Geeks Bearing Gifts

A high-level overview of computer history (starting from ancient history (hierarchy and alphabets), and ending with a discussion of the state-of-the-art at the time of writing) from the perspective of Dr. Ted Nelson, best known for coining the term 'hypertext', and desiging the hypertext system Xanadu in the early 60s.

Nelson comes across as entertainingly curmudgeonly (as a quote on the back cover says, "a bit crabby but what a clear thinker"), generally displeased with the direction modern technology has taken. As he views it, key moments in computer history - namely the UNIX hierarchical filesystem, the PARC model of the GUI (the PUI, as he calls it), and the World Wide Web - have constrained users into using the computer in a particular way, which does not necessarily align with how people actually think. Nelson's preference for his own model of interaction is very apparent, though he is upfront about this, and it's part of the book's appeal, in my opinon.

Overall, I think this is a great read, informative and entertaining. There's a few mistakes, and Nelson's perspective on certain things mean it's probably not the best read for someone who isn't computer-savvy. However, that same perspective is also what makes it worthwhile for those more knowledgeable of the field - it challenges the accepted norm.

The Age of the Strongman

This book covers the rise of "strongman politics" across the world in the 21st century, opening with an introuction to the concept itself. Strongman politics generally refers to populist, nationalist, culturally conservative politicians who attempt to undermine democratic institutions for their own gain, forming cults of personality around themselves as the person who's fighting for the common man, usually against some "deep state" or other such conspiracies. Some examples given by the book (which might better illustrate what constitutes a strongman politician) are Vladimir Putin, Xi Xinping, and Donald Trump (among others).

The bulk of this book covers individual strongman regimes around the world, and the Western responses to them. It'd be an awful lot to write if I were to try to summarise each section, so I won't try (this page is full enough as-is!). The sheer amount of examples of this kind of governance is quite depressing, and it really does make me worry for the future of liberal democracy.

This book is another fairly depressing read, and after Apple in China, I think I've had about enough of those for now! The book ends on a brief optimistic note, arguing that the failure of strongman regimes is inveitable. It almost feels like it was tacked on to leave readers a little less depressed when they finish it, but with the book being as old as it is (5 years is a long while in today's turbulent times - Donald Trump hadn't long ended his first term at this point), I find it a little harder to believe.

Apple in China

A really fascinating (if depressing) book on how Apple's manufacturing has ended up entirely in China. It mostly covers Apple from the late 90s onwards to the present day (or 2025, as it was when it released), with a particular focus on the political aspects of the transfer to China.

One of the things I found quite fascinating about this book was just how big a part Apple had to play in making China the manufacturing hub it is today. Apple invested (and still does) an awful lot into the technologies required to build even seemingly mundane parts of their devices such as the glass and exterior, and a lot of that technology (mysteriously) ends up in next year's models produced the homegrown brands! I guess technology transfer (willing or not) is the price you pay for doing business in a place where intellectual property laws are more of a suggestion.

One of the more depressing aspects covered in the book is simply how rapidly Western manufacturing has been entirely outmoded by China. The 2013 Mac Pro (the beloathed 'trashcan') is given as an example, as efforts to build it in Austin, Texas were a bit of a disaster, and necessitated flying in Foxconn engineers from China to show them how it was done! I think there's something of a comforting narrative people have in their heads that China isn't really any good at developing their own technologies, and that outside expertise is required for them to really do much of anything at all. That might have been the case when Apple was just getting started in China, but the situation has changed so rapidly (as the Mac Pro fiasco demonstrated) that it just isn't the case anymore.

Also covered is China's near monopoly on the lithium trade. Heavy investment in Africa (with lots of lithium-rich mines) as well as already established infrastructure for manufacturing batteries have made China the only real supplier of the lithium batteries that power all of our portable devices, and - more concerningly - our electric cars. I think this is one of the several things that make me quite uneasy about electric cars, I'd rather such goods were manufactured if not by ourselves (fat chance), then at least our allies in Europe.

Overall, the book sets quite a depressing tone, making it clear that getting manufacturing out of China will be a nigh-impossible task. Though Apple has made attempts to diversify their manufacturing sources (India being the most prominent of these), they're still heavily dependent on Chinese manufacturing, because it simply can't be matched - not in price, but genuine technical capability. It's a shame that virtually no high-tech consumer goods are manufactured in the West anymore, but it is sort of inevitable. Chinese manufacturing has made high quality, high power technology accessible to so many people, who would otherwise not have even remotely been able to afford it had it been made in the West. On the other hand, things are cheaper in China for reasons beyond exchange rates and other economic factors - it's no coincidence that China has a very poor record for human rights and press freedom. It feels unfair to enable these abuses by continuing to buy Chinese goods, but our manufacturing capabilities are so neutured that that isn't really much alternative, I suppose.

If you've read Chris Miller's Chip War (and if you haven't, you should) and enjoyed it, you'll definitely enjoy this read, it's absolutely fascinating! The crushing sense of existential dread at the decay of Western manufacturing capabilities and shift of political power into authoritarian hands does put a bit of a damper on that enjoyment though, I must say.

UNIX: A History and A Memoir

A concise work outlining the history of UNIX, the utilities and languages that it led to the creation of (awk, make, troff, etc.), the related people and culture surrounding it, and some of its newer implementations (BSD, GNU/Linux, Minix). It doesn't bog you down with technical details whilst still providing a good explanation of UNIX and its tools. I thoroughly reccommend it if you have any interest in learning more about the origins of UNIX. It's worth noting that the print quality of the cover is terrible, but I imagine this is the fault of Amazon, who publish the book through Kindle Direct Publishing.

Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution

Hackers aims to document the history of hacker subculture up to that point in history, and is split into three main sections covering the very earliest hackers at MIT in the 50s and 60s, the personal computer pioneers of the 70s, and the "third generation hackers" developing games for personal computers in the 80s.

The first section really is fascinating, it covers a part of hacker history I was nearly completely unfamiliar with. The core principles of the so-called 'hacker ethic' are described here, as well as a few of the quirks of hackers/compsci enthusiasts as a group (penchant for Chinese takeaway, dislike of authority, and, unfortunately, poor luck in love!)

The second section focuses on the likes of Ed Roberts, Lee Felsenstein, the Homebrew Computer Club, and (later on), Steve Wozniak and Apple. This part I find fascinating, as it focuses on parts of this history that are often lesser known: the Altair and Apple machines are well-documented, but not the Sol-20!

The final major section mostly documents the early years of Sierra On-Line, who developed and published games for home computers of the 80s. This section I found the least interesting - in fact I put the book down for a while, picking it up again to finish it off after reading UNIX: A History and a Memoir (see above). It's still a worthwhile read if you're interested in Sierra specifically, but skippable if you're only interested in hacker culture.

Overall, Hackers is a fab read, and I definitely reccomend it! The first two sections in particular are brilliant, though the section on Sierra feels like a slightly odd inclusion, it's not really about hacker culture in general.

My friend Rosia mentioned a critique of this book, as well as hacker culture in general, which you can find here. The speaker, Allison Parish, makes some good points about fundamental problems with the hacker ethic, and what a new hacker ethic might look like.