This book presents a general overview of microprocessor technology including fabrication methods, how microprocessors work, and the people and companies involved in their development, all set in historic perspective and written in the witty style for which Mr. Malone is known. The author evaluates the microprocessor's role in transforming society, profiles the key figures in its development, speculates about the future of emerging technologies and even theorizes about what might lie beyond the microprocessor era.
"Malone's account of the creation and historical development of the microprocessor is the closest account to the truth that I have seen. This book takes full advantage of a good opportunity to tell the story correctly" --Federico Faggin, President Synaptics, Inc. and co-inventor of the microprocessor "The story of the microprocessor, like any life story is filled with ironies. But the greatest is that, despite being the most important invention of our lives, and despite setting the pace for transformation of our world, most of us know almost nothing about it. Most of us know more about nuclear fission than solid-state physics-though, with any luck, we will never experience the former, while we enjoy the later a thousand times a day. As a result, we are making critical business, political and personal decisions about the future while standing in a sort of intellectual darkness. Without most of us being aware of it, we are already racing towards the future along the atomic roadways on the surface of silicone chips. If we can understand how the microprocessor came to be, what is it today and where its future lies, we will learn a lot more about who we are now and where we are going. We owe at least that much to ourselves and to those who will follow us". --from "The Microprocessor-A Biography"