gates was the principal salesman, while Allen concentrated on technical development.
During this formative period, Microsoft's corporate culture was established. Perhaps as a result of hiring many of his programmers straight out of university, Microsoft's offices (and later the campus in Redmond, Washington) took on the look and feel of a college campus, that is, an informal and a freewheeling intellectual atmosphere with "late hours, loud music, walls full of junk, anything goes dress, Coke, adrenaline, unbuttoned behavior." Employees tended to be very young with a programmer or engineering mentality; they designed their products for tech-savvy customers - male in their early 20s - like themselves, a kind of fellowship for computer adepts. Like Gates, they loved to play with and program electronic gadgets.
Microsoft hired the brightest programmers with demonstrated practical abilities. Employees were also expected to work extremely long hours as a team toward a common goal, not as strident individualists. Gates encouraged them to develop their entrepreneurial passions, forcefully advancing their own ideas of useful products for new markets. Overseeing it all was Gates, who gained the reputation of a harsh and challenging critic with a relentless drive for excellence, whether to beat the competition or out of fear of falling behind in such a fast-changing industry. As the sole remaining founder after Allen's departure in 1983, Gates remained deeply involved in both technical and business details as well as the general direction of company strategy. Nonetheless, as the principal revenue generators, Microsoft's product groups increasingly became the seats of decision-making power, in spite of Gates' active engagement.
At the end of 1979, Microsoft had $US 4 million in sales. Most of these revenues came from BASIC, which enabled programmers to create applications, such as word processing and accounting spread sheets. The level below BASIC and the other languages under development at Microsoft was the computer operating system, which performed the most elementary tasks required to run computers. With the prospect of providing software to IBM for the basic PC it was planning to market for a reasonable price, Gates and Allen began to acquire the rights to, and then develop, software for a computer operating system. Known later as DOS, it again set an industry standard that would enable Microsoft to efficiently develop languages and software applications in a single engineering environment rather than painstakingly customize them for a variety of incompatible operating systems. This would immensely simplify Microsoft's programming process as well as enhance its efficiency.
As Gates foresaw, this was a near-ideal position to occupy at the moment that the PC market was poised to grow explosively with the introduction of the inexpensive IBM PC, which was made of off-the-shelf components and hence easy to copy, or "clone". With the dual ownership of DOS and several major programming languages, Microsoft became one of the fastest growing companies in the world. By 1985, just prior to its IPO, on revenues of $US 140 million, Microsoft had a pre-tax profit margin of approximately 34%, no long-term debt, and cash reserves of $US 38 million. By 1987, the company surpassed Lotus to become the world's largest software vendor for PCs. Gates was on his way to become the richest man in the world, at least for a time.
However, the ownership of DOS and the programming languages would also, critics later claimed, confer an "unfair advantage" on the company. First, the Microsoft applications groups were accused to obtaining "inside information" from the operating systems group, which enabled them to design their products to function more quickly and smoothly than competitors could. Second, because each change in DOS required competitors to supply their latest products to Microsoft programmers to ensure compatibility, critics charged that this amounted to an inside peek into their strategy at the cutting edge of their capabilities. It was a symbiotic relationship that made many outside vendors - independent companies developing applications to run on Microsoft operating systems -uneasy and resentful. Third, DOS programmers were accused by rivals of inserting "hidden bugs" into the operating system in order to hinder the function of competing products, such as the Lotus spread sheet, damaging their competitive position and brand. The resulting negative publicity did a great deal of damage to the Microsoft brand, which began to be seen as the industry bully.
While Gates insisted that he had erected a "Chinese Wall" between Microsoft's applications division and its Operating System's Group, it was not enough to deter the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from opening a probe into the company for anti-competitive practices that purportedly hurt consumers. By 1991, when the FTC probe became widely known, Microsoft controlled one-quarter of the applications market and dominated the operating systems market with Windows. There was speculation about the imminent breakup of Microsoft into separate companies for these markets, similar to the dismantlement of AT&T. For their part, defenders of Microsoft argued that it was winning because it was better and smarter, presenting its customers with superior products at bargain prices.
This a pretty much where the book stops, which badly dates it. Not only is the story of the anti-trust law suits left untold, but subsequent business developments - notably the internet - are not even mentioned. Thus, this is an excellent early history, but the reader must look elsewhere for more detail. Of the shelf of books on MS, in my opinion this is one of the best, and it was most useful to me for a research project. Recommended.
love your protagonist........2007-04-17
I can never figure why an author would write a book about someone they don't like. In the book "Google" by David A Vise, it's abundantly apparent that the author has a huge admiration for Brin and Page the founders of Google. Thus it made for a great book. Hard Drive comes across as a book that was purely written for the authors to profit and I didn't enjoy it half as much as the Google book, even though Bill Gates is my favourite entrepreneur.
Pretty good read.......2006-11-03
Provides a pretty balanced look back on Microsoft's history up until 1994-95. It's really cool to read this now, given what has transpired since then. Gives great insight into just how driven Bill Gates is, and what he gave up to achieve his success. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is fascinated with the early stages of the micro-computer revolution.
