Customer Reviews:
Misleading Subtitle-Great Work!.......2000-08-05
Although the book is titled an itroductory study, I would not reccomend to anyone start a journey into the Ancient Rome with McDonald's work, unless you are one of those persons who have deep fascination for Classical studies and ancient architecture. This book rewards an attentive reader and in the course of reading I was reffering constantly to Roman historians such as Seutonius and Tacitus. Through the careful analysis of the four great monuments of antiquity (the Domus Aurea, Domus Augustana, Trajan's Markets and the Pantheon), all centered in Rome, an author clearly shows a connections between symbolic meaning of the space, its forms, and construction techniques. This analysis is supplied with very descriptive illustrations, plans, and major dimensions of the explored monuments. In my opinion, this is one of the very few fundamental works on the Architecture of the Roman Empire that is available in English.
Book Description
This unique book by tattoo artist Takahiro Kitamura (Horitaka, a pupil of Horiyoshi III) discusses the art of the Japanese tattoo in the context of Ukiyo-e, concentrating on the parallel histories of the woodblock print and the tattoo. Through high quality illustrations it shows that the Japanese tattoo is highly reliant on and linked to the woodblock print and that it deserves a position among the other art forms. A range of typical ukiyo-e motifs in the Japanese tattoo are discussed and illustrated by the original Japanese prints, and sketches, drawings and tattoos by tattoo master Horiyoshi III. The book ends with a special essay by Don Ed Hardy.
Customer Reviews:
Japanese Art as Tattoo and Vice Versa.......2005-05-12
Never has a book demonstrated so well the relationship between Japanese wood block prints and tattoos. Despite the seeming deluge of complex images that appear in large Japanese tattoos and body suits, the elements and themes are actually not that many and are readily recognized with practice. Tattoo artists will pour over this volume and collectors (both book and tattoo) shouldn't be without it.
tops on the cultural context of the japanese tattoo.......2003-07-09
Takahiro Kitamura's "Tattoos of the Floating World" is far from a be-all and end-all guide to Japanese tattoos. However, it is for the moment without peer in providing a cultural context, and it thus adds depth to a reading of many other favorites, including Fellman's "The Japanese Tattoo," Addiss' "Japanese Ghosts and Demons," and Klompmakers' "Of Brigands and Bravery: Kuniyoshi's Heroes of the Suikoden."
In this slender volume, Kitamura's primary focus is the linkage of the woodblock printing tradition of the Edo period (1615-1868) to the development of the tattoo as art. With such a focus, afficionados of the print artists Kuniyoshi, Kunisada, and Kunichika will find many illustrations to delight them, and there are as well photographs of the current artistry being worked by tattoo masters. Adding to the value of the book are a preface written by Donald Richie and an afterword by Don Ed Hardy. The first essay is elegiac and lyrical in tone; the second provides personal insights by a Western connoisseur of the tattoo art form.
The shortcomings of "Tattoos of the Floating World" concern what is not included. The book would have benefitted greatly from having an index as well as a more generously-executed glossary. Moreover, I regret that Kitamura, who as a tattoo artist is uniquely qualified to do so, did not more systematically and fully catalogue and explain the symbolism of Japanese tattoos.
Masterful Examination of Floating World Arts.......2003-05-03
Most tattoo afficianados are aware that Japanese tattoos are steeped in history and culture. But Tattoos Of The Floating World: Ukiy-o Motifs In The Japanese tattoo explores this history and culture in a way never done before. Takahiro Kitamura's research and unique insight combine to present the reader with not only a history of the Japanese tattoo, but also with an understanding of how it came to be, how it continued to maintain its traditions through centuries of persecution and cultural metamorphosis, and how it both influenced and was influenced by the contemporary arts of early Japan.
The first half of this excellent work explores the early history of the Floating World (as pleasure districts were known as Japan's Edo period), focusing on the "triumvirate of arts": ukiyo-e (wood block prints), irezumi (tattoos), and kabuki theatre. Ukiyo-e and irezumi are so closely intertwined that tattoos of the day were referred to as horimono (carved object) in deference to the process of carving a wood block print. Kabuki was the theatre of the people and expressed not only the history and mythology of Japan, but the people's innermost desires as well. Kitamura's exploration of the ways in which these three arts intertwined demonstrates his love of the topic and inspires a similar affection in the reader.
