The Valley of Heart's Delight: A Silicon Valley Notebook 1963 - 2001 - Hardcover

by Michael S. Malone (Author)

The history of the heart of the high-tech world
Mike Malone is a journalist who has covered Silicon Valley for nearly twenty years. This book combines the best of his work from a variety of renowned publications to offer a true-to-life glimpse of the world's most important industrial community. These stories form a picture of a place at the center of cultural, economic, and technological advancement and the people who live there, from dot.com millionaires to everyday working people just trying to get by. Not confined to its present technological significance, the book looks at the rich history of the Valley and the future that awaits it. Meticulously researched and broad in scope, The Valley of Heart's Delight is the definitive biography of a place of massive cultural and political significance.
Michael S. Malone (Palo Alta, CA) joined the San Jose Mercury News in 1980 as the nation's first daily high-tech reporter. His writings on Silicon Valley earned him two Pulitzer Prize nominations. He has also written for the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Dallas Morning News, the Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times. He is currently the Editor at Large for ASAP.

Front Jacket

Between the end of World War II and the turn of the century, a little lush valley in the hills of California known for its orange groves completed a remarkable transformation to become the center of the technological world. Home to most of the nation's most important high-tech companies, Silicon Valley became the point of confluence for our most daring entrepreneurs, most powerful corporations, and most innovative thinkers.

No one knows more about Silicon Valley than Mike Malone. The first journalist assigned full time to the Valley's tech beat, Malone has covered the Valley from the back streets to the boardrooms and everywhere in between for over twenty years. During that time he has chronicled the life of the town at the heart of the worldwide tech boom as well as the people who live there, from its dot.com millionaires to its struggling working class.

In The Valley of Heart's Delight, news stories, essays, and feature pieces from Malone's long and renowned career illuminate the past, the present, and the future of the Valley with the skill, care, and insight of both a journalist and a Valley local. Taken from such publications as Upside, Forbes ASAP, Fast Company, the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the San Jose Mercury News, these stories chronicle the Valley as well as the electronics revolution that began there. Along the way, the reader follows the progress of the remarkable invention that sparked a worldwide high-tech gold rush and made a quiet community a microcosm of our nation's journey from agricultural roots to high-tech heights.

Rather than confining himself to its present technological significance, Malone looks at the rich history of the Santa Clara Valley before Hewlett and Packard made it their headquarters, forever changing its place in history. From the legends of the past and present like Fairchild, Apple, Atari, and Intel to the designers and shapers of tomorrow's next big thing, The Valley of Heart's Delight presents the definitive biography of the single most important industrial community in the modern world.

Back Jacket

I can't think of a more acute observer of the wild Silicon Valley saga than Mike Malone. He has seen it all from up close.
-Tom Wolfe, author of A Man in Full and The Bonfire of the Vanities

"Mike Malone is to Silicon Valley what George Orwell was to the Spanish Civil War."
-Paul A. Gigot, Editorial Page Editor
The Wall Street Journal

"One hundred years from now, when people talk about Silicon Valley, they will be using Mike Malone's words."
-Tom Siebel, Chairman and CEO, Siebel Systems

"Malone has done it again! By compiling these gems from the past, we can revisit his powerful insights for the future. Thank you, Mike Malone, for helping to shape this legend we call 'The Valley!'"
-Dr. Eric Schmidt Chairman and CEO, Google, Inc.

"In an area that has had too much hype, Mike Malone consistently provides the provocative, penetrating analyses and insights that brilliantly withstand the test of time. He is an impeccable source of enlightenment."
-Steve Forbes, President and Editor in Chief
Forbes Inc.

"An absolutely fascinating insight into life in Silicon Valley. It's a beautiful combination of history, gossip, insight, and anecdote. It reads like a modern John Aubrey."
-Anthony Hopwood, Dean
Said Business School, Oxford University

Author Biography

MICHAEL S. MALONE is an award-winning writer and Editor at Large of Forbes ASAP, the world's largest circulation business and technology magazine. He also has a weekly column on ABC.com called "The Silicon Insider" and is the author of a number of books on business theory and history. As the nation's first daily high-technology reporter for the San Jose Mercury News, Malone covered the rise of Silicon Valley. He is a regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal and has also been a columnist for the New York Times and a contributing editor for Upside and Fast Company.