After convincing friends to shell out $20 to hear Simon Winchester "in conversation with" Scott Shafer on Monday, I was nervous after entering the Herbst Theater and finding us to be the youngest audience members by a few decades.
Exactly what it pretends to be-- an intermixing of 60s era counterculture (LSD, pot, etc.) with the birth of the PC industry. Nothing that was terribly new to me, but perhaps I'm spoiled b/c I live in the Bay Area and know all the tales already. Not sure this would appeal to anyone outside the Bay Area, but give it a shot if you're curious of the underpinnings beneath the rise of personal computing. Strange inclusion of Greek folk dancing, huh.
Power of the word "because"
The contrast principle (show you something ugly, makes the 2nd thing I show you prettier)
Another delicious book by Helprin. This pushed the limits of what I had seen previously from him-- a fantasty of sorts putting the Prince/Princess of Wales in America to conquer the colony back for England (which Freddy did, almost getting elected President after Dewey Knott was assassinated). They worked at various tasks as regular people, cleaning, chopping, saving up money for their weekends where they visited museums and libraries. Eventually back to England where Craig-Vvyan the falcon soars to confirm Freddy as king.
Somewhat boring rant about globalization and how everyone is competing individually across the world against each other. Surprising how much focus was put on HP as a company that's adapted to the flattening of the world. Main message is for America to wake up and start putting the emphasis we need on science/technology for our kids.