The latter half of Tattoos Of The Floating World details many of the themes so strongly connected with Japanese Tattoo today. Sections devoted to such heroes as Fudo Myoo, Fujin and Raijin, Kumonryu Shishin, and Tennin give a basic understanding of their characters themselves and their endurance as tattoo motifs. Details are also provided on such traditional images as dragons, koi, shunga, falcons, the Kurikaraken, tigers and the phoenix.
Illustrated throughout with ukiyo-e, original sketches by Horiyoshi III, and photographs by Jai Tanju, this work is as beautiful as it is educational. The pairing of sketches next to their finished tattoos highlights the artistry involved in Japanese tattoo while the presentation of ukiyo-e prints alongside tattoos of the same characters and motifs demonstrates the cultural and historic similarities.
As a special bonus, Don Ed Hardy weighs in with an essay exploring his own discovery of Japanese tattoo. Ed Hardy is the foremost American authority on Japanese tattoo and was one of the first Westerners to write on the subject. This essay follows his discovery of Japanese tattoo and his adventures in crossing the borders (both physical and cultural) between Japanese and Western tattooing.
Average customer rating:
- Ukiyo-E
- Dont drop this book on your foot--OUCH!
- The Book as Art
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Ukiyo-e (Themes)
Gian Carlo Calza
Manufacturer: Phaidon Press
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Similar Items:
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Japonisme: Cultural Crossings Between Japan and the West
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Hokusai
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Hiroshige
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Japanese Erotic Fantasies: Sexual Imagery of the Edo Period
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Japanese Prints: The Art Institute of Chicago
ASIN: 0714845388 |
Book Description
The art of ukiyo-e (the floating world) originated in the city of Edo (1603-1867, now Tokyo), when the political and military power of Japan was in the hands of the shoguns. Comprising six essays, six plate sections and over 600 illustrations this beautiful book provides a perfect introduction to the art of this period. The paintings, scrolls and prints reproduced here demonstrate not only the new urban pleasures of the theatre, restaurants, teahouses and geisha, but also Japan's love of nature and tradition. Professor Calza's accessible style provides a fascinating yet scholarly study of such masters as Hokusai, Hiroshige and Utamaro.
Customer Reviews:
Ukiyo-E.......2007-10-02
A sumptuous and diverse collection of these Japanese prints that have been so significant in Asian culture and Western art.
Dont drop this book on your foot--OUCH!.......2006-01-29
The eternal search for the perfect art book. Lots of high quality, large images. The book is predominantly images, with little supporting text. Which is just fine by me. The bredth of this book is its selling point. Its huge and covers a large span of time. My only issue is the size of the images. NOt all, but some are just to small. But, thats why I have a magnifying glass at hand. If you want to own one really good book on Ukiyo-e, this just might be your best bet.
The Book as Art.......2005-12-23
One of the most frequently referenced periods of Eastern art is the Edo Period in Japan, a time when woodcuts, scrolls, prints, and ink drawings literally flowed from the brushes and hands of craftsmen such as Hokusai, Utamaro, and Hiroshige. The depiction of ocean waves is still informing the art of many artists - Pat Steir comes to mind first. This is the period of ukiyo-e, a time of emperors and grandeur and shoguns and power, all captured in the enormously imaginative art. It was also a period when artists turned their attention to the honor of the geisha life, the teahouses, and the palaces of pleasure with graphic sexual depictions, a time when the rest of the outside world seemed to matter little to the level of culture in Edo (now Tokyo) for over 200 years.
This splendid book is in a very large format that allows the reproductions of the plates to resemble life size! Intertwined with the well written history of art and techniques as well as erudite essays on the Japanese sociopolitical, cultural, the all important Japanese tradition of the time are placed generous examples of the finest works by the finest artists. The art is flat dimensionally but hardly communicatively. Elegant portraits of geishas reveal the traditional garb and makeup and represent a history lesson for these women of pleasure. The pure landscapes and seascapes and views mountains and volcanoes are representative of the fact that Japan is an island and never far from the influence of water.