Average customer rating:
- Scratch a free-marketeer and you’ll find a socialist
- Another Piece of Pro-Microsoft Propaganda
- Make sense of Microsoft's Internet offerings
- Overall good, changed my perception of Microsoft
- Inside the Greatest Company of the New Economy
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How the Web Was Won: The Inside Story of How Bill Gates and His Band of Internet Idealists Trans- Formed a Software Empire
Paul Andrews
Manufacturer: Broadway
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire
ASIN: 0767900480
Release Date: 1999-06-15 |
Amazon.com
In a brilliant--and, at times, overwhelming--display of research and perspicacity, Paul Andrews chronicles Microsoft's internal and public battles to adapt to Internet technology and fight the browser wars. He starts in 1991: the Internet is barely a blip on the company radar. Meanwhile, 22-year-old new hire J Allard is asked by Microsoft's No. 2 man, Steve Ballmer, to "make the pain go away" with TCP/IP, the standard Internet protocol. It's just Allard's second day on the job, and he realizes that the software giant doesn't get it: interoperability between networks and the Internet is key to Microsoft's future. He begins a grassroots effort to raise Internet consciousness, eventually distributing a widely read 17-page memo titled "Windows: The Next Killer Application on the Internet." Higher up, Bill Gates's technical assistant, Steven Sinofsky, gets snowed in at technically progressive Cornell University. He's stunned to witness a student body that's already devoted to a fledgling Internet, and writes home: "Cornell is WIRED." After intense internal debate (and more than a few late nights), Gates stops the engines and changes course to pursue integration of Windows and an Internet browser called Explorer.
Andrews--a personal-technology columnist for the neighboring Seattle Times--has actually layered several books into one. In the first, he writes scores of fascinating profiles on the Internet idealists, architects, and managers who devoted "Microsoft Hours" to redirect the company's focus. In the second, he reports on external battles against foes such as Netscape and Sun Microsystems. In addition, he explores the hundreds of technological developments (occasionally to the point of distraction) that flourished during this high-tech revolution. And, finally, he comments throughout on what led the Department of Justice to file the largest antitrust action since the breakup of AT&T. Andrews's coverage of this last issue is slanted heavily in Microsoft's favor, but is thorough enough to deflect most accusations of bias. Although the Web is far from won, Microsoft's ability to turn its ship around is certainly a victory. --Rob McDonald
Book Description
The inside story of how a small band of agitators at Microsoft staged the stunning turnaround that transformed the company from an Internet laggard into such a dominant force that it was accused of monopolizing the industry.
1993. Microsoft's Windows software ruled the desktops of America. Nine out of ten personal computers ran the operating system, and most applications--from word processors to spreadsheets--couldn't function without it. When Bill Gates peered into Microsoft's crystal ball, he saw a world of Windows.
Then the Internet burst on the scene, and suddenly Gates's Windows-oriented future didn't look so bright. The Internet ran on UNIX, not Windows. The World Wide Web, not Windows, linked information in a global electronic library. A new software program called Mosaic, not Windows, made finding and reading Web documents as easy as skimming a magazine. Moreover, companies with little stake in Windows--Netscape, America Online, Sun Microsystems--were laying first claim to the Internet frontier.
The Internet was the future of computing--and the world's largest software company wasn't ready for it. Yet four years later, Microsoft's Internet metamorphosis was so complete that the Department of Justice slapped the company with the broadest antitrust action since the breakup of AT&T. In
How the Web Was Won, veteran Seattle Times journalist Paul Andrews chronicles, for the first time, the most remarkable business turnaround of the 1990s: the story of Microsoft's turbulent journey from Windows to the Web--and of the handful of Internet believers who led the charge.
Taking the reader into the mind of Microsoft, Andrews reveals how the company struggled first to comprehend and then capitalize on the Net. How twenty-two-year-old Internet hound J Allard was shocked to learn that nobody at Microsoft seemed to know anything about networking computers when he arrived in late 1991. How Steve Ballmer, Gates's Harvard buddy and second in command at Microsoft, lit the Internet fuse with a head-scratching e-mail in December 1993. How Gates's technical assistant, Steven Sinofsky, discovered in early 1994 that Cornell University, his alma mater, was more "wired" than the world's most successful software company. And how by mid-1995, awash in the rising tide of Netscape, America Online, Java, and the Web, Bill Gates assigned the Internet the highest level of importance, launching an effort that, in a matter of months, would provoke the Justice Department, competitors, and industry analysts to warn that Microsoft could someday rule the Internet.
Based on three years of reporting and more than 100 interviews with the prime movers driving Microsoft's Internet strategy and deployment,
How the Web Was Won captures the explosive drama and high-stakes gamesmanship of Microsoft's epic struggle for Internet supremacy. The result is an illuminating portrait of a software empire under siege and an intimate look at the fiery competitiveness that kindled its dramatic reversal of fortune.
Customer Reviews:
Scratch a free-marketeer and you’ll find a socialist.......2001-07-07
I am writing this after the appeals court has done the smart thing and voided the breakup remedy and exposed Judge Jackson for the little punk he is (His bias was obvious during the trial, despite MS's missteps. Congress should impeach him pronto). So I have perspective many of the other reviewers don't.
All I can say is: Ah-hah. Ah-hah. The appeals court may have found that MS maintained its monopoly illegally, largely because it didn't provide sufficient evidence that it needed those contracts with PC makers to protect the proprietary elements of Windows. And they may be right (although I think the general rapacity of the software industry is enough). But it agreed with nothing else, and I think the author of this book has been more than vindicated against his critics.
