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The Man Behind the Microchip: Robert Noyce and the Invention of Silicon Valley
0195163435|9780195163438. The Man Behind the Microchip Robert Noyce and the Invention of Silicon Valley published in the year 2005 was published by Oxford University Press. The author of this book is Leslie Berlin. ed page displaying collection of Leslie Berlin books here. This is the Hardback version of the title "The Man Behind the Microchip Robert Noyce and the Invention of Silicon Valley" and have around pp. xiii + 402 pages. The Man Behind the Microchip Robert Noyce and the Invention of Silicon Valley is currently Available with us.
440 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
September 21, 2011
The Man Behind the Microchip is one of the best biographies about technology and entrepreneurship. This book is a pleasure to read from beginning to end. It is full of important facts about Silicon Valley, its history and its development.
I will just quote Robert Noyce, the hero of this book, founder of Fairchild and Intel:
“Look around who the heroes are. They aren’t lawyers, nor are they even so much the financiers. They’re the guys who start companies”
and also author Leslie Berlin adds:
Noyce testified against an industrial policy managed by the Federal government. He referred to his own experience with Apple to strengthen his argument: “If I was not capable of identifying the future champions of technology, how could we believe that the government could do better?”
This a must-read book for anyone interested in start-ups and high tech.
I will just quote Robert Noyce, the hero of this book, founder of Fairchild and Intel:
“Look around who the heroes are. They aren’t lawyers, nor are they even so much the financiers. They’re the guys who start companies”
and also author Leslie Berlin adds:
Noyce testified against an industrial policy managed by the Federal government. He referred to his own experience with Apple to strengthen his argument: “If I was not capable of identifying the future champions of technology, how could we believe that the government could do better?”
This a must-read book for anyone interested in start-ups and high tech.
June 15, 2013
A straight-forward biography of Bob Noyce. At points it felt like a recitation of facts one after another (particularly chapter 11 on his political lobbying efforts); however, overall a good capture of the history of this man. Contains an excellent bibliography, index, and references. Personally, I wish that it contained more technical details but it probably has enough for a general audience.
June 26, 2021
Learnt a lot about the history behind the invention of the transistor, the integrated circuit, the microprocessor, and the formation of the Silicon Valley. Suddenly a lot of the household names made sense to someone who was not yet born when semiconductors was all the rage in the 70s and 80s. The book is phenomenally well written and engaging - I chuckled quite frequently as I read on. Some food for thought: when was the last time we had made such groundbreaking invention in the hardware space?
November 28, 2021
Fantastic read! Provides a window into the origin of American Technology Companies as we know them today, particularly through the life of an extraordinarily bright founder
May 8, 2021
Only 378 ratings on Goodreads! It is very sad that our generation does not know Robert Noyce.
Robert Noyce shares the invention of Integrated Circuit with Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments. He missed two Nobel Prize. One was the tunnel diode which he missed because when he showed his work to William Shockley (his boss at that time), he dismissed it. And just after one year, a Japanese scientist published his work on tunnel diode and won a noble prize for it. Second, he was not alive. Noyce died in 1990. In 2000, Jack Kilby was awarded the Nobel prize in physics for Integrated Circuits.
He is regarded as the Father of Silicon Valley. He was one of eight Shockley Defectors that founded Fairchild Semiconductors. And later, many employees of Fairchild founded their own startups. Noye too later found Intel. These so many companies that emerged from Fairchild Semiconductor (that was lead by Noyce) made Santa Clara Valley, The Silicon Valley! (Think something similar as Paypal Mafia).
Robert Noyce was also a mentor to Steve Jobs.
This book also showed the beginning of Venture Capitalists. Bankers who funded Fairchild laid the foundation of this venture capital.
Above things is a very small description of Robert Noyce. I'll recommend reading this book if anyone is interested in the history of Silicon!
