Insider's history of Silicon Valley melds recollections, lessons

The hectic pace of our industry doesn't leave much time for reflection or perspective, but a recent book may help us stop and smell the silicon. Spinoff: A Personal History of the Industry that Changed the World (ISBN 0-9707481-0-8) by Charles Sporck with Richard L Molay begins in the earliest days of semiconductors and ICs and works to the near-present day. Sporck was a key mover at Fairchild and then National Semiconductor (among other stops). The book is both his personal recollection as well as edited transcripts of his interviews with other industry players. Due to Sporck's inside-industry position and reputation, he was able to get many key players, former partners, and even fierce competitors to talk candidly, citing names, dates, and events.

The $24.95 book covers historical events, the people who made them happen, and lessons the industry learned from them. Although we now associate ICs with the precision of solid-state physics, the early days were a time of significant unknowns in theory, concept, design, manufacturing, and test areas. Common operating mode saw many smart, hard-working, and dedicated pioneers who used facts, informed assumptions, and even hunches to guide them in day-to-day trials and innovations. Sporck highlights the importance of flexibility in design teams, manufacturing processes, and test areas. He explains why established industrial companies, such as General Electric Co, with their vast talent resources and money, couldn't succeed against much smaller start-ups. Among the reasons he gives are their rigid pricing policies, which couldn't accept forward pricing based on ever-increasing unit volume and production yields; the work rules, job classifications, and unions, which couldn't deal with a product that demanded nonstop improvisation and flexibility in all areas; and their difficulties in dealing with a new type of customer while using a different type of sales force and distribution channel. You can order the book from the National Semiconductor Web site at www.national.com/sporck.

Saranac Lake Publishing