Yes, he had access to top MS officials, and probably shares their views of things. But you don't need that to agree that Netscape did everything all wrong ... they walked out of the HTML 3 standards conference, made their browser as incompatible with IE as they could just because they were so afraid. Their entire business plan could be summed up as "Bill Gates must be incredibly dumb and tone-deaf, so we'll make all the noise we want about how we can make them irrelevant and they won't notice until it's too late. Oh, and if this somehow doesn't work, let's get the Justice Department to sue them."
Well, it tells you a lot about this strategy (as if you couldn't guess) that Netscape today is just another cog in the AOL Time Warner media machine. The author is particularly good at noting what has not been much noticed elsewhere ... how Netscape, especially in the infamous 1995 meeting, seemed to be working hand-in-glove with Justice to create the appearance of improper competition on Microsoft's part (Funny how, when Larry Ellison (and Bill Gates' biggest service to America is keeping that guy from taking his place, believe me) pays people to sniff through DC trash to find connections between MS and DC lobbying groups, the news is more about the latter aspect of the story than the former).
But the larger issue that this book doesn't get into is how the New Economy guys, all devout members of the Church of the Invisible Hand, were done in by their own economic beliefs working too well.
That basically went that MS would become, and remain, hidebound and lazy like all companies with little real competition (of course, many companies have said they competed against Microsoft, which comes as a real surprise to anyone who has used many of their products ... Linux especially). After all, hadn't IBM and Apple before MS? Our laissez-faire theory tells us so, that economics will trump all human ability ... right?
Well, no one ever thought to imagine that maybe a company that has achieved the kind of market dominance that MS has might just retain the competitive instincts that got it there (as plainly logical as that might be). You're going to have to wait a while for MS to get soft. The story is not that it was easy to win the web war or that MS shouldn't have been at risk of losing it in the force place. It was that they got into it at all. The market is supposed to reward supertankers that turn on a dime, isn't it? (In fact, I believe MS's problems may have come from it being too eager to compete sometimes, owing to Gates' oft-cited paranoia that somewhere out there are two guys in a garage building the future that he won't see coming until too late. But should he be penalized for not forgetting his own company's history?....
Along the way, it was hilarious at first but scary later on to see how standard business practices, and things that would be recognized as smart moves in any other business, were invariably transformed into flaws whenever MS did them. Add lots of features to your OS so a broad segment can find it useful? "Bloatware." Keep in mind your customers who are just casual end users? "Dumbing down the operating system?" (Reminds me of Dilbert: "Hey, you're one of those condescending Unix users!" "Here's a nickel, kid. Go buy yourself a better computer") The looniest was, and still is, Linux, dedicated to the principle that people who don't make money from what they do do a better job than people who do. (And this system is often pushed heavily by some of the most libertarian, pro-free enterprise types around! I still do not get it)
So, seven years after the Web became the Internet's killer app, Microsoft has won, and IMO deservedly so. Deal with it. If you weren't in their tent, you should just cash out, shake Bill Gates' hand like a good sport, recognize that they won because they just played a better game, go enjoy a nice retirement and stop wasting the public's time.
Another Piece of Pro-Microsoft Propaganda.......2000-08-08
This book is obviously very slanted and biased in Microsoft's favor. It seems as if this book came straight out of the Microsoft book of propaganda! All of Microsoft's actions in the past are shown to be harmless and not anticompetitive. In total contrast, the actions of Microsoft's competitors are shown in a very negative light. Even the most incidental actions of Microsoft's competitors are shown in a bad light. It is odd then that Microsoft escapes this accounting. The author is obviously very pro-Microsoft and I would not be surprised to see that he may have close contacts at the company. The author does not really show how Microsoft's actions regarding "leveraging their OS into other software areas" could lead to destruction of competition in the computer industry. In fact, he either outright ignores this argument or downplays it! Even if you are interested in how the web was won, this book does not really give much insight to outside developments. There is no real context given. Other books fully account for the complex events surrounding the battle for supremacy on the internet. This book does not. It skims over much of the "outside action" and instead focuses only on Microsoft and it's quest to dominate the new emerging industry. Of course, given that this book should revolve around Microsoft but it should NOT exclude other angles to the story. The author takes Microsoft's side without justifying it for the readers. And ultimately this EXTREMELY BIASED account makes the author lose much of his credibility. Also without going in depth with the emerging industry as a whole the narrative loses much of what would have been very interesting and engrossing story. By and large this is one of the worst books regarding this interesting period in the computer industry. NOT RECOMMENDED. FIND ANOTHER BOOK IF YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE INTERNET AND THE "BROWSER WARS'.
Make sense of Microsoft's Internet offerings.......1999-11-03
Microsoft has released such a confusing stream of products into the Internet arena, it's hard to keep up with it all. This book provides excellent perspective and historical context for those decisions. I also really enjoyed the compelling writing style of this book, especially on the fascinating charaterizations of the colorful players at Microsoft. A good read for anyone interested in the history of the Internet!
Overall good, changed my perception of Microsoft.......1999-09-19
Overall I liked the book because it shows a side of Microsoft, but advocates them in the side of the antitrust trial, and they don't explain how a free web browser earns money.