I hope this Youtube video will make you interested in the history of Silicon Valley AMERICAN EXPERIENCE | Silicon Valley Chapter 1
Robert Noyce shares the invention of Integrated Circuit with Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments. He missed two Nobel Prize. One was the tunnel diode which he missed because when he showed his work to William Shockley (his boss at that time), he dismissed it. And just after one year, a Japanese scientist published his work on tunnel diode and won a noble prize for it. Second, he was not alive. Noyce died in 1990. In 2000, Jack Kilby was awarded the Nobel prize in physics for Integrated Circuits.
He is regarded as the Father of Silicon Valley. He was one of eight Shockley Defectors that founded Fairchild Semiconductors. And later, many employees of Fairchild founded their own startups. Noye too later found Intel. These so many companies that emerged from Fairchild Semiconductor (that was lead by Noyce) made Santa Clara Valley, The Silicon Valley! (Think something similar as Paypal Mafia).
Robert Noyce was also a mentor to Steve Jobs.
This book also showed the beginning of Venture Capitalists. Bankers who funded Fairchild laid the foundation of this venture capital.
Above things is a very small description of Robert Noyce. I'll recommend reading this book if anyone is interested in the history of Silicon!
I hope this Youtube video will make you interested in the history of Silicon Valley AMERICAN EXPERIENCE | Silicon Valley Chapter 1
April 25, 2018
The book is strongest following Noyce from his college days through the growth of Intel, and weakest at the beginning and the end. The anecdotes of his childhood are sparse and sappy; and his dismal years at SEMATECH are an uncompelling end to the life of a compelling man.
April 21, 2018
Interesting details, but it read more like a recitation of facts than a deep investigation of Noyce, his mind, and his influence.
April 3, 2018
It is rather embarrassing, but I had never heard of Robert Noyce before I read The Man Behind the Microchip by Leslie Berlin. I am somewhat familiar with the history of video games, and in that came a mention of Fairchild Semiconductor, and you would have to be living under a rock of some kind to not have heard of Intel Corporation. So it is rather sad that I had not heard of one of the brightest stars of Silicon Valley before this point in time.
Robert “Bobby” Noyce was born on December 12, 1927, to Ralph and Harriet Noyce of Iowa. Ralph was a Christian Pastor for a small community and Harriet helped out with the day to day running of the Church. When the Great Depression struck in 1929 the Noyce family did not immediately feel its effects, Harriet was even able to give sandwiches to hobos for a time. Eventually, a drought came along though and the family moved to Grinnell, Iowa, where Robert would stay until he graduated from College.
Being the third son had an effect on Robert, mainly in his feeling that he had to go and match or surpass their accomplishments. With his older brothers netting excellent grades and having other virtues, Bobby grew up to be quite a perfectionist. From the very earliest memories of Robert, people could tell that he was smart or at least handy. He would constantly build things out of spare parts, though I suppose the biggest one was the Glider that he built when he was 12 or so. Even with all that, it seems that a great many people thought he was too down to earth to be the Valedictorian or whatever.
Upon reaching Graduate School for his Doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Robert found himself to be a Frog Croaking in a Well, if you will excuse the metaphor. He had to take some remedial classes just to get himself up to speed with the other students in his class. However, once he did get up to the level of everyone else, he started blowing them away.
The book goes on to discuss his professional career and private life; his work at Shockley Semiconductor under William Shockley, the support of Fairchild and the founding of Fairchild Semiconductor, the founding of Intel, and his last years as a person that passed the torch to the next generation. All throughout we meet many luminaries and shining stars of those companies. Noyce died on June 3, 1990, at the age of 62. His accomplishments and the companies that he founded live on, however. As far as I know, people still use microchips for things and Intel still exists even though it fell out of first place in chip sales.
I really liked the book. As with most books of this nature, there are plenty of photographs related to Noyce and his family. Several images show latency graphs and other things related to semiconductors and other things.
Robert “Bobby” Noyce was born on December 12, 1927, to Ralph and Harriet Noyce of Iowa. Ralph was a Christian Pastor for a small community and Harriet helped out with the day to day running of the Church. When the Great Depression struck in 1929 the Noyce family did not immediately feel its effects, Harriet was even able to give sandwiches to hobos for a time. Eventually, a drought came along though and the family moved to Grinnell, Iowa, where Robert would stay until he graduated from College.
