Finance-History

For all the headlines they grab, mega-mergers typically aren't a good deal for anyone but corporate executives and investment bankers. And guess what? This was just as true when J.P. Morgan created U.S. Steel in 1901 as it was when Steve Case engineered the AOL-Time Warner merger in 1999. Financial expert Charles R. Geisst dissects a century's worth of deals in fascinating detail. His conclusion: investor and regulator beware. Geisst's accessible style is a plus, and he manages to be skeptical but not jaundiced in this thorough, clear-eyed analysis. We suggest this book to any executive contemplating an M&A deal, and to any investor trying to cut through the hype surrounding mergers.

Computer history is full of great human drama and not a few myths, none so enduring as the story of Steve Jobs stealing technology from Xeroc PARC. In this absorbing book about the famous research institution, Michael Hiltzik puts his own interpretation on the legacy of PARC. He lets Xerox off the hook from the usual charges that they "blew it" when it came to exploiting the amazing inventions that came out of PARC.

But Hiltzik's book does not focus on the Jobs incident, rather he gives us portraits of the men and women whose talents and vision produced computers that were way ahead of their time. The first group of engineers working for Jack Goldman and George Pake in a warehouse across from Stanford University actually built a computer that acted much like the DEC PDP-10 that they wanted to buy. They were told they couldn't have one because Xerox had purchased rival computer-maker SDS, whose products were decidedly inferior. So the talented team simply built themselves a clone. Later, they followed Alan Kay's dream of a small personal computer and created the Alto, a true personal computer that had a mouse and graphical interface and built-in ethernet-- in 1973! Kay also created the first object-oriented language, Smalltalk, which was perfect for writing user-friendly applications for the Alto.

The number of innovations that came from PARC is truly astonishing, but none of them ever came to market. This book provides some of the answers as to why Xerox did not turn its research into profits. While pouring money into PARC, they were also having problems with their main business, which was leased copiers. The Japanese were making smaller cheaper copiers that were eating into Xerox's business markets and that was a major distraction. Xerox also lacked the means to sell computers. Their salesmen usually dealt with office managers; they knew nothing about computers.

The products created at PARC were marvelous (everyone wanted an Alto once they saw one in operation), but they were created with no thought to marketing. Each Alto was hand-built and would have to be sold for a hefty price. Xerox did sell some to the Carter administration for the government information office, but never set up a factory to build Altos.

The other problem with marketing the products from PARC was the blindness of the company, including its brilliant researchers, toward the revolution happening right outside their door with small computers. Some of their engineers, like Larry Tesler, Charles Simonyi and Bob Metcalf, did see the potential and left for greener pastures (Tesler to Apple, Simonyi to Microsoft, and Metcalf to found 3Com). But as a company, Xerox had no notion that small cheap computers were about to take the market by storm. When they finally incorporated the Alto technology into the Xerox Star, it was too big, too slow, and too expensive. IBM came out with its PC and businesses bought the cheaper product. The author gives too much credit to IBM, however. The microcomputer revolution was already in full swing and it was only the hubris of the ultra talented researchers PARC employed that kept them from seeing that it was the self-taught garage geeks, not PhD scientists with money to burn, who were the true initiators of personal computing.

As for the visit of Steve Jobs, Hiltzik says there were three visits, with progressively more encompassing demonstrations of the Alto-Smalltalk products. He says all of the participants seem to remember it differently, but Jobs has always felt the emphasis on what he learned at Xerox takes away from the talent and vision that already existed at Apple. The author says it was inevitable that Apple would do a better job of selling the public on a graphical interface than a tradition-bound bureaucratic organization like Xerox. It was simply fate that Apple brought out the Lisa and the Macintosh while Xerox brought out the doomed Star.

I read this book because it was mentioned in The New New Thing - a book about Jim Clark. What I found was a very well written story of PARC (Xerox's research centre in Palo Alto).

The story is really set in the 1970s and 1980s when Xerox set up PARC really to support a newly acquired computer company SDS. What happened instead was that PARC itself outshone the acquired company and for a corporation that built up its name in the photocopier business, it caused many problems.

Hiltzik is a master at capturing the mood and feel. He brings a multitude of characters to life in bite sized chapers. (The book has almost 450 pages but the chapters are about 8-12 pages long making it easy to pick up and immerse yourself in a piece of history.)

