Crystal Fire: The Birth of the Information Age

by Michael Riordan and Lillian Hoddeson

Book Overview

On December 16, 1947, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain, physicists at Bell Laboratories, jabbed two electrodes into a sliver of the metalloid geranium. The power flowing from the geranium far exceeded what went in; in that moment the transistor was invented and the Information Age was born. No other devices have been as crucial to modern life as the transistor and the microchip it spawned. This is the story of the science and personalities that made...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393041247
• ISBN13: 9780393041248
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Fascinating

This book covers everything related to the invention of the transistor. It begins with the lifes of its inventors, and ends with the development of integrated circuits. I advice it to everybody student of electronics, because it leads to a real understanding of current devices. The book has an extensive bibliography, too.

Excellent technology history

A thoroughly informative and engaging look at the development of semiconductor electronics. A bit of physics background will help you get through some of the discussions of atoms and energy levels, but even if you skim this material, you'll better understand how semiconductor physics came about and how practical products left the lab and became the microprocessor, memory, and other chips that power "appliances" we take for granted. All too often we think of inventions as springing forth in one burts of energy. This book shows the slow and not-always-steady developments that involved more people that you can imaging. I recommend this book highly to engineers and non-engineers alike.

A Must Read for Engineers

This is an excellent book on the history of the transistor. Not exactly light reading, but still an enjoyable read. As an engineer it is wonderful to learn the history of the one of the most important inventions of recent times. Really a well written book.

Science as Thriller

Who would have thought a book about the invention of the transistor could be so compelling? And yet here it is. The authors tell two parallel stories, one about the inventors, and one about the developments in physics that led to, and followed from, the invention of the transistor. The interplay between pure science and technology has seldom been explained as well.I'd put this book alongside "The Invention That Changed The World" as the two best popular histories of science an technology of the decade.

A spectacular read!

I can't remember a more absorbing book. Crystal Fire is the story of the humble transistor-because of its invention, you are reading this on-line. The authors not only write beautifuly, it's obvious that in-depth historical research was involved. The main protagonists won the Nobel Prize for their achievement, but in many cases were less than worthy human beings. But Crystal Fire is a compeling, absorbing read. Please don't miss this one. In fact, Crystal Fire would make one helluva movie. Hello, Holywood?