In Search of Stupidity

One of my favorites this year, particularly in non-fiction, is In Search of Stupidity by Merril R. Chapman [0]. It's an amazing look at the history of microcomputers and the ensuing software market with a particular eye on what made certain companies fail. Chapman worked for sometime in sales and later product management at MicroPro (WordStar), Ashton-Tate, Novell, etc... so it has quite an "inside-look" feel and the subject matter sounds like it's treated fairly. The narrative is quite the page-turner for a non-fiction book, but my only qualm with it is that Chapman can be pretty sophomoric and unnecessarily gratuitous in his lampooning and shaming of business leaders or strategies which flirts with undermining the otherwise really insightful analysis. It's a little dated (Microsoft is still king and Apple the scrappy underdog), but I think it's an important context for anyone following tech today. [0] https://www.amazon.com/Search-Stupidity-Twenty-Marketing-Dis... (https://www.amazon.com/Search-Stupidity-Twenty-Marketing-Disasters/dp/1590597214)