How We Got Here: A Slightly Irreverent History of Technology and Markets by Andy Kessler

Product Description

Best-selling author Andy Kessler ties up the loose ends from his provocative book, Running Money, with this history of breakthrough technology and the markets that funded them.

Expanding on themes first raised in his tour de force, Running Money, Andy Kessler unpacks the entire history of Silicon Valley and Wall Street, from the Industrial Revolution to computers, communications, money, gold and stock markets. These stories cut (by an unscrupulous editor) from the original manuscript were intended as a primer on the ways in which new technologies develop from unprofitable curiosities to essential investments. Indeed, How We Got Here is the book Kessler wishes someone had handed him on his first day as a freshman engineering student at Cornell or on the day he started on Wall Street. This book connects the dots through history to how we got to where we are today.

Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #418159 in Books
* Published on: 2005-06-01
* Released on: 2005-06-14
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 272 pages

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
This pasted-together romp through 300-odd years of technological advancement and financial development reads as it is billed: material cut from the manuscript of Kessler's 2004 book, Running Money. Per the brief foreword, Kessler's aim is to provide a list of "five simple creeds" that have helped him "explain the explainable" and "peer into the fog of the future": lower prices drive wealth; intelligence moves to the edge of the network; horizontal beats vertical; capital sloshes around seeking its highest return; and the military drives commerce and vice versa. His proof is delivered in a whirlwind tour of the industrial and digital revolutions. The first half of the book is a game of hopscotch through the Industrial Revolution and the evolution of early capital markets. The second half tells the story of the computer era and the growth of today's capital markets. Sandwiched between the two is an oddly abbreviated two-chapter section, 10 pages in all, that covers the development of the telegraph, telephone and power generation. Kessler returns to his "simple creeds" here and there, but the only real unifying force is hokey, techy wisecracks. The result is rehashed history often bewilderingly unconnected in theme and chronology, though many individual anecdotes are well told. (June)
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About the Author

After turning $100 million into $1 billion riding the technology wave of the late 1990s, Andy Kessler recounted his experiences on Wall Street and in the trenches of the hedge fund industry in the books Wall Street Meat and Running Money (and its companion volume, How We Got Here). Though he has retired from actively managing other people's money, he remains a passionate and curious investor. Unable to keep his many opinions to himself, he contributes to the Wall Street Journal, Wired, and lots of Web sites on a variety of Wall Street and technology-related topics, and is often seen on CNBC, FOX, and CNN. He lives in Silicon Valley like all the other tech guys.

Customer Reviews

Great Book5
I haven't read Running Money but its next on my list. Andy Kessler does a phenomenal job on grasping your attention and then holding onto to it till the end. Very informative and educational... a must read !!

mildly entertaining4
This book is a fast read and keeps your attention. I enjoyed the authors viewpoint on how recent history progressed as it did. I have not read the author's first two books "Wall Street Meat" and "Running Money", but from the reviews they are much different than this book, and have a lot to offer. He grabbed my attention, so I will add the other books to my wish list.

Fun, light reading for a sunday long bus ride....3
Nothing more than entretaining fare for a long tedious bus ride. Would not dissapoint the casual reader. No more no less.