Being the third son had an effect on Robert, mainly in his feeling that he had to go and match or surpass their accomplishments. With his older brothers netting excellent grades and having other virtues, Bobby grew up to be quite a perfectionist. From the very earliest memories of Robert, people could tell that he was smart or at least handy. He would constantly build things out of spare parts, though I suppose the biggest one was the Glider that he built when he was 12 or so. Even with all that, it seems that a great many people thought he was too down to earth to be the Valedictorian or whatever.
Upon reaching Graduate School for his Doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Robert found himself to be a Frog Croaking in a Well, if you will excuse the metaphor. He had to take some remedial classes just to get himself up to speed with the other students in his class. However, once he did get up to the level of everyone else, he started blowing them away.
The book goes on to discuss his professional career and private life; his work at Shockley Semiconductor under William Shockley, the support of Fairchild and the founding of Fairchild Semiconductor, the founding of Intel, and his last years as a person that passed the torch to the next generation. All throughout we meet many luminaries and shining stars of those companies. Noyce died on June 3, 1990, at the age of 62. His accomplishments and the companies that he founded live on, however. As far as I know, people still use microchips for things and Intel still exists even though it fell out of first place in chip sales.
I really liked the book. As with most books of this nature, there are plenty of photographs related to Noyce and his family. Several images show latency graphs and other things related to semiconductors and other things.
December 30, 2017
As a rule a biography about a technology founder is usually regurgitated press releases or a hagiography, or offers a disconnected set of technical "here's what he invented." This book is an exception to that rule. Leslie Berlin is one of the few authors who've managed to write a biography that does justice to the technology, history, context and personal life of the subject. She offers little known insights into the early days of Shockley and Fairchild Semiconductor and does a yeoman's job of explaining both the technical and business contexts of the companies. She captures Noyce's personality and shines light on the personal costs to his children and wife. This is a deeply researched book of a key player in Silicon Valley.
Bravo.
Bravo.
September 22, 2022
I thought this was a comprehensive and compelling summary of Robert Noyce and his impacts on the technology and entrepreneurship writ large. It was pretty complete and didn't necessarily omit needed details or overly emphasize a particular era. In that way, it felt pretty balanced and solid.
Like many books about the technology industry, this book definitely lionizes Noyce and founders in general. While this isn't necessarily bad or wrong, it did feel a bit tired, and it made the book feel fairly surface-level: we don't really get an investigation into his motivations or deeper impact because of this focus on the narrative around his role in founder-centric technology entrepreneurship.
Like many books about the technology industry, this book definitely lionizes Noyce and founders in general. While this isn't necessarily bad or wrong, it did feel a bit tired, and it made the book feel fairly surface-level: we don't really get an investigation into his motivations or deeper impact because of this focus on the narrative around his role in founder-centric technology entrepreneurship.
June 16, 2022
This is the third book I have read about the start up of Intel. Neither of the previous books devoted much attention to Bob Noyce-this one did. I found the initial part of the book quite interesting. Noyce's work at Shockley and Fairchild really laid a sound imprint on how he wanted Intel to be driven. Noyce continued this pioneering work for the rest of his life. The writing was well done with good research and use of vocabulary. The last chapters weren't quite as entertaining, but thus was the sunset of Noyce's career. All in all a worthwhile read.
October 23, 2022
Nice outlining of Noyce life. The cyclical nature of the business, however, is not well captured. And as a general guideline on semiconductor development post 80s is not that comprehensive (despite noyce continued involvement).
The discussion about the rise of Japanese manufacturing is also not well discussed (just implied as a kind of Japanese underhand activities but ignored the bigger industry currents)
The discussion about the rise of Japanese manufacturing is also not well discussed (just implied as a kind of Japanese underhand activities but ignored the bigger industry currents)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 15, 2022
Great book on Bob Noyce's life and the story of semiconductor industry. You can gain inspirations on Silicon Valley entrepreneurship and understand the origin of some of the terms like stock options, cubicles in a big tech company like Google or Apple.
