Book review – ‘Visionaries, Rebels and Machines’
Retail has been profoundly changed by technology and although this book is not about retail it is about technology and that makes it potentially an interesting read for retailers and others in the wider eco-system.
The publication tells the story of the history of technology – of ‘humanity’s extraordinary journey from electrification to cloudification’ (published by Right Book Press). Author Jamie Dobson takes us through this story at a fair canter and tells the tale not through explaining complex technologies but through the people, their thinking, and their philosophies.
The early pages sucked me in immediately as Dobson recalls his youth playing with a Commodore 64 and BBC Microcomputer. I enjoyed the same experiences that led me to later take a degree in Computer Science. Even with my knowledge of the subject the book brings in lots of strands, many of which I was unaware.
The invention of electricity, the light bulb, phone calls and vacuum tubes that transmit the equivalent of 0’s and 1’s – the lifeblood of computers – are all brought to life though characters like Edison and Graham Bell. We move onto transistors, microchips and integrated circuits and the many characters at the famous ZEROX PARC. And then the ARPA establishment that takes us into connectivity and the internet with Tim Berners-Lee.
Jeff Bezos comes in midway through the book as he almost stumbles on a business model – AWS – that creates the cloud. This is a rich seam for Dobson who is well versed on the technology and takes us through the story of Netflix being an early customer, which helped prove the model. The reader is then given some of Dobson’s thoughts into how things could play out as we move into the world of AI.
It’s a very easy going read that brings a lot of elements together and Dobson places them into a coherent narrative. Where the book most resonates for those of us who value the history of computing is the people it brings alive and gives due credit to. Many of them are largely forgotten. JCR Linklider and Bob Taylor anyone? You’ll have to read the book to find out the part they played.
Glynn Davis, editor, Retail Insider