Inside the Greatest Company of the New Economy.......1999-09-03
There's been a lot of blather from competitors about Microsoft's so-called predatory ways -- some of it, I understand, directed at this book. But the real reason Microsoft is so feared and often loathed is that they compete so well. How many companies of Microsoft's size in any industry would be fleet-footed enough to completely reinvent their overall strategy to address a sea change in their market? This book tells you how this remarkable company did it. Get to know the real players who helped turn this battleship around -- and kept Bill Gates very very wealthy.
Amazon.com
Until the 1830s, China was scarcely known to the outside world. When Europeans began to arrive in number in that decade, demanding of the Ching dynasty's rulers access to raw materials and to China's huge domestic markets alike, the Chinese resisted, but, in the end, unsuccessfully. England in particular sought a market for the opium, a crown monopoly produced in India, and it waged a brief war to press its claim--a war that won it that market, the ownership of Hong Kong, and entry into cities like Shanghai and Guangdong. The war also contributed to the eventual collapse of Ching rule. Really a footnote in history, the Opium War, then, had major consequences that color Sino-Western relations even today. Peter Ward Fay tells the story in this well-written, vigorous narrative. --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
This book tells the fascinating story of the war between England and China that delivered Hong Kong to the English, forced the imperial Chinese government to add four ports to Canton as places in which foreigners could live and trade, and rendered irreversible the process that for almost a century thereafter distinguished western relations with this quarter of the globe—the process that is loosely termed the "opening of China."
Originally published by UNC Press in 1975, Peter Ward Fay's study was the first to treat extensively the opium trade from the point of production in India to the point of consumption in China and the first to give both Protestant and Catholic missionaries their due; it remains the most comprehensive account of the first Opium War through western eyes. In a new preface, Fay reflects on the relationship between the events described in the book and Hong Kong's more recent history.
Customer Reviews:
An epic and fascinating read.......2004-01-17
While there are regrettably few definitive one-volume accounts of the imperialist foreign rape of China (and anyone seeking a balanced and fair account is forced by this dearth of material to digest the information contained across vastly differing accounts from both the Chinese and foreign side), Fay's study is easily one of the most engaging. It is not a dry history, nor a polemic. It is beautiful, fresh and literary writing that reads like a novel, packed with ground-level observations, much gathered from the journals of the Western participants themselves. Fay also does a better job than many others in dissecting the psychologies behind the politics and clashing cultures. Fay also succeeds by never straying from the bottom line: the opium and opium trafficking.
Authoritative and Elegant.......2000-11-21
Nearly three decades after it was first published, Fay's book remains the best single volume on the Opium War, and one of the best books on China in the 19th century. It is easy to read, but is scholarly enough for the most fastidious. Unlike the other reviewer I had no particular difficulties with the timeline, although that can be a problem with any historical narrative. Be advised that this is a narrative history and can be read with joy by those who find social or economic histories tedious, but the background of the war is covered in particular detail as well. Fay is not a professional sinologist, and came to this book through his studies of the East India Company, but the book seems none the worse for his wide knowledge. It was recommended to me by some very distinguished historians of China, and their enthusiasm was justified. It is not a weighty tome, like those of Mary Wright or Vincent Shih on China in the 19th century, but it is authoritative on its subject, and like the best of Fairbank, it is great fun to read. Can one say better things about a book? If you are interested in the Opium War, Qin dynasty history, imperialism, or just like reading a good narrative about a war, please indulge yourself-- and read this book.
This is one of the most frustrating books I've ever read........1998-11-27
Peter Fay's book on the Opium War is one of the most detailed studies of the period between 1838-1842 one can find at anything like the price, and would be a valuable resource except for one major flaw--there is no time-line given, and dates are provided, at most, with day and month, not year. This may seem like an insignificant thing, but given that correspondence took at least six months in one direction from China to England, and that the war was taking place with sailing ships up and down most of China's coast, it quickly becomes impossible to tell, either from the footnotes or the text, what year precisely specific events happened. Since so few dates are given at all, it is impossible to get a good sense of the exact sequence of events, particularly as the fighting part of the war heated up. When the book is next released, it should have a time line!
Customer Reviews:
the sequel to The Ides of April.......2005-06-28
Description from Bethlehem Books:
"Palestine in the first century A.D. is as disturbed and divided as it is today. The Jews have revolted against Roman occupation and as they grow more restive, Rome clamps down harder. The ten Greek cities of Palestine-the Decapolis-want only to continue their peaceful trading existence, but they find themselves caught in the middle of the uprisings.
Apollodorus, a merchant of Philadelpia, takes a risk and rescues a man whom a Roman patrol has left to die in the desert. When Apollodorus is killed by robbers, his three sons are left almost penniless. Conan, Nicanor and Philo must each find a way for themselves. Philo, the youngest, is befriended by Xenos, the man saved from the desert, the man who has lost his memory. From him the boy learns the art of the scribe, and together they try to find their identity-one from the past, the other for the future. A serious story of an important time in history."