Though the book is expensive the investment is well worth the cost as only the finest paper, printing techniques, and design have been extravagantly lavished on this very beautiful and informative volume. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, December 05
Average customer rating:
- a first-rate addition to any Japanese art library
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Floating World of Ukiyo-E: Shadows, Dreams and Substance
Dr. Sandy Kita ,
James Douglas Farquhar ,
Lawrence E. Marceau , and
Katherine L. Blood
Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Asian
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ASIN: 0810941694 |
Book Description
The exquisite, colorful Japanese woodblock prints that represent the art of Ukiyo-e first flourished in 17th-century Edo (now Tokyo). Today these "pictures of the floating world" are the most popular form of Japanese art. This elegant book takes a fresh look at Ukiyo-e, showcasing a never-before-published trove of Japanese prints, drawings, and books from the collection of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
Known masterpieces by such names as Hiroshige and Hokusai stand alongside rare and unusual works. Colors are exceptionally vivid, in part because the art has never been exhibited and is rarely handled. The beauty of the book will delight art lovers, while the cutting-edge scholarship and unusually comprehensive bibliography will also excite the specialist and collector.
160 illustrations in full color, 232 pages, 9 x 11"September
Customer Reviews:
a first-rate addition to any Japanese art library.......2001-11-26
Writing on Edo-period Japanese prints tends to be dominated by studies of single artists, print series by single artists, and chronological histories. Against this background, "The Floating World of Ukiyoe: Shadows, Dreams, and Substance," produced in conjunction with an exhibition, is a most welcome contribution. Here the emphasis is on showcasing a diverse and rarely seen collection--the woodblock prints and woodblock-printed books of the Library of Congress-- and on presenting expert essays that put the genre of "ukiyoe" in a broad aesthetic and social context. Added bonuses include such features as the "raking light" photograph on page 118, which illustrates the effects created by print embossing. "The Floating World" has been superbly designed by Abrams and well edited. It is worth noting too that the index has been prepared with exceptional care. Meanwhile, the bibliography--which covers 309 items and runs more than 20 pages--is a wonderful guide to woodblock-printed books in the Library of Congress: for scholars of Japanese art, culture, and publishing, this alone will justify acquisition of this book.
Average customer rating:
- accessible and insightful
- accessible and insightful
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The Last Tosa: Iwasa Katsumochi Matabei, Bridge to Ukiyo-E
Sandy Kita
Manufacturer: University of Hawaii Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
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ASIN: 0824818261 |
Customer Reviews:
accessible and insightful.......2001-02-10
Dr. Kita hits with this work a crucial node in Japanese Art History: the transition from the medieval and classical traditions of art, from the art of the courtiers and handscrolls to that of the merchants and woodblock prints. Matabei is both chronologically and artistically at the centre of this transition, and his opus refuses simple interpretations.
Kita is the first scholar outside Japan to ever have researched on Matabei, and while his book gives a thorough review of the vivid discussions that Japanese scholars have held since the 19th century, it also presents the author's own extremely consistent study of Matabei. While Japanese art is often collected and admired in western museums, serious scholarship seldom transcends the borders of the archipel. This book is a fortunate exception, and it strikes both against the idea that Japanese-style scholarship is not suited for western readers, and agains the commonplace conceptions of Japanese art in the West, which has been looked at for too long now with the same blurred glasses of the "Japonisme" which, over a century ago, could not have more than a superficial interest for "decadent" woodblock prints or mysterious brushstrokes.
Solid image analysis, supported by reproductions for us mortals who do not have access to these rare paintings, is the base of Kita's argumentation, enhanced with abundant reference to earlier and contemporary scholars' studies. Leading us didactically, weaving a web of evidence that eventually comes down to the conclusion yet in no instance sacrificing academic consistency, this book is an ideal acquisition for both the experienced scholar of Japanese art and the serious amateur. Appendices, a glossary, and a character guide enhance the enjoyment of this book for many successive rereadings.
accessible and insightful.......2001-02-10
Dr. Kita hits with this work a crucial node in Japanese Art History: the transition from the medieval and classical traditions of art, from the art of the courtiers and handscrolls to that of the merchants and woodblock prints. Matabei is both chronologically and artistically at the centre of this transition, and his opus refuses simple interpretations.
Kita is the first scholar outside Japan to ever have researched on Matabei, and while his book gives a thorough review of the vivid discussions that Japanese scholars have held since the 19th century, it also presents the author's own extremely consistent study of Matabei. While Japanese art is often collected and admired in western museums, serious scholarship seldom transcends the borders of the archipel. This book is a fortunate exception, and it strikes both against the idea that Japanese-style scholarship is not suited for western readers, and agains the commonplace conceptions of Japanese art in the West, which has been looked at for too long now with the same blurred glasses of the "Japonisme" which, over a century ago, could not have more than a superficial interest for "decadent" woodblock prints or mysterious brushstrokes.
