the intel trinity || 10 things I learned from this book.

Book Name : the intel trinity: How Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore, and Andy grove built the World's most important company

Author: Michael S. Malone

Genre : Non-Fiction/Technology

Book Post : 30

What is it about?: Before Steve Jobs there was Robert Noyce. Before Apple there was Intel. Before the start up culture we see today there was the time of the start of Silicon Valley. This book is the story of the origin of Intel. Its about one of the most influential persons in Technology, Robert Noyce. It is also about Gordon Moore, the author of Moore's Law and about Andy Grove, one of the finest management leaders ever. Together they made up the intel trinity. The team that made Intel not just another company but one of the most important companies in the world!  

How I came to read it : I was to meet a close friend of mine who works in Intel. So before going there I thought ill brush up my knowledge of Intel. So I picked up this book from the local library. 

   

Did I like it? : I absolutely loved it! This is one of those books which make a huge impact on the reader. I picked it up just to get an idea about Intel's story but I got much more than I expected. It will inspire you, give you life lessons, management tips, and so much more that by the time you finish it you will know that what you have just read is a phenomenal story of a phenomenal set of people which resulted in a phenomenal company. Kudos to the author for the flow of the book. Not once does it get boring. There is equal time devoted to all 3 subjects of the book. This has easily entered the list of top books I have read so far this year and I doubt it will go off it by the end of the year. 

10 things I learned from this book (of the many):

1. Traitorous eight: The Traitorous eight were a group of eight employees who left a company called Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in 1957 and after unable to find a company which would hire them all together(since they did not want to split) they started their own company called Fairchild Semiconductor. This group included Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore. With the extremely talented bunch at the helm, Fairchild Semiconductor soon grew into a powerhouse in the field of semiconductors. It become directly or indirectly the point of origin for a number of amazing companies including Intel and AMD.  These spinoff companies came to be called 'Fairchildren'. 

2. Robert Noyce and Integrated Circuit:  Robert Noyce is credited with the invention of the Integrated Circuit. This invention is a strong candidate for the title of the greatest invention of the twentieth century. It got its inventor a Nobel Prize. Robert Noyce used Silicon in his ICs which led to the 'Silicon' in Silicon Valley. 

3. Gordon Moore and Moore's Law: Gordon Moore is the author of Moore's Law which states that ''the number of transistors in an Integrated Circuit doubles every two years. This is called one of the greatest laws or observations ever and it still endures today. 

4. Andy Grove: Andy Grove was the third employee at Intel after Robert and Gordon. He later served as the CEO of Intel and is widely regarded as one of the greatest business leaders of the 20th century. He was the one who guided Intel through its massive growth phase and as a consequence of it, led the entire Silicon Valley's growth. He was chosen as Time magazine's Man of the year in 1997. 

5. Product of the century: In 1974 Intel launched the Model 8080 microprocessor. It was a 8-bit microprocessor. It was a major advancement over everything preceding it and is credited with starting the microcomputer industry. 

6. All three stalwarts had very different personalities. Robert Noyce was loved by everyone and was deathly afraid of conflicts. He often passed over hard decisions regarding people management to his subordinates.  He also had a carefree attitude when it came to management style. Gordon Moore was more of a tech geek than a leader and his positions often kept him at a distance from hard decisions. Andy Grove was the hard taskmaster who often took the role of the harsh boss who got things done. He disliked Robert Noyce for his inability to take hard decisions but very much admired Gordon Moore. Robert Noyce at his end did not have any harsh feelings towards Andy Grove. The equations between these three was never all good or bad. It was always churning like a river in spate. Some consider this as precisely the reason why Intel survived and thrived through some of its hardest phases of it existence. Sometimes in a team you don't have to like each other you just need to have the qualities to thrive as a team. 

7. Andy Grove escaped Nazi oppression during childhood and eventually reached USA. His mother played a very important role in young Andy's survival. She was an extremely sharp woman. With his father called up to serve the army, Andy's mother was responsible for their livelihood and survival. She often had to move places in trying to escape the Nazi soldiers and in order to do this she had to make lightning quick decisions. This was something Andy observed and that got ingrained in his mind. Later in life he often stressed the importance of making quick decisions when the time requires it. 

8. Intel 4004: Intel 4004 is the world's first microprocessor launched in 1971. 

9. Some amazing names from Intel's history: Masatoshi Shima, Federico Faggin, Ted Hoff, Stanley Mazor.

10. Intel 8086: Intel 8086 chip had x86, the most important architecture in computer history. This was launched in 1981 and was still in use till the 2010s.