Amazon.com
This sequel to The Shadow of Ararat is the second book in the Oath of Empire series, set in an alternate Roman Empire circa A.D. 623. Prince Maxian, younger brother to Galen, Emperor of the Western Empire (Rome), and Heraclius, Emperor of the Eastern Empire (Constantinople), has returned to Rome to disrupt the magical power of the centuries-old oath of allegiance to the Emperor that all legionnaires take. Maxian believes the oath constrains citizens to a narrow path, stifling creativity as well as any thought of disobedience, and he intends to use all his sorcerous power--and the help of Alexander the Great and Gaius Julius Caesar, whom he has raised from the dead--to succeed. The Empire, meanwhile, is threatened by multiple enemies: The insane Persian necromancer Dahak is determined to raise an army by any means to regain the Peacock Throne toppled by the Empire. Zoë, niece of Palmyra's Queen Zenobia, and her ragged but determined followers plot revenge on Rome for allowing the Persians to sack and destroy their beloved city. And in the deserts of Iraq, a man named Mohammed is driven by a prophetic vision to build an army against the Empire. Harlan's attention to detail is impressive, at times overwhelming, as he fills the broad canvas of his hypothetical Roman Empire. Readers with the stamina to follow every thread of the multitudinous plot lines here will find a vigorously imagined, thought-provoking story. --Charlene Brusso
Book Description
The Persian sorcerer has withdrawn to a hidden citadel of the King of Kings and a very special new servant. He vows to regain the Peacock throne.Prince Maxian has raised both Julius Ceasar and Alexander the great from the dead. Now, with the power that their legends can offer him, he will risk all to free Rome from the curse that protects the Empire but dooms it to stagnation.And in the East, Dwyrin's thaumaturgic unit is shattered when Zo discovers the destruction of Palmyra. She vows revenge against the Empire that abandoned her city to its fate and goes to raise the Deccopolis against Rome, while in the city of Mecca, a survivor of Plamyra received a vision, a command, and the power to strive against the forces of darkness.The war is far from over. Now there are three alliances where once there were only two, and three Powers to strive for control of the Earth.
Customer Reviews:
like it, but it is part of a 2000 page book.......2004-08-26
The second book of Oath of Empire is really enjoyable to some... in particular for those who may think the failures of Rome have important lessons for today. It helps to be able to read tomes very quickly. I am curious about where the author is headed as I start the 3rd book - in particular omitting Jesus and emphasizing Mohammed is hopefully going to be an interesting speculation and food for thought. This is the 4th book I've read by the author... all suffer a bit from weak editing, silly covers, excessive length, and minor inconsistencies. The stories are still good, tho!
Action and depth.......2003-05-30
I have finished the first three of the Oath of Empire books. I appreciate Harlan's style and realism. The characters are distinct and undergo believable growth and change. Dahak is a superb "bad guy" his strategies and actions are intelligent and chillingly effective. He is not without weakness but he recognizes that and adjusts accordingly. Nothing is more fun than a bad guy you respect. Overall a pleasurable and intelligent read. I got a little tired of Zoe's whining though...
The saga wanders on..........2001-10-31
Gate of Fire is vol. 2 of Harlan's Oath of Empire series of fantasy alternate history. The plot line is given above. He makes no concession if you haven't read vol. 1 (Shadow of Ararat). Then again do you want to? I'm not sure why I've continued. His writing style is thorough but most unexciting, a bit of a drag. And so much incident of doubtful relevance (or, to what?). Where was his editor? I think I keep going on the basis of his detailed descriptions and situations of a realistically described Roman Empire of the 7th century A.D., but one where magic works. Harlan has done a great amount of historical and geographic research on the background of Rome in the Near East. I find his examination of the rise of Mohammed one of the most fascinating, and timely, aspects of the saga.
This volume 2 is a transitional work. Following the war against Persia (vol. 1), people are now milling around in preparation for confrontations yet to appear. While this volume omits the long travel passages 'under the blazing sun' of the first book, it also doesn't have the climactic battles that marked a conclusion of sorts. The main characters and their companions continue but break up and shift. (Some of their backgrounds also seem to be altered.) Harlan is now developing six parallel stories, with the narrative rotating among them as among as many separate novellas, so the overall pace is slow and the pages accumulate. One new featured character is introduced (a warrior barbarian), but his place in the overall saga remains to be discovered, and is merely a distraction here. For the first time several of the main characters and story lines do begin to intersect and interact, near the end of the book. Again there are ferociously graphic scenes of hacked limbs, burning skin, and bursting eyeballs as blood-sucking black powers and gods incarnate occasionally meet our heroes in malignant conflict. It includes scenes of Vesuvius right out of eyewitness Pliny the Younger. The only light touch is Julius Caesar, now brilliantly reincarnated as a comic figure! Clearly the author has something larger in mind, but we get only glimpses of what that might be, of which theme will emerge dominant. Note: the paperback has a squashed feeling compared to the generous hardback; the maps are barely legible.
Harlan blew it.......2000-11-27
By attempting to finish this second volume you experience the same frustrating sensation than with other promising alternative histories, notably Wingrove's "Chung Kuo". All the minor weaknesses present in the fist volume grow instead of being corrected. Vacilating characters, ad hoc elements and dei-ex-machina multiply, and the plot can turn to any direction within the following page. I think that Harlan gets in trouble trying to fit a custom Islam rising in the story, then breaking his "contract" with the readers (the one that goes: let's see what would happen without all these "People of the Book" around). Vocabulary and descriptions of epic and magical scenes still great, but a 500 page book can't be made with that only.