Solid image analysis, supported by reproductions for us mortals who do not have access to these rare paintings, is the base of Kita's argumentation, enhanced with abundant reference to earlier and contemporary scholars' studies. Leading us didactically, weaving a web of evidence that eventually comes down to the conclusion yet in no instance sacrificing academic consistency, this book is an ideal acquisition for both the experienced scholar of Japanese art and the serious amateur. Appendices, a glossary, and a character guide enhance the enjoyment of this book for many successive rereadings.
Average customer rating:
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Ukiyo-E: 250 Years of Japanese Art
Roni Neuer , and
Susugu Yoshida
Manufacturer: Smithmark Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0831790415 |
Average customer rating:
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Ukiyo-E: The Art of Japanese Woodblock Prints
Manufacturer: Smithmark Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0831761164 |
Book Description
Highly acclaimed, scholarly volume examines technological advances and artistic development, with nearly 300 examples of photographic art. 285 black-and-white photos.
Book Description
How can property rights be protected and contracts be enforced in countries where the rule of law is ineffective or absent? How can firms from advanced market economies do business in such circumstances? In Lawlessness and Economics, Avinash Dixit examines the theory of private institutions that transcend or supplement weak economic governance from the state.
In much of the world and through much of history, private mechanisms--such as long-term relationships, arbitration, social networks to disseminate information and norms to impose sanctions, and for-profit enforcement services--have grown up in place of formal, state-governed institutions. Even in countries with strong legal systems, many of these mechanisms continue under the shadow of the law. Numerous case studies and empirical investigations have demonstrated the variety, importance, and merits, and drawbacks of such institutions.
This book builds on these studies and constructs a toolkit of theoretical models to analyze them. The models shed new conceptual light on the different modes of governance, and deepen our understanding of the interaction of the alternative institutions with each other and with the government's law. For example, one model explains the limit on the size of social networks and illuminates problems in the transition to more formal legal systems as economies grow beyond this limit. Other models explain why for-profit enforcement is inefficient. The models also help us understand why state law dovetails with some non-state institutions and collides with others. This can help less-developed countries and transition economies devise better processes for the introduction or reform of their formal legal systems.
Book Description
Feminist economists have demonstrated that interrogating hierarchies based on gender, ethnicity, class and nation results in an economics that is biased and more faithful to empirical evidence than are mainstream accounts.
This rigorous and comprehensive book examines many of the central philosophical questions and themes in feminist economics including:
· History of economics
· Feminist science studies
· Identity and agency
· Caring labor
· Postcolonialism and postmodernism
With contributions from such leading figures as Nancy Folbre, Julie Nelson and Sandra Harding, Toward a Feminist Theory of Economics looks set to become the book on feminist economics for some time to come and will be greatly appreciated by all those interested in gender studies, economic methodology and social theory.
Average customer rating:
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Banking and Financial Stability in Central Europe: Integrating Transition Economies into the European Union
Manufacturer: Edward Elgar Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1840645121 |
Book Description
The eastwards expansion of the European Union is one of the most explosive economic and political issues of the early 21st century. Economic and financial stability combined with rising prosperity in the applicant countries are increasingly seen as necessary preconditions for European Union membership.
This authoritative volume, written by scholars and practitioners from Central and Western Europe and the United States, confronts the issues involved in three of the countries most likely to be successful applicants to the EU - the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovenia. A spotlight is turned on the banking and financial industries, as they are crucial to the achievement of economic stability. The blend of expertise deployed, which draws on in-depth knowledge and extensive experience in central banking, financial and commercial law, business, practical policy making and economic analysis, ensures that this book is timely, relevant and insightful.
The authors suggest that the role of the state in both creating and maintaining an effective financial sector is central. Furthermore, they argue that well-regulated commercial banks and strategic foreign investors are a must as, in practice, the attempt to skip straight to modern capital markets has been ruinous.
This accessibly written volume will be of interest to students and scholars of economics, finance, law, political science, the sociology of economic life and European studies.
