Tracy Kidder
author profile
born
November 12, 1945
gender
male
place of birth
New York, New York, The United States
genre
Literature & Fiction, Nonfiction
about this author
Tracy Kidder is an American author and Vietnam War veteran. Kidder may be best known, especially within the computing community, for his Pulitzer Prize-winning The Soul of a New Machine, an account of the development of Data General's Eclipse/MV minicomputer. The book typifies his distinctive style of research. He began following the project at its inception and, in addition to interviews, spent considerable time observing the engineers at work and outside of it. Using this perspective he was able to produce a more textured portrait of the development process than a purely retrospective study might.
Kidder followed up with House, in which he chronicles the design and construction of the award-winning Souweine House in Amherst, Ma...more
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avg rating: 4.17
| 10,598 ratings
| 2,045 reviews
| 14 distinct works
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17 fans
More books by Tracy Kidder…
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Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder avg rating 4.25 — 8,111 ratings — published 2001 16 editions |
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The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder avg rating 3.93 — 486 ratings — published 1981 12 editions |
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Among Schoolchildren by Tracy Kidder avg rating 3.82 — 424 ratings — published 1990 8 editions |
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House by Tracy Kidder avg rating 3.92 — 367 ratings — published 1985 9 editions |
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Strength in What Remains: A Journey of Remembrance and Forgiveness by Tracy Kidder avg rating 3.99 — 302 ratings — published 2009 5 editions |
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Home Town by Tracy Kidder avg rating 3.64 — 294 ratings — published 1999 6 editions |
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Old Friends by Tracy Kidder avg rating 3.95 — 92 ratings — published 1993 5 editions |
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My Detachment: A Memoir by Tracy Kidder avg rating 3.31 — 84 ratings — published 2005 5 editions |
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The Best American Essays 1994 by Tracy Kidder , Robert Atwan avg rating 4.10 — 10 ratings — published 1994 2 editions |
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The Road to Yuba City: A journey into the Juan Corona murders by Tracy Kidder avg rating 4.67 — 6 ratings — published 1974 |
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upcoming events
No scheduled events.
""How could a just God permit great misery? The Haitian peasants answered with a proverb: "Bondye konn bay, men li pa konn separe," in literal translation, "God gives but doesn't share." This meant... God gives us humans everything we need to flourish, but he's not the one who's supposed to divvy up the loot. That charge was laid upon us.""
— Tracy Kidder
— Tracy Kidder
"Many people find it easy to imagine unseen webs of malevolent conspiracy in the world, and they are not always wrong. But there is also an innocence that conspires to hold humanity together, and it is made of people who can never fully know the good that they have done."
— Tracy Kidder
— Tracy Kidder
"And I can imagine Farmer saying he doesn't care if no one else is willing to follow their example. He's still going to make these hikes, he'd insist, because if you say that seven hours is too long to walk for two families of patients, you're saying that their lives matter less than some others', and the idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that's wrong with the world."
— Tracy Kidder (Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World)
— Tracy Kidder (Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World)
topics mentioning this author
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 Books A Year: katiebobus's list | 13 | 173 | Aug 14, 2009 12:19AM |




