Rich Complex Believable.......2000-09-04
Right now, there are perhaps three series that are as rich, complex, and well written: George Martin's Song of Fire and Ice; Jordan's Wheel of Time; and Mary Gentle's Secret History of Ashe.
Harlan's writing is extremely skillful in that it never gets in the way, yet paints extremely complex portraits of characters and situations. He does not depend on devices such as deus ex to help him out, as he never paints himself into a corner--his plots are tight and well thought out and his characters are understandable and empathetic. They do not agree with eachother, they do not always get along, and life is not wonderful. This is a sophisticated work, with one of the main personalities gradually subverting to evil, although his intentions are the purest.
Gate of Fire is the second in the series, and it is as good as the first. Do yourself a favor. Read it.
Average customer rating:
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Rails of the Silver Gate: The Spreckels San Diego empire
Richard V Dodge
Manufacturer: Golden West Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
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ASIN: 0870950193 |
Product Description
Eight action-packed stories of the Crusades by Robert E. Howard. Copyright 2004 - first edition.
Customer Reviews:
Not Free SF Reader.......2007-08-02
A collection of sword wielding historical types, in general.
Gates of Empire : Red Blades of Black Cathay - Robert E. Howard
Gates of Empire : Hawks of Outremer - Robert E. Howard
Gates of Empire : The Blood of Belshazzar - Robert E. Howard
Gates of Empire : Lord of Samarcand - Robert E. Howard
Gates of Empire : The Sowers of the Thunder - Robert E. Howard
Gates of Empire : The Lion of Tiberias - Robert E. Howard
Gates of Empire : The Shadow of the Vulture - Robert E. Howard
Gates of Empire : Gates of Empire - Robert E. Howard
A veteran Crusader, now less gullible, falls in a saving act. Nursed back to health by a creamy cheeked smart woman, he now has a small problem to deal with named Genghis Khan.
4 out of 5
Skull shield and cursed sword make Cormac Fitzgeoffrey a scary man.
3 out of 5
Cormac has no time for fools or butchers, but jewellery will pay the bills.
3 out of 5
A young Scotsman watches a battle go awry, but later is happy with a home in the area, and the chance to do some claymore wielding Turk lopping, but it is a very dangerous business.
2.5 out of 5
Manly playing with large shafts in pubs is cut short by some battles, and the Mongol hordes descend on Jerusalem. Yet another Gael finds himself in the thick of it, with a similar life expectancy.
3 out of 5
Mangled princes, and a captive crusader that a Turkish ruler finds rather too supernaturally resilient for his liking.
3 out of 5
Not much sorcery to be seen in this historical adventure, but it is the origin of the character that Roy Thomas and others adapted with such success for Marvel in comics form, so of interest to fans of Conan and Red Sonja as she currently stands4 out of 5
Drinking, swordplay, lots of yelling, politics, and a bargaining woman.
3 out of 5
Book Description
At last in paperback: The story of the savage war that drained Napoleon's armies and set the stage for his ultimate defeat at Waterloo. "A splendid book."- New York Times Book Review.
The Peninsular War in Spain and Portugal was the most bitterly fought contest of nineteenth-century Europe. From 1808 to 1814, Spanish regulars and guerrillas, along with British forces led by Sir John Moore and the Duke of Wellington, battled Napoleon's troops across the length and breadth of the Iberian Peninsula. Napoleon considered the war so insignificant that he rarely bothered to bring to it his military genius, relying instead on his marshals and simultaneously launching his disastrous Russian campaign of 1812. Yet the Peninsular War was to end with total defeat for the French, and in 1813 Wellington's army crossed the Pyrenees into mainland France. What Napoleon had called "the Spanish ulcer" ultimately helped bring down the French empire. Michael Howard of Oxford University hailed this book as "a major achievement...the first brief and balanced account of the war to have appeared within our generation." Illustrated with over a hundred maps and fifty contemporary drawings and paintings, this is a richly detailed history of a crucial period in history that resonates powerfully to this day-and figures prominently in Bernard Cornwell's internationally acclaimed novels of the Napoleonic era.
Customer Reviews:
Could have been better.......2006-08-22
This is the first history of the Peninsular War that I've read, so on the one hand I can't compare it to other works on the subject as some other reviewers have done. On the other hand, I perhaps view the book differently since I am outside of that context.
I found the book to be a useful precis of the military campaigns. I was disappointed that more attention wasn't paid to political and economic forces and repercussions, or to the geurillas. I found the book to be useful for listing what happened, but very light on explaining why. I understand that is, perhaps, too much to ask for in 1 volume. I was also disappointed at what I found to be a dry presentation of the sequence of events.
I found the writing style to be easy to read once I got past some annoying eccentricities. Gates' use of semicolons; seemed odd, at least to an American reader. It seems that 'Army of XYZ' need not be put in single quotation marks (and why single?) every time it is mentioned (I know, picky-picky). In the early chapters, Gates' switches between references to individuals by their names (e.g., "Marshal Soult") and their Imperial titles (e.g., "Duke of Dalmatia"), which was at first confusing to someone who was not already familiar with the personages so referenced.