Average customer rating:
- Over priced with no hard information
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Understanding Bar Codes (Quickread Book)
James R. Plunkett
Manufacturer: Duke Press Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Scanning Systems
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ASIN: 1884322174 |
Customer Reviews:
Over priced with no hard information.......1999-03-15
General information at the 4 th. grade level. No hard information on construction of bar codes or any attempt at giving any working knowledge of bar code technology. Save your money this is 60 page advertisement for using a consultant.
Amazon.com
Michael Lewis was supposed to be writing about how Jim Clark, the founder of Silicon Graphics and Netscape, was going to turn health care on its ear by launching Healtheon, which would bring the vast majority of the industry's transactions online. So why was he spending so much time on a computerized yacht, each feature installed because, as one technician put it, "someone saw it on Star Trek and wanted one just like it?"
Much of The New New Thing, to be fair, is devoted to the Healtheon story. It's just that Jim Clark doesn't do startups the way most people do. "He had ceased to be a businessman," as Lewis puts it, "and become a conceptual artist." After coming up with the basic idea for Healtheon, securing the initial seed money, and hiring the people to make it happen, Clark concentrated on the building of Hyperion, a sailboat with a 197-foot mast, whose functions are controlled by 25 SGI workstations (a boat that, if he wanted to, Clark could log onto and steer--from anywhere in the world). Keeping up with Clark proves a monumental challenge--"you didn't interact with him," Lewis notes, "so much as hitch a ride on the back of his life"--but one that the author rises to meet with the same frenetic energy and humor of his previous books, Liar's Poker and Trail Fever.
Like those two books, The New New Thing shows how the pursuit of power at its highest levels can lead to the very edges of the surreal, as when Clark tries to fill out an investment profile for a Swiss bank, where he intends to deposit less than .05 percent of his financial assets. When asked to assess his attitude toward financial risk, Clark searches in vain for the category of "people who sought to turn ten million dollars into one billion in a few months" and finally tells the banker, "I think this is for a different ... person." There have been a lot of profiles of Silicon Valley companies and the way they've revamped the economy in the 1990s--The New New Thing is one of the first books fully to depict the sort of man that has made such companies possible. --Ron Hogan
Book Description
As American capitalism undergoes a seismic shift, Michael Lewis, author of the bestselling Liar's Poker, sets out on a Silicon Valley safari to find the true representative of the coming economic age. All roads lead to Jim Clark, the man who rewrote the rules of American capitalism as the founder of (so far) three multi-billion dollar companies-Silicon Graphics, Netscape, and Healtheon. Lewis's shrewd, often brilliantly funny, narrative provides ahead-of-the-curve observations about the Internet explosion and how the success of Silicon Valley companies is forcing a reassessment of traditional Wall-Street business models.
Weaving Clark's story together with that of this new business phenomenon, Lewis has drawn us a map of markets and free enterprise in the twenty-first century and blown the lid off the changing economy.
Customer Reviews:
What would you do if you researched a book and didn't find anything?.......2007-10-18
I'm a big fan of Michael Lewis. He usually brings characters and situations to life and provides a perspective on a situation that introduces me to a new way of looking at things. That's not the case here.
I get the feeling when Michael Lewis got permission to follow Jim Clark around for several months to write about him he thought he'd hit the mother load of great book material. Here was a guy who had traipsed through the daunting world of technology with a seeming Midas touch. Heck, the man had started Silicon Graphics and Netscape.
As I read the book, however, something strange happened, I started wondering, "When did Michael Lewis realize he was following the most improbably boring man in the world?" Jim Clark should be fascinating; he starts huge companies and turns venture capitalists on their ears, he flies helicopters, rides motorcycles and builds ludicrously complex, large and expensive sailboats. Jim Clark is a man who is never satisfied and always striving for the "New, New Thing." Yet somehow, Jim Clark is also apparently stone cold dull.
In the course of the whole book, not one Jim Clark quote is interesting, entertaining, or insightful. It doesn't seem like Clark won't open up to Lewis, it's more like he's a one-dimensional guy. Lewis writes the book in a way that indicates that he's an author that knows he's got nothing but has invested far too much time in research to try to turn back. The book becomes focused on the attempt to get Clark's newest technology-laden boat ready for an Atlantic crossing; hardly what I'm guessing Lewis set out to write.
