Rating

★★★★☆

Category

non-fiction

Read

2016-12-11

Pages

349

Same review as last one: solid, enjoyable interesting profile of Jim Clark just before the dotcom bust of 2000.

“He was the guy who always won the game of chicken because his opponents suspected he might actually enjoy a head-on collision”

Does a particularly good job covering the programming side despite not being a programmer. The chapter when the boat finally sets sail is a highlight.

““The MSB is in units of 10,” said Steve. God knows what it meant, but that’s what he said”

“Clark just stared at the screen as his yacht crept across the Saudi Arabian desert. “Fuck it” was all he said”

“With that he stumbled over to one of the computer screens on deck—the one Allan sat in front of but ignored—and stuck a yellow Post-it sticker on its surface. It read, “Allan: I fucked up the longitude program. We are not in the Arabian desert. Steve.””

““There are a million lines of code in there,” said Robert, motioning to the twenty-five computers, “and nowhere in them will you find the word ‘boat.’””