The number of maps and figures is grossly inflated and they do not support the text well, partly because of their poor quality. I noticed that the same map of Badajoz is reproduced at least 4 times. As another reviewer notes, the randomly rotating compass rose is annoying. A set of two maps which purports to show troop positions on the first day of a battle (in the first map) and on the second day (in the second map) are, in fact, identical except for a small typo. Elsewhere, one encounters a map of a battle that is mentioned in the text but not described. Campaign-level maps do not often show terrain features or road networks; battle-level maps never attempt to illustrate troop movements or stages of the fighting. Several of the figures are reproductions of paintings of events, and are of such poor quality as to be worthless (oddly, except for two paintings by Goya, no attribution to artists is made--perhaps Gates was the painter). The publisher mentions that more than 100 maps and figures occur in the volume--which means that the book could have been at least 75 pages shorter (or could have included 75 more pages of analysis and interpretation).
In summary, I found this an educational outline of the military campaigns of the Peninsular War. The work is damaged by very poor production values. I found it a useful read, but not a very entertaining one--and sometimes a frustrating one.
A one volume history of the Peninsular War.......2005-01-16
David Gates' "The Spanish Ulcer" provides one of the very few single volume histories of the Peninsular War that attempts to address the entire conflict and not focus on, for example, the exploits of the Anglo-Portuguese Army. Gates addresses the actions of the Imperial French, the struggles of the Spanish politicians, armies and guerillas, and the fiasco of Portugal prior to the British intervention. That Gates manages to do in one volume what Charles Oman required seven volumes to cover is, however, both a strength and a weakness. On the one hand, students of the era now have a single reasonably comprehensive summary of the Peninsular War phase. On the other hand, of necessity, much of the detail of a very complex conflict is compressed, while the narrative tends to jump from place to place. Some advance knowledge of the conflict is almost required to make sense of the many moving parts. Unfortunately, the maps provided in the text are not well designed and more confusing than helpful. Readers are advised to track the action on their own large map of the Iberian Peninsula. This book is strongly recommended to those with an interest in the Peninsular War but not the time or energy to work through the longer studies.
Somewhat Revisionist Account.......2004-10-09
This is a well constructed book on the Peninsular War. Indeed, to find any single, readable volume on this subject that attempts to cover all its aspects is great. Many books tend to concentrate on just Wellington's campaigns and the activities of the Anglo-Portugease army. Mr. Gates has noted that tendency and has tried to correct it. In doing so however, he has taken a rather highly critical approach. Whereas many earlier books were lavish in their praise of Wellington, Gates goes the opposite way. While it is good to provide a fair perspective, and this subject has certainly required that in English, Gates leans too much toward the revisionist set with his heavy criticism of Wellington. At times it seems that he almost wants to go out of his way to find fault with the Iron Duke.
That aside, this is still a worthwhile work if the reader takes understands the bias here. Gates descriptions of what the Spanish armies were doing fills in a lot of gaps on the subject. While often seen as imcompetent in most earlier English sources, the Spanish none the less kept the French off balance. Time and again the French would defeat them, and time and again, the Spanish would return to the fight with new armies. This was a major factor in preventing the French from concentrating against Wellington.
The battles themselves are crisply done, but often a little too heavy on single vollies taking down hundreds if not thousands of men during some of the actions. I think Gates gets a little carried away with himself there at times. Single vollies rarely accomplished this, but a series of them could over time. There are workable maps provided for most of the actions and campaigns, and while some of these are wanting in professional look, they do at least allow one to follow the action somewhat.
The main stength of this work is its wider perspective. We get to see what the numerous Spainish arimes were doing, as well as get a better understanding of what the French were up against in Iberia. I agree with Gates when he states that under the harsh circumstances of the French losing roughly a 100 men a day during the occupation, it is remarkable that they lasted as long as they did. This the book helps us to understand.
Overall this is a workmanlike study, easy to read, and with nice details of aspects not often covered in the numerous works on this subject. If one allows for the often blatant anti-Wellington revisionist slant, then there is much good that can come out of reading this work and comparing it to Weller's and Glover's books.
Very Good.......2004-09-29
Text, narrative, facts and readability all rate very high, 5 star level actually, but, and I just refuse to understand how, after pouring himself into researching and writing an excellent piece on a topic that is not, lets say, especially overwhelmed with offerings, he can allow the third grade drawings he includes to be foisted off as maps.
A stunning work of Military History.......2004-06-04
Most military history books quickly become embedded in politics and economics, and in the process fail to complete their analysis of the military aspects of the history.
In this book Gates has maintained his focus all the way through the book, on the Military campaigns. Any politics or economics are introduced only to explain logistical difficulties or broad trends in strategic direction.
In most English focused histories Wellington is portrayed as some kind of superman who went out to Spain and roundly defeated one French army after another. Gates shows how far this is from the actual truth. He highlights the crucial role played by Peninsular forces, who fielded one army after another to keep the French busy. He demonstrates how the partisan guerilla war prevented the French from concentrating against Wellington to drive him out.
At the same time he demonstrates just why Wellington was the greatest soldier of his age. How he used intelligence and patience as his weapons. How he always selected his preferred battleground to gain maximum advantage against the French, who were after all, masterful foes. Wellington was the master of Soult, Ney and Massena, but not by much. He admitted that he would have lost if Napolean had been there himself.
Gates lavishes praise on the abilities of the French to survive in the harsh environment of the Peninsula, and at the same time extolls the mastery of the British use of naval support to outflank their gallic rivals.