What I found astounding was the level of technology reached in PARC. This is well documented in this book. You have Douglas Englebart who used research and ideas raised in the 1940s as a blueprint for interactive hardware and software aimed at manipulating text and video images (he was the "inventor" of the mouse). You have explanations of the floating point function (which caused Intel so many problemns with its Pentium chip). You have descriptions of culture shaping events such as Bob Taylor's "Beat the Dealer" where his people would spend an hour or so explaining their research and then were let loose to the erudite audience "like a rank steak to a pack of hungry wolves." You even have the origins of Ethernet and TCP/IP documented here.

This is a very detailed book but unlike say "competing on Internet Time" it is much more like a story with real characters and real-life issues. It reads as well as a Southwick book but with much more to say.

It is amazing what PARC produced using a bunch of the best people around, and it is the characterisation of these very talented people which made me enjoy the book so much. Hiltizk masterfully adds an epilogue that goes some way to trash the view that Xerox must have been just plain stupid to let all this technology go. A very thoughtful and broadminded ending to a superb book.

As someone who has been working in the IT field some time and a keen student of history, I approached this book with some anticipation and curiosity. I am happy to report that not only was the "story" interesting but also very enlightening. The focus of this book is a historical account of the legendary Xerox technology centre called PARC and the people who worked there. The author has done a remarkable job in making the events of interest to the reader but also take you literally inside the organisation and the thought processes driving all manner of decisions.


The story is at once inspring and tragic. Inspiring in that the centre produced some of the most incredible advances in the computing sciences ever seen, but tragic in that many of those advances never saw the light of day (at least not with a Xerox badge on them). Several things come across when reading the book: the collection of people working in the facility were of an extremely high calibre and some of the sharpest minds of the day, they also possessed (in many cases) collossal egos to go with their staggering intellect, Xerox in many cases had neither the foresight nor the wherewithal to bring these great ideas to market and that the inventions coming out of PARC were perhaps too far ahead of their time to be practical in the "real world".


In the end, as in many organisations, internal politics and ego/hubris brought down this fine institution from what it was to what it is today. I guess that was to be expected with the cast of characters involved and the inability of Xerox to understand their work. As an aside, I think the author handled the question of "did Xerox blow it" very fairly and comes across as surprisingly sympathetic to the company. I think this is reasonable, as it's very easy to be wise after the event. I think many other organisations may have acted the same way when confronted with the economic realities of the time coupled with this bleeding edge technology.


In all, I would recommend "Dealers of Lightning" to anyone curious about the history of computer science or technology in general.

Dan Carrison knows how to tell a good story but, perhaps more importantly, he knows how to take that story and turn it into something more: a valuable learning experience. I took away key lessons from every chapter in this book. The techniques that especially resonated for me were partnering (even with an adversary) and accepting risk. The principles that he reviews will help me out in the future as I "race against time" to meet deadlines in my own workplace.

Most other reviews here are pretty much on the mark - here's a great read with salient lessions drawn from a number of 'premier organizations' about how they've managed to succeed against what are, quite often, immoveable deadlines.
In some instances (FBI kidnapping) I was left somewhat disappointed at the simple instance provided and the lack of any suggestion of reaction to an impending deadline by the agents involved. They pondered, realised and nabbed the offender which was great but I failed to find within the situation given any real scenarios that involved their responses to an impending deadline in a situation where things appeared lost.
However, having said that, Carrison certainly hones in on the FBIs ongoing case analysis and reviews - post incident reviews that provide the necessary updates to current method that do provide controlled approach that limits wasted effort.
At the end of each chapter is a series of bullet points that reiterate the lessons provided.

All in all, a good read and a valuable set of lessons that can be taken away, reflected upon and then applied as appropriate.

While writen primarily for persons in the business world, "Deadline!" will be of interest to the general reader as well. The author provides interesting insights into the workings of five major corporations and one governement agency, each navigating their way through the difficulties of meeting major internal an external deadlines. One cannot help comparing one's own experiences in an organization with with is described in the six diverse organizations described in the book, in my case the academic world. The author wisely does not offer a cookbook approach. Each situation requires fresh thinking and constant adjustments within the context of a process with a date certain ending point. The decisions made by persons with strong company loyalties and the willingness to take risks offer a stimulating and often an inspirational read.

