Re: [NTLK] Defying Gravity

~~~ On 2008/05/10 12:08, James Fraser at
wheresthatistanbul-newtontalk@yahoo.com wrote ~~~

> Hello,
>
> --- Lord Groundhog <lordgroundhog@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Every time somebody else mentions it I tell myself,
>> "I really need to look for a copy of _Defying
>> Gravity_" -- I'd like to know more about my Newton.
>
> Defying Gravity is a decent book, but it's only fair
> to say that if you're looking for a book that focuses
> primarily on the engineering that went into the
> Newton, DG prolly isn't the book you're looking for.
>
> The story the book tells is more of a "human
> interest"-type tale rather than something that geeks
> can really sink their teeth into. So while you'll
> hear plenty about the personalities behind the
> development of the Newton in the book, the actual
> engineering that went into it takes a back seat for
> the most part. If anything, the book focuses more on
> the marketing of the Newton (i.e. selling the PDA idea
> to Apple management, then selling the press on the
> Newton concept) than on the technology involved in
> creating the device.
>
> That's not to say that it's necessarily a bad book.
> Just that, for geeks, reading it is not as fulfilling
> an experience as it otherwise might be. I recall that
> when I finished it, I did so with a feeling of "That's
> it? That's the end of the story?"
>
> The good news is that even a casual search will
> produce a copy in decent condition and at a knock-down
> price.
> So it's not likely that you'll end up having to
> explain just why you bought it while your wife/GF
> rolls her eyes and the rent goes unpaid. Which isn't
> necessarily something you can always say about
> tech-related purchases. ¬_¬
>
> But based on my own experience with it, I did feel it
> only fair to give a caveat about it just in case you
> were looking for a book that focuses on engineering
> rather than on personalities and marketing. It is,
> however, a nice coffee table-type book with an
> attractive layout that can draw even non-geeks into
> the Newton story.
>
>
>
> Best,
>
> James Fraser
>
>

Thanks James. I guess I'll still want to read it, (after all, I enjoyed
Woz's book) but I'll look elsewhere for the tech stuff. Come to think of
it, I'm not planning to do anything too head-scratching with Newt anytime
soon -- it's such a great instrument for my needs as it stands -- so I'm not
exactly desperate to master its soul just now. But you're right; I would
have sat there reading it and wondering "when do we get to the cool bits?"

You've saved me needlessly getting my hopes up. And after all, since the
Newton feels like an almost human piece of kit, it's only fair its story
should include the human side of its inception.

 
Shalom.
Christian

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

³Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from a Newton.²
            -- what Arthur C. Clarke meant

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1ZzpdPJ7Zr4
(With thanks to Chod Lang)
http://tinyurl.com/29y2dl
http://www.diyplanner.com/node/3942

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Received on Sat May 10 10:38:37 2008