Fire in the valley

What Hacker News says

1. pico303May 2026
   Don’t forget Fire in the Valley.
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2. pixelmonkeyFeb 2026
   Someone named Ashley Blewer did such a deep dive on this show that she produced a full online course and syllabus centered around it.

   https://bits.ashleyblewer.com/halt-and-catch-fire-syllabus/

   It allows people to form a "watch club" around the show, similar to a book club, and have plenty of extra reading materials to understand the different tech eras covered in the show.

   I think this show -- combined with the documentary "General Magic" and the book "Fire in the Valley" -- is a great way to be immersed in the techno-optimism of the early tech industry around the time of the desktop PC revolution and early internet.

   For me, that sort of techno-optimism has stuck with me even if modern tech has more dystopian elements with which one has to grapple. It is still an amazing industry, all things considered.

   p.s. total aside that Apple TV sells a digital "box set" of this show for a pretty low price these days. I am usually not a fan of "buying" a show from a streaming service but might be worth it in this case since it's around $16 USD for every episode across its 4 seasons, Apple has a good track record honoring digital purchases, and watching the show is a commitment.

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3. nanochessMar 2025
   Thanks! I love the "Fire in the Valley" book of Michael Swaine. I've read it so many times and always find it very inspiring.
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4. EncomLabFeb 2025
   Most of the arguments made are not about "advertising" per se, but the methods that SOME forms of advertising take and other methods (data mining, phishing, scams) that are either not advertising or are things that are already regulated/illegal but which enforcement actions against are low/non-existent.

   In the book "Fire in the Valley" about the development and early days of the internet there is a great deal of discussion and prescient predictions about where all of this would go - but the business models of walled gardens and pay walls never generated the revenue that charging for clicks did. Honestly it's hard to see how we get to this level of speed and content online without it having been funded by advertising.

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5. stonlybJan 2025
   51. The Dream Machine - A deep dive into the history of computing.

   52. Mindstorms by Seymour Papert - Groundbreaking work on computers in education.

   53. Sunburst and Luminary: An Apollo Memoir by Don Eyles - The Apollo Guidance Computer.

   54. Build by Tony Fadell - Memoir and innovation lessons.

   55. Fall of Carthage by Adrian Goldsworthy - Punic Wars and Carthage's fall.

   56. Making PCR - The story of polymerase chain reaction development.

   57. Moonwalking with Einstein - Memory training and championship.

   58. The Rickover Effect by Theodore Rockwell - First nuclear-powered submarine.

   59. The Idea Factory - Bell Labs and American innovation.

   60. Hackers by Steven Levy - History of computer hackers.

   61. Fire in the Valley - Personal computing revolution.

   62. Monk in the Garden - Life of Gregor Mendel.

   63. Leadership Moment - Lessons from leaders in crises.

   64. The Man Who Discovered Quality - W. Edwards Deming and quality management.

   65. Eccentric Orbits - Iridium satellite network's rescue.

   66. The Road to Character - Human nature and moral development.

   67. The Spy and the Traitor - Soviet spy Oleg Gordievsky's story.

   68. Billion Dollar Spy - Cold War espionage.

   69. Skunk Works - Lockheed's F-117 and SR-71 programs.

   70. Working by Robert Caro - Insights into Caro's research.

   71. The Wager by David Grann - 18th-century British maritime disaster.

   72. Caro's LBJ Series - Biography of Lyndon B. Johnson.

   73. The Prize by Daniel Yergin - Oil industry history.

   74. The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf - Alexander von Humboldt's contributions.

   75. Bad Blood by John Carreyrou - Theranos scandal.

   76. Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson - Memoir and business insights.

   77. The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz - Leadership lessons.

   78. Billion Dollar Loser by Reeves Wiedeman - WeWork's rise and fall.

   79. Tuxedo Park - Invention of radar during WWII.

   80. Insisting on the Impossible - Edwin Land and instant photography.

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6. helph67Nov 2024
   Fire in the Valley - The making of the Personal Computer by Paul Freiberger & Michael Swaine, published by McGraw Hill, 2000 463 pages. Excellent reference telling many of the P.C stories.
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