March 2, 2023
This was our book club choice - or I would never have read it. BOY, I'M GLAD I DID. It was a great and interesting read about a reformation that has changed the world - and the interesting man behind much of it. It's weird that I had never heard of Robert Noyce.
August 19, 2018
What a Man, what a Legend. The man had more style and wit and substance than a few Civilizations I could name.
September 18, 2022
Very good readable history of Silicon Valley as
created by Bob Noyce, the Fairchild semiconductor gang, and Intel.
created by Bob Noyce, the Fairchild semiconductor gang, and Intel.
June 5, 2023
Great autobiography, well written. Lots of information crammed into just 300+ pages. I enjoyed this look at Mr. Noyce's life and career.
December 12, 2023
Inspiring and timeless
Well told story, ripe with lessons, and inspiring through examples. Highly recommend this book, it's a timeless one for the ages.
Well told story, ripe with lessons, and inspiring through examples. Highly recommend this book, it's a timeless one for the ages.
May 5, 2017
The biography of the legend who created : Fairchild & Intel.
Don't be encumbered by history. Go off and do something wonderful. - Bob Noyce
it's always a pleasure to read a biography, you are in someone's shoes, living his life and learning from his experience ...
Bob is a elegant or God-like for every semiconductor engineer.
Don't be encumbered by history. Go off and do something wonderful. - Bob Noyce
it's always a pleasure to read a biography, you are in someone's shoes, living his life and learning from his experience ...
Bob is a elegant or God-like for every semiconductor engineer.
September 23, 2016
"In mid-January, Shockley's secret stewing paid off, when he realized that a Bell Labs colleague's research findings meant that the ideas he had mapped out in his Chicago hotel room could be fused into a workable device: the sandwich-like junction transistor. It may be spite's greatest contribution to American science." (54)
"Although the women in the lab were chosen for their dexterity, it was physically impossible for anyone to solder millions of connections perfectly. This meant that given a big enough system with enough interconnections, even if every component in a system had a reliability of better than 99 percent, failure was statistically possible within the first two minutes of operation. The interconnections, often shorthanded the 'tyranny of numbers,' were the industry's Achilles' heel. If the problem could not be resolved, real progress in electronics would grind to a halt." (101)
"To explain how volume can more than make up for price cuts, Noyce liked to use a book-printing analogy. The first copy of a book, taken by itself, is extremely expensive because the printer must buy equipment, typeset, proof, and otherwise ready the document for printing. Once the process is in place, however, every additional copy is relatively cheap because the investment in materials and equipment for the original printing is fixed. Moreover, the more copies made, the lower per-copy price, since the original investment can be amortized over more items. Noyce was betting that once Fairchild artificially lowered the price for integrated circuits, the resulting demand would be so high that his 'per-copy price' would actually fall below the original price they charged." (138)
"As business historian Alfred Chandler has so aptly put it, 'Fairchild's problem was that it produced entrepreneurs, not products.'" (154)
"Although the women in the lab were chosen for their dexterity, it was physically impossible for anyone to solder millions of connections perfectly. This meant that given a big enough system with enough interconnections, even if every component in a system had a reliability of better than 99 percent, failure was statistically possible within the first two minutes of operation. The interconnections, often shorthanded the 'tyranny of numbers,' were the industry's Achilles' heel. If the problem could not be resolved, real progress in electronics would grind to a halt." (101)
"To explain how volume can more than make up for price cuts, Noyce liked to use a book-printing analogy. The first copy of a book, taken by itself, is extremely expensive because the printer must buy equipment, typeset, proof, and otherwise ready the document for printing. Once the process is in place, however, every additional copy is relatively cheap because the investment in materials and equipment for the original printing is fixed. Moreover, the more copies made, the lower per-copy price, since the original investment can be amortized over more items. Noyce was betting that once Fairchild artificially lowered the price for integrated circuits, the resulting demand would be so high that his 'per-copy price' would actually fall below the original price they charged." (138)
"As business historian Alfred Chandler has so aptly put it, 'Fairchild's problem was that it produced entrepreneurs, not products.'" (154)
August 11, 2008
My mom bought me this book for my birthday. It sat on my shelf for a year and half until my guilt finally brought me to pick it up. I was dreading it being quite boring. It turned out to be fascinating.
