Microchip: An Idea, Its Genesis, And The Revolution It Created

by Jeffrey Zygmont

Computer chips are an almost invisible part of our modern lives, and yet they make much of what's "modern" in them possible. Even the tech-averse and the tech-opposed among us depend on their hidden capabilities. From today's automobiles, medical scanners, and DVD players to annoying musical greeting cards, space travel, and movies like The Lord of the Rings, microelectronics are everywhere-and taken for granted. But how did this revolutionary technology emerge? Microchip tells that story by exploring the personalities behind the technology. From the two pioneering men who invented the integrated circuit, Nobel Prize winner Jack Kilby and Intel founder Robert Noyce, to luminaries like Gordon Moore and An Wang who put the chip to work, Jeffrey Zygmont shows how the history of the microchip is also the story of a handful of visionaries confronting problems and facing opportunities. A compelling narrative about the germination and advancement of a single technology, Microchip is essential reading about the now-ubiquitous integrated circuit and its outlook for the future.

Genres: Business

256 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2002

About the author

I write for free people who possess rebellious impulses. My stories tell about independent characters in conflict with collected groups and their constraining beliefs. Since we all belong to groups, I expose the unwritten rules we embrace unconsciously in any organization: faith or zealous movement, political party (either), business corporation, labor union or professional association, social club, charitable organization, television audience … the list is very long.

That theme underlies three novels: I Am Bill Gates' Dog, Ad Man in the Games of 2046, and The Dropout. The pioneering web publisher Online Originals named The Dropout its “Featured Selection” in July 2002.

I have published short fiction in the anthology The Literature of Work, and in periodicals ranging from New Hampshire Journal to the magazine Twin Cities Business Monthly. My poetry has appeared in the journal Not Just Air. Two of my poems received nominations for the annual Pushcart Prize, a respected literary award. They are Wife Poem XXVII, nominated in 2008, and Menopause, nominated in 2009.

As a journalist, I have published articles in many magazines and newspapers, including Boston Magazine, Boston Woman, Business Week, CFO Magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, Cigar Aficionado, Gannett Newspapers, Inc Magazine, The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, and Robb Report. I was the automobile columnist for Omni Magazine, a technology columnist for PC Computing Magazine, and an editor and staff writer for High Technology Magazine.

My non-fiction books are Microchip; An Idea, Its Genesis and the Revolution It Created, and The VC Way; Investment Secrets from the Wizards of Venture Capital, which was translated into Chinese for sale in the Orient.

Reviews

[TheEoJMan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The historical information seems well researched and accurate, so props to that. I figured there would be more in regards to the technical side, but I'm not an electrical engineer so it might have flown over my head if it got deeper into the nitty gritty of how the hardware actually works.

What's unforgivable about this book is its annoying tone. The author begins the acknowledgements, and thus the first sentence of the book, shouting out the free market. He claims that developments in technology as such couldn't possibly develop without the guiding hand of supply and demand fiercely at play, chipping away at all inferior technologies and bigging up all those that are superior. He chides the Air Force and Navy for being too myopic in their government grants by focusing on unachievable goals in fields like "molecular electronics". He boils down economic developments with childish statements like: "Football and every other competitive endeavor differentiates losers as well as winners" (p. 49). Genius!

What the author fails to realize is that you don't need to have a government that dishes out grants for technological development exclusively from the fucking military. One could imagine having a "Department of Technology" or something of that nature capable of being funded by Congress to kickstart R&D. There's no reason why dozens of individual actors need to develop integrated circuits and microprocessors in secrecy away from each other. One particular line filled me with nausea: "By 1976, fifty-four microprocessors were in contention" (p. 153). Zygmont seems to think that it's a feature rather than a bug that thousands of microchips were manufactured and were constantly made obsolete within less than a year's span. Perhaps it's too much to ask for a government research program that collects a wide variety of people and has them work in collaboration with one another to develop a chip for a two year period (or whatever the cycle would be) and then repeat that process ad infinitum (or until further developments were proved pointless). To do so would limit the number of redundant microprocessors that could hit the market.

There's an entire chapter dedicated to the hard work put into the microchips that go into microwave ovens. Think of all the resources burned so you can touch the numbers on a microwave oven instead of twisting an electro-mechanical dial. Progress for progress' sake I guess. Anything to keep the wheel turning.

Perhaps one day the freak technologists will stop giving unsolicited fellatio to the entrepreneurial spirit, but I doubt that's any time soon.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is more than a history of the development of a Micro Chip, It is the creation of the biggest part of my childhood. Spoiler Alert, There was no alien tech passed into the hands of scientist openly suggested in this book. The technology was developed by real people who were looking for ways to make what already existed into a much smaller package and when Government steps aside and lets private companies and scientist do what they do and throw in a bit of communication between them the world just changes. I grew up with the arcade games coming out and the start of home computers and I even remember the first microwave the family ever got, watching marshmallows poof up as a family. This book give credit where credit is due, and just makes you so proud of what people can do when they work together. It was as much fun to read as how Disney beat the odds to make a fantasy so real. This is a Good Read, And should be a large part of our History taught in schools, as much as the industrial revolution.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

More business focused than technology focused in how the integrated circuit industry grew up.

[Andres Lucero · Rating 2 out of 5]

The trials and tribulations of semiconductor pioneers was an interesting subject, and one that I found fascinating despite the author's shortcomings as a storyteller. Zygmont is probably a fine journalist, but when attempting to describe the feelings and insights of the men who brought integrated circuits into the world, he flounders with overzealous embellishments and nonsensical terminology. Worth the read for the historical context it provides to our "modern" society.

[Ricky · Rating 1 out of 5]

As a software developer in training, I was looking forward to learning more about the hardware that makes my work possible. As a graduate of Grinnell College, I was looking forward to learning more about esteemed alumn Noyce. I got neither of those things from this book. The author does a terrible job explaining the technical aspects, and relies exclusively on obnoxious, flowery language to play up the social aspects.

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title is a little misleading. Sure, this book is about the history of microchips, but it goes well beyond just the chips themselves, to show some of their key uses. These forays provide the most interesting parts of the book: the early days of microwave ovens, cell phones, word processors, even the electronics used in cars. My biggest complaint is that this book was published in 2003. I'd love to see what the author would add if he revisited his book today.