Meet the People Who Make Your World

After ten years of conducting interviews with many of the greatest innovators in modern technology, I'm proud to offer these discussions as no one has ever seen them before. When these talks first appeared in CPU magazine, they had to be sliced down for space. But now, thanks to ebooks, I've been able to go back to the source material and replace the gems and fascinating tangents that were formerly lost. Moreover, most interviewees have generously contributed follow-up discussions.

These people aren't locked in the past. They're still here, still changing the world, and (usually) still giving us glimpses showing that the best is yet to come. I'll share some great passages from the "Architects of Tomorrow" series below. If you like what you see, grab the complete books here:


Good reading, and prepare to be inspired!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Amazon's #2 Reviewer Give "Architects, Vol. 1" FIVE Stars!

Arth Denton is Amazon's #2 ranking reviewer. The top Amazon reviewers often receive over 1,000 review solicitations each week. Yet he made the time to review Architects of Tomorrow, Volume 1 when I cold called him. I thought if I was lucky, he might give me three stars. I was praying for four. Instead, he posted this:


Time capsule 

For the past 10 years or so, William Van Winkle's job or one of his jobs was to engage captains of our high tech industry as well as the established or lesser known prophets, visionaries and gurus and interview them on behalf of the CPU (Computer Power User) magazine. This first volume of "Architects of Tomorrow" collects interviews from around 2002-2005 and, with one exception or two, adds a 2010-2011 follow up where the reader is given an update on the interviewee's career or path in life, some of the topics discussed way back then are revisited and new insights or predictions may be offered.

I admit that I generally do not enjoy reading/watching/listening to interviews because in many instances they are either prearranged events or the interviewer is unprepared or unable to ask intelligent or meaning questions or it all turns into a sterile cat and mouse game where the thrill is supposed to be watching he subject caught unprepared or trapped into saying something that could be viewed as ignorant, outrageous, unacceptable or subversive by the standards that the majority of the audience accepts at that time. Mr. Van Winkle's interviews are nothing but. He is not an hollowed celebrity (a good thing), he generally knows his interviewees and he is prepared to discuss the issues - the many aspects of what we can call 'the computer industry' and its impact on our daily lives and our future. His intimate knowledge and understanding of the topics discussed tend to generate intelligent and meaningful questions which in turn tend to produce interesting comments and answers from his subjects. Which is what makes most of these interviews interesting and a pleasure to read even when the featured personality is unknown or indifferent to the reader and even though the bulk of these interviews content is 'dated' - 7-8-9 years is a long, long time when the talk is 'computers and computer technology'.

The 'dated' quality of the interviews is what actually makes them a good read, at least for anyone who enjoys reading 'history'. There is very little 'new' in the initial interview but comparing the predictions and the insights offered 'then' with the realities of 'today' makes for good reading. To me, it was something to what I expect would be the thrill of opening a time capsule - not that I ever opened one myself. And I can imagine, 5 or ten years from now, re-reading this collection in 2020, staring with the 2002 original interview and its 2011 update. Well... I'll probably do that.

As for the 'who' is featured in the book, Amazon's 'product description' section has the complete list. I suspect that each reader will find 'interesting' and 'indifferent' personalities on the list and some may even skip over some. I didn't skip any myself but, I must admit that some of the people interviewed I didn't care much about while some were a treat to read. But, even when the topic or the person being interviewed weren't that interesting to me, the questions asked were good, intelligent questions, almost forcing good intelligent answers.

Reading "Architects of Tomorrow" was a pleasure and being asked by the author to review his book - yes, I received a free copy - was a privilege. 

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