The crossing itself turns out to be a non-event and unfortunately the book does to. Don't despair though, read Moneyball or Liar's Poker or Blindside and you'll find that Michael Lewis can, and usually does, deliver the goods in spades.
A distorted view of Silicon Valley technology startups.......2007-10-01
"The New New Thing" tells two stories. The first is the story of Jim Clark, a technical entrepreneur who founded three companies -- Silicon Graphics, Netscape, and Healtheon -- that achieved phenomenal heights during the Internet boom of the 1990's. Clark is, to say the least, an interesting character; at least two of Clark's business associates are quoted in the book calling him a "maniac". Clark is driven almost entirely by an unending greed, so for me at least, he quickly became an unsympathetic character around which to hang an entire book. Another criticism I have is that far too many pages of the book are spent on Clark's quest to build and debug Hyperion, the world's largest computer-controlled sailboat. These sections were a distraction from the rest of the narrative. (By the way, it's pretty clear that although they may have been smart, the people writing the software for Hyperion -- including Clark himself -- were all pretty lousy software engineers.)
The second story is that of Silicon Valley, and it doesn't come off looking much better than Clark. Lewis seems to have been granted incredible access to Clark's life, which included the ability to interview and attend meetings with the Valley's top movers and shakers -- the engineers, senior managers, and venture capitalists who fund them. As a computer scientist who has lived and worked in the Valley since 1991, I found this material to be enlightening, and certainly the strongest part of the book. Perhaps most fascinating is the way the decisions of the venture capital (VC) firms and investment banks are based so much on perception rather than sound reasoning. For example, one minute the VCs are writing off their Healtheon investments as a total loss, but the next minute -- when Clark offers to invest $40M of his own money in the failing venture -- they all clamor to invest more in it. Sadly, during the "irrational exuberance" of the late 1990's, this was actually a winning strategy.
One danger in writing a book about the new new thing -- at the height of the Internet bubble no less -- is that it can quickly become old. And this book has not aged well. Yes, Jim Clark was the first person in Silicon Valley to have founded three companies with a market capitalization exceeding $1 billion, and yes, he made himself and many others around him obscenely rich. But most of the companies he started have not been lasting successes: as of this writing in 2007, Silicon Graphics is dying, having lost tens to hundreds of millions of dollars in each of the last four fiscal years; Netscape was acquired by AOL, whose subsequent acquisition by Time Warner nearly killed the latter company; Healtheon merged with WebMD, whose business model is substantially less ambitious than Clark's original concept for the company; and myCFO, the newest new enterprise mentioned at the end of the book, morphed into a company that offered illegal tax shelters to wealthy clients, came under investigation by the IRS, and was eventually sold for only one third of the original money poured into it. Toward the end of the book, Lewis also wryly mocks John Doerr's VC firm Kleiner Perkins for paying $25M for a 33% stake in Google, which he writes "consisted of a pair of Stanford graduate students who had a piece of software that might or might not make it easier to search the Internet." Poor Kleiner Perkins. Their Google investment was obviously a terrible mistake.
Michael Lewis is a great writer, but I enjoyed two of his other books far more: Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street and Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game.
All in all, "The New New Thing" does a good job of exposing the underbelly of Silicon Valley capitalism. But its focus on Clark and companies born out of the Internet bubble gives a distorted picture of the challenges in founding and running a technical startup. For a more accurate depiction, I recommend Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure.
Classic Michael Lewis on Silicon Valley .......2006-10-18
If you have read any of Michael Lewis's other books and found them enjoyable (either writing style or topic), you will find this a good read, worthy of your time. You will learn a little about the atmosphere of Silicon Valley during the height of the bubble / late 90s as well as about a very unique figure who helped (over exagerated, per Economist) start it all.
How Silicon Valley Was Built and the Next Gen Entrepreneur!.......2006-07-30
A must read for any entrepreneur or intrapreneur(someone within a company who must innovate). Lewis opens with stories about Jim Clark -- reknown Silicon Valley entrepreneur and innovator and his boat that 'built Netscape"...the book talks about Netscape which Lewis says launched the Information age (it may or may not have but it certainly ushered in the IPO era and online businesses. Interesting what has since happened to Silicon Graphics and Healtheon that was supposed to turn the health care industry 'on it's head'. The inside cover talks about --- what else-- Paradigm shift in American culture-- from conventional business models (the old economy) to the new economy. Yet in retrospect we know that a mix of the best of both is really probably the way to go. The titles of the chapter are more clever than the chapters themselves. I personally would have liked to see more about different innovators not just Clarke but then I didn't write the book. The chapter titles include "Pasts in a Box" Disorganization Man, Home of the Future God Mode -- How Chickents Become Pork, Cheese Sandwiches for Breakfast, Chasing Ghosts, The Turning Point and The New New Thing....