I related to Robert Noyce in a lot of ways. It was fun to see how he reacted to life and to compare his decisions with what I might have done. He inspired me to be more entrepreneurial.
Learning about the history of the industry I am in provided a lot of perspective and basis for the work I do every day. Computer science wasn't even around when Noyce was getting his career started. What would I have done and where would I have ended up if that option hadn't been available to me?
It was sad to see how his family life deteriorated, ultimately ending in divorce and estranged children. His reflections on this failure almost exactly mirror President David O. McKay's famous quote that "No success can compensate for failure in the home." On page 220 he says "Nothing else I've done matters because I've failed as a parent."
As the story moved more into his life after success, it started to drag quite a bit. I didn't really care about his politics, although I admire the man for his accomplishments.
An interesting read, but probably pretty boring for anyone not in or familiar with the computer industry.
Vocab:
38: bonhomie
53: internecine
I related to Robert Noyce in a lot of ways. It was fun to see how he reacted to life and to compare his decisions with what I might have done. He inspired me to be more entrepreneurial.
Learning about the history of the industry I am in provided a lot of perspective and basis for the work I do every day. Computer science wasn't even around when Noyce was getting his career started. What would I have done and where would I have ended up if that option hadn't been available to me?
It was sad to see how his family life deteriorated, ultimately ending in divorce and estranged children. His reflections on this failure almost exactly mirror President David O. McKay's famous quote that "No success can compensate for failure in the home." On page 220 he says "Nothing else I've done matters because I've failed as a parent."
As the story moved more into his life after success, it started to drag quite a bit. I didn't really care about his politics, although I admire the man for his accomplishments.
An interesting read, but probably pretty boring for anyone not in or familiar with the computer industry.
Vocab:
38: bonhomie
53: internecine
July 5, 2013
This fast-reading biography of Robert Noyce, considered by many to be the inventor of the integrated circuit and the founder of Silicon Valley, gives us a glimpse of a man who for the most part practiced the ideals of good management. He treated employees fairly and believed they should be given the option to participate in a company's success through stock purchase plans and stock options. After his success in starting up Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel, he gave back by investing in other start-ups and mentoring other entrepreneurs, the likes of Steve Jobs. He wasn't without his flaws, such as dalliances that led to his divorce, and lack of attention to his family, which led to troubles that his children experienced, but overall he is a much better role model than most of the corporate tycoons today.
August 12, 2008
Happens to be someone I worked with years ago, so many of the people and events are familiar, which makes this a terrific account of a true American inventor and enterpreneur. If you've been a witness, or even better a party to the rise of Silicon Valley you'll benefit from one story of how this whole thing got started. Worst I can say is that the author could have delved a little deeper into some things, but as a bio it's a great read.
April 14, 2016
Tells the story both of Robert Noyce's life, and the start of the semiconductor industry. I learned that Robert Noyce's personal management philosophy of giving people the tools they needed and then getting out of the way - and its success at Intel is what set the pattern of Silicon Valley companies and large portions of the American tech and software sectors in general.
Good read - and important if you want to understand the roots of this industry.
Good read - and important if you want to understand the roots of this industry.
October 9, 2014
I really enjoyed the book and found Noyce to be really interesting. The book does cover how choosing a successful career may have repercussions on the family. The book exceeded expectations for sure. Great explanation of the contrast between Noyce and Grove. Skimmed through the early Sematch part of the book, but the first half made up for that stretch of boring detail.
January 27, 2013
Beyond the man, it gives an incredible history of the start of the semiconductor industry which is now so big. A great read and highly recommended especially if you have and interest at all in computers.
March 5, 2013
"Go off and do something wonderful" as Robert Noyce used to say, and this book is wonderful, so go off and must read this book.
January 2, 2017
Outstanding book. Very well written. I loved the story and the history.
March 26, 2010
very interesting biography/history of silicon valley
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews