Eudaemonic Pie
by Thomas Bass
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Book Summary Information
Author: Thomas BassEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1986-02-12
ISBN: 0394743105
Number of pages: 324
Publisher: Vintage
Book Reviews of Eudaemonic Pie
Book Review: not perfect narrative, but one-of-a-kind experience
Summary: 5 Stars
- Love this story! There is some validity in the reviews that critique the pace/style of the writing. However, I read it back in the early 90s, and the fact that it is still a vivid recollection counts for something. The advantage of time passage in analysis is better context and objectivity. Of course the disadvantage is that the details are not fresh. Probably I have forgotten minor irritations with style, while the strongly positive impression lingers. I do not give 5 stars lightly; though in this case the rating is more for the intrinsic wonder of the tale more than the technical adeptness in the telling.
- The story is ultimately not about the goal, not about winning or losing or beating the house. Its really about the journeying. A unique shared human experience of some ordinary yet extraordinary people in ordinary yet extraordinary times. The ordinary draws the reader in with a continual reminder that it's a true story, magnifying the extraordinary nature of events. Somehow I found it intensely compelling to follow the characters and realize that in the same month I was, say, starting a newspaper route or trying to make the varsity soccer team, these offbeat-yet-practical, idealistic-yet-enterprising, brilliant-yet-sidetracked, anachronistic hippie-tinged grad students were mathematically modeling a roulette table in their central california bungalow or troubleshooting a shock-giving computer taped to their body in a casino bathroom hoping security won't find them out. Its a human story because its about about creativity, determination, curiosity, fear, motivation, joy, friendship and pain. Its a techno-geek-as-hero story as they blaze trails at the forefront of computer technology before you could even think about buying a TRS-80, much less a Commodore 64. I think Azeel's review quite accurately hints at a successful fusion of eclectic but fascinating elements.
- Is the book too long? Should the pace be quicker? Perhaps, but the bottom line is it works. Some other stories may be generally comparable as far as being in the category of true story of a group on some venture (e.g. Fullness of Wings by Dorsey) but Eudaemonic Pie is different than anything else I've read. Partially this is because the slice of time and place in the silicon valley spanning the era of post Vietnam-disco-hostage crisis-Reaganomics is different. It's not for everyone, if you don't give it a try you may miss out on a flavor not to be served anywhere else.
Summary of Eudaemonic Pie
A high-tech adventure about breaking the bank in Las Vegas with toe-operated computers. "The result is a veritable pi??ata of a book, which, when smashed by the reader's enthusiastic attention, showers upon him everything from the history of useless roulette systems to the latest developments in chaos theory," said The New York Times.Richard Dawkins called it "an astonishing and fascinating tale of scientific heroism."
The Los Angeles Times said that "Bass has done the best job so far of capturing the marriage of technical imagination and the communal coziness that gave birth to Silicon Valley."
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