The Man Behind the Microchip

Leslie Berlin’s The Man Behind the Microchip: Robert Noyce and the Invention of Silicon Valley, as a biography and a business book, isn’t the kind of book I normally read. Still, as a software developer in Silicon Valley, it was interesting to gain some historical background, from the perspective of a seminal figure in the area. Noyce was of the inventors of the integrated circuit and a founder of Intel. He possessed a charismatic, adventuresome, larger-than-life personality and had a massive influence on the high-tech industry. The book is well-written and an easy read, with a reasonable balance of the biography, technology, and business aspects. Berlin studies recent scientific and technological history and she’s written an impressive account of Noyce’s life.