Mar 28, 2005 04:30 PM
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(Updated Mar 28, 2005 04:30 PM)
The first advantage this book gets is the name of the author ? Bill Gates. Bill has written this book in collaboration with Nathan Myhrvold and Peter Rinearson but he adopts a first person method of narration using ?I? rather than ?We?. It gives the reader an impression of being in conversation with the great man himself. The main focus of the book is on life as it will be in the near and remote future courtesy of computers and related technologies.
>Billstarts the book with a historical narration of the events that took place when the PCs came into existence. He recounts his own journey into computers including how Microsoft was started and survived through some challenging times. It makes more interesting reading than any fiction, especially for a computer enthusiast.
>The Information Superhighway. Bill introduces the concept of an information superhighway in the early chapters and then builds on it extensively as he goes along. According to Bill, Internet is not the highway but a whole plethora of services, products and technologies will join the internet to form the highway.
Throughout the book, Bill talks about the highway and its impact on all aspects of our lives- work, personal, entertainment, social et al. During his narration he maintains an optimistic, exciting and enthusiastic outlook which permeates to the reader also.
>All in all it?s a very inspiring book. In fact, I was so inspired by one of his future-devices ?WalletPC? that I wrote a small fiction-article on its use in the life of an executive in future.
>The book is replete with personal tidbits from Bill Gates?s life. He mentions the ultra-modern, technology-driven house that he was designing and building then in the last years of the 20th century. He talks about how he and his (now) wife Melinda used to communicate on email during their courtship period. And several other interesting facts like this which give us an insight into the man that is Bill Gates.
>Apart from personal anecdotes, Bill also talks about Microsoft from an insider?s perspective. As you are reading you can get a feeling of getting a view into the big software giant from the CEO?s office.
Bill does not assume any expertise in computers for his readers. Wherever he mentions any typical computerese words he explains them in layperson terms right there.
In my view, it is a biography of computers which extends beyond the present into the future. A must read for any computer enthusiast. Worth a look for anyone else.
P.S. Now I am planning to read his ?Business @ the speed of thought?.
