THE FINANCIAL TIMES BUSINESS BOOK OF THE MONTH THE GRIPPING TALE OF THE EARLY FRONTIER DAYS OF SILICON VALLEY FROM ACCLAIMED HISTORIAN LESLIE BERLIN ' The book is compelling as it maps out the building of the Valley the challenges its early tech pioneers faced as well as highlighting those who reached dizzying success only to suffer as the dot com bubble burst' Financial Times Kaleidoscopic ambitious & brilliant the book draws on a dazzling cast of characters to chart the rise of the five industries that have come to define technology today & collectively to remake the world' Eric Schmidt former CEO of Google & Executive Chairman of Alphabet Inc Leslie Berlin's previous work has been acclaimed by the New York Times 'so engagingly narrated that you don't realize how much business & technology you are learning along the way' Between 1968 & 1976 five landmark industries that shaped the modern world were launched within 30 miles of each other personal computing video games biotechnology modern venture capital & advanced semi-conductor logic The dominant players in many of those industries
- firms like Apple & Intel
- had also been launched at the same time During those early days of Silicon Valley the first ARPANET transmission (now known as the Internet) came into a Stanford lab universities began licensing innovations to businesses & the Silicon Valley tech community began to develop their lobbying clout Now for the first time the stories of the men & women who changed the world during these pivotal years are brought to life in rich detail by respected Silicon Valley historian Leslie Berlin Berlin shines a light on the wild frontier days of Silicon Valley where the old rules were broken revealing how the modern tech world was built & empires were forged Troublemakers is a compelling story of the upstarts of Silicon Valley that will appeal to fans of HBO's Silicon Valley & Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs Further praise for Troublemakers Leslie Berlin combines the keen observations of an historian with gorgeous writing & riveting storytelling to write the landmark book on the Valley The interwoven lives of wonderfully iconoclastic characters bring the formative years of the Valley to life with sheer brilliance Troublemakers is a must-read for anyone hoping to understand America's tech capital' Julia Flynn Siler New York Times bestselling author of The House of Mondavi Leslie Berlin has done it again Following on her richly informative biography of Intel co-founder Robert Noyce The Man Behind the Microchip Berlin now brings us a definitive account of Silicon Valley's breakthrough years in the 1970s Troublemakers recounts the fascinating careers of seven little-known but enormously impactful players who shaped the Valley's unique high-tech ecosystem As entertaining as it is authoritative Troublemakers is required reading for anyone seeking to understand how the tech revolution took root in the San Francisco Bay Area & eventually transformed the entire planet's way of life' David M Kennedy Donald J Mc Lachlan Professor of History Emeritus at Stanford University winner of the Pulitzer Prize