A Fascinating Insight into Silicon Valley.......2006-01-27
The July 1999 issue of Forbes magazine makes the astonishing observation that there are now 465 people who have a billion or more dollars. Incredibly, as this book notes, there are an estimated 180,000 Americans who are deca-millionaires (over ten million dollars in assets). An inventor or entrepreneur, upon reading these statistics, may note that not only has a great amount of wealth been created, but that it is not in the hands of just a handful of people.
This book tells how one man, Jim Clark, starting out as a thirty-eight year old unsuccessful college professor and whose second wife just left him, went on to create, in succession, three billion-dollar corporations. These creations were Silicon Graphics, Netscape, and Healtheon. In the process of achieving this hat trick, he also reinvented the social order. The "Organization Man" and conformity have been replaced by brilliant engineers and nonconformity. Bitter at how little the actual creators of Silicon Graphics received and how much the venture capitalists profited, Jim Clark made sure in his next two ventures that, by such means as stock options, his creative people prospered very well indeed.
One of Clark's great strengths has been to rapidly change directions. As the book notes, "A stunning ignorance of mass tastes was a common problem in high technology." For example, Honeywell, in the 1960's, created The Kitchen Computer and assumed housewives would welcome the monster size computer in their kitchens and would know how to program it. "Neiman Marcus failed to sell a single unit." When Marc Andreesen mentioned 25 million people were then using the Internet, Jim Clark saw the potential of Marc's Mosaic code and formed Mosaic Communications (which became Netscape). This time around, Clark cut a deal with venture capitalists that was unprecedented. When the initial public stock offering was made, "It was one of the most successful share offerings in the history of U.S. stock markets and possibly the most famous." In the past, shares were not sold to the investing public until four consecutive quarters were profitable. Now it was the future potential, the rapid growth, that lured investors. Also, the young engineers profited. Inventor Marc Andreesen, at twenty-four, was now worth eighty million dollars! Stock options were now the name of the game for engineers.
The author compares the changes in the Silicon Valley value system to the changes that have taken place in Hollywood's value system. He notes "The stars seized power and once they'd seized power they raised their price and demanded the right to direct their own picture." He compares Jim Clark to Marlon Brando.
A fascinating insight into Silicon Valley is that almost half of the companies there have been founded by Indian entrepreneurs. The book tells how Nehru set up an educational system that found the very best young minds among 900 million people and brought them to the Indian Institute of Technology. They all spoke English and America offered the highest pay and the most opportunity.
Another informative bit in the book is the origin of the word "debug." It turns out that back in the 1960's a computer problem was found to be literally due to a large moth trapped inside. The word become the standard term for removing errors from programs.
This book is so up to date you may feel you are reading your daily newspaper. How Microsoft attempted to achieve complete domination over the world's 500 million computers is explained. Netscape informed the U.S. Department of Justice of Microsoft's threats. Together with information furnished by other firms, this led to the Justice Department's antitrust action.
The author observes that, generally speaking, stock market investors now fall into two categories: Those who follow the Graham and Dodd's system of careful analysis and those who are "kamikaze investors." It will be interesting to see which of these two opposing financial philosophies has the last laugh.
Considerable book space is devoted to Jim Clark's obsession with building his completely computer controlled world's largest sailboat. A sad observation made by sailors is that when approaching an island a land bird, such as a hawk, may appear, but it may be too far out and it will perish in the sea. The author notes how this is "The first bird, like a man ahead of his time, a tragic figure." It is a reminder that all inventors and entrepreneurs are not Jim Clarks.
A highly readable book and, if you delight it) the thought that bankers and venture capitalists should not rule the business world; you will enjoy Jim Clark's triumphs.
Product Description
4 MICHAEL LEWIS Books - 1) - Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game / 2) - The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game / 3) - Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street / 4) - The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story - (Unboxed Set of Books), in either Hard or Softcover, (See Seller Condition Comments), Shipped in one
package to save on shipping costs.
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