Re: [NTLK] Defying Gravity

Everytime I hear the song "Defying Gravity" on the soundtrack for the musical "Wicked" I think of the Newton and this book.

Doc Clu

(And what do you know, they have green in common...)

-----Original Message-----
From: newtontalk-bounce@newtontalk.net [mailto:newtontalk-bounce@newtontalk.net] On Behalf Of James Fraser
Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2008 6:09 AM
To: newtontalk@newtontalk.net
Subject: Re: [NTLK] Defying Gravity

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

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Received on Mon May 12 08:52:47 2008