I was there during the period of this book, at a lower level of Security Pacific. I found the book almost unbelievably exciting and scary. It explains much about what was happening to the "troops" that we could not understand. Smith did a good job of keeping the true problems away from all of us, including employees and the public, as he no doubt had to in order for the merger to succeed. All in all, anyone with any interest in banking and finance should find this an exciting and informative book.

Dead Bank Walking is a fascinating account of the rise and demise of a stalwart California Bank. Smith's narration is personal, and it eloquently captures the excess and arrogance that accompanied big business in the 80's. More importantly, it brings the complexity of senior management decision making to life by providing the content and detail required for the reader to effectively walk in the shoes of this aggressive CEO. Smith takes you inside the emotional roller-coaster of his mega-merger. From the comedic meetings with the period's renegade personalities to the devastating effects FIRREA's fine print had on Security Pacific's solvency, this book is a great read. You won't put it down!

Dead Bank Walking gives a very candid and sobering insight into the merging of two banking bohemoths: Security Pacific and Bank of America. People who choose to purchase this book will be thrust into a world of high stakes finance, replete with sometimes brutally honest depictions of the people involved in one the biggest banking mergers in history. Mr. Smith holds nothing back and does a brilliant job of placing the reader directly in the line of fire...basically, in his shoes! His narrative is very descriptive and positively enthralling. Although armed with a seemingly unending supply of wacky characters (including downright white-collar criminals, pompous executives and bloated know-it-all middle managers), Smith avoids the easy way out of making this a diatribe of how unfairly he was treated, rather he takes great pains to illustrate the personal sacrifices others were forced to make in the best interest of the shareholders. Unfortunately, this places the author in an extremely difficult position and what transpires is nothing short of miraculous.
This book is an absolute nail-biter that will surprise you. You definitely would not expect this from a book about "some bank merger that happened 10 years ago out in California." If you work in the business world, especially in the banking industry, you must read this work of passionate dedication and self-sacrifice. The book's in-your-face comments and insight, peppered with self-depricating wit, will make you forget you're reading a book about "business," making it read more like a Oliver Stone screenplay.

This excellent new book is a must read for anyone with a successful and established business who is trying to develop an Internet Strategy. A couple hours investment carefully reading this book finally gave me some valuable clarity on this crucial matter. Order it!

This was used as a text book in my e-business MBA class and would recommend it to others outside of class. It covered a lot of issues relevant to the topic. I enjoy reading books like this that are up-to-date in a dynamic industry.

I must congratulate Ms. Windham on her excellent book "Dead Ahead". I think I must have read it more than three times by now. I am a consultant and my company is involved in web design and development. On many of my assignments, I relied on this book as a guide and many of her ideas have worked very well with my clients.

The first edition of SSI has been considered the greatest resource for history on the DeLorean Sports Car and DeLorean Motor Company. With literally hundreds of photos (color and black & white) of prototypes, the factory, employees, testing, and more, it's without question the best book available on the DeLorean car. John Lamm has a great way of writing that really makes it interesting and easy to understand. The bit at the end by former DMC executive Mike Knepper offers a unique insiders view from that time in history. But it's car that is the real story here, and the only bad part is the original printing of just 10,000 copies means that today it is very hard to come by, with asking prices occasionally in excess of $400 for a pristine copy! If that's too much for you, don't despair! The new DeLorean Motor Company (www.delorean.com) has reprinted the book from the original films, adding a chapter covering the last 20 years since the original was printed. At less than $40, it's a great alternative to buying an original, first edition!

Written by one of the top automotive journalists, this book is widely recognized as the best source for information on the DeLorean automobile and it's gestation process. A very rare book today, a few years after its publication people were refusing the book when offered as a door prize. More DeLorean info can be found at www.dmcnews.co

Mr. Day is someone I never met, but feel like I know after reading Day by Day by his son, CB Day, Jr. I hope to be like him when I grow up. Honest, in attitude, and spiritually. I'm just 10, but now I know good really can be got in America.

Mr. Day is proof. Read it.

aaron humes

... or should I say "WOW!" This one almost snuck by me.

Amazing, fast reading and I want to read more!