From an Irish perspective it is interesting to note the large number of Irish named Generals fighting for the Spanish, the English and the French. Blake, Clarke, O'Donnell, Lacy and O'Neill to name only a few.
If I had any criticism of this book it would be on the way maps are presented. You always have to check which way is north. I prefer when North is the top of the page! Otherwise the large numbers of maps of all scales are a very useful tool in interpretation of the movements in the battles.
Gates is also helpful in giving the reader a brief introduction to the tactics of Napoleonic armies, explaining the purpose of line, column and square, the flanking manoevre, use of the reverse slope, the use of Cavalry V Infantry etc. A really wonderful book!
Average customer rating:
- Overall, pretty brutal
- How the Interviews Were Won: Sucking up
- Engrossing and Informative
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How the Web Was Won: How Bill Gates and His Internet Idealists Transformed the Microsoft Empire
Paul Andrews
Manufacturer: Broadway
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Gates, Bill | ( G ) | People, A-Z | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0767900499
Release Date: 2000-08-15 |
Book Description
The inside story of how a small band of agitators at Microsoft staged the stunning turnaround that transformed the company from an Internet laggard into such a dominant force that it was declared a monopolist.
1993. When Bill Gates peered into Microsoft's crystal ball, he saw a world of Windows. Then the Internet burst onto the scene, and suddenly Gates's Windows-oriented future didn't look so bright. The Internet was the future of computing--and the world's largest software company wasn't ready for it. In
How the Web Was Won, veteran Seattle Times journalist Paul Andrews chronicles the explosive drama and high-stakes gamesmanship behind the most remarkable business turnaround of the 1990s: the story of Microsoft's turbulent journey from Windows to the Web--and of the handful of Internet believers who led the charge.
Customer Reviews:
Overall, pretty brutal.......2001-08-26
This book could have been written by Microsoft's PR group, since it so blatantly paints them as innocent coders just trying to better the world and makes no attempt to balance that position by exploring any dissenting opinions. The first few chapters are relatively interesting, covering some of the early internal development that's not widely covered elsewhere, but as soon as he gets near the antitrust stuff, Andrews is so pro-Microsoft that it's tough to believe what he's saying.
How the Interviews Were Won: Sucking up.......2001-08-17
Bill Gates will like this book. It casts him in a very favourable light. Andrews is consistent - in any issues of argument between Microsoft and its competitors, be they Sun, AOL, Netscape, or a host of other companies, Microsoft is the benevolent company that only wants to do well and the competitors are out to get this well-intentioned, if lumbering, giant.
This book is biased. But such bias is inherent in the format of the work - an insider expose of the history of Microsoft. It is the breadth and depth of information that the author was able to gain for access to internal Microsoft emails and interviews with relevant parties that makes the book the interesting page-turner that it is. That is both the book's biggest weakness and it's greatest strength.
"How the Web Was Won" is filled with Internet Explorer icons. Everything from the cover to the chapter heading are decorated in the (in)famous blue 'e'. When reading this book one would expect that more of it would focus on the actual development of the browser. Instead, the development of the browser is relegated to a single chapter and the remainder of the book is a combination of armchair strategy analysis and a recount of previously published information relating to the so-called "Browser Wars".
Don't look to this book for an independent look at the browser wars. Don't look to this book for a view from the front lines of browser development. This is yet another history of Microsoft from the DOS days to the latest .NET initiative, all coloured by the lens of looking at all developments from the perspective of the internet.
I take notes when I read a book. Based on my notes, this is what I learned from this work:
* Recent events in technology have moved from technology being driven by war to more peaceful societal pursuits - Lockheed Martin vs. Microsoft * IBM failed on the desktop because its software design process was rigid - and that was necessary for "five 9s" reliability on servers
However, they didn't change to the desktop which needed innovation and iteration at the expense of reliability
Microsoft succeeded in supplanting IBM because it used fast iterations on its products to get shipping code at the expense of perfect code.
Microsoft has failed in moving from the desktop to the server-side internet where greater reliability (security, virus-protection) is needed at the expense of features
* NAFTA's chapt.11 charges that Canada Post can't use government-subsidised revenue to finance a business that competes with a private enterprise
Microsoft used Windows money in the browser fight against Netscape
These are my thoughts on this interesting and personable recount of already published information.
Engrossing and Informative.......2000-11-28
You've all heard of Billionaire Bill Gates and the Merry Men of Microsoft. The story, in light of the recent antitrust ruling, is a good bit of modern history. Although a little too heavy on the biographies of the players, the narraive is well paced and seemingly objective. This book is for all who are using Windows, those who hate it, and wonder all about the Redmond, Washington company and what goes on behind its walls. The story is basically that of Microsoft and how it was about to write off the Internet until it was forced to work with it- and did it so well that the Feds came in (and other companies) want to put a stop to it. Really, this book is well written and entertaining for all those who, like me, want to keep up with the history of this seemingly overnight phenomenon known as the Internet.
Product Description
Playing time 1-5 hours.
Books:
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Books Index
Books Home
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The Microsoft Way
Microsoft Secrets: How the World's Most Powerful Software Company Creates Technology, Shapes Markets and Manages People
Apple Confidential 2.0: The Definitive History of the World's Most Colorful Company
