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Search in Book Reviews

The ACCU passes on review copies of computer books to its members for them to review. The result is a large, high quality collection of book reviews by programmers, for programmers. Currently there are 1949 reviews in the database and more every month.
Search is a simple string search in either book title or book author. The full text search is a search of the text of the review.
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Title:
Technology Paradise Lost
Author:
Erik Keller
ISBN:
1-932394-13-3
Publisher:
Manning
Pages:
243pp
Price:
$24.95
Reviewer:
Francis Glassborow
Subject:
management
Appeared in:
16-3
This book is aimed at managers and others trying to understand the shift in importance that IT has for commerce. By 2000 IT was the single largest expense for many companies (indeed it is claimed that it absorbed 50% of all corporate capital expenditure that year.)

Times have changed and much more happened than simply the inevitable dot-com collapse.

This book will add nothing to the peace of mind of the average software developer. Worse, Eric Keller predicts that the halcyon days of IT in the late 90's will never return. I think he is likely right. Yes we will continue to develop better tools, write larger and hopefully better software, have ever faster and more capacious computers but many companies realise that they need to focus on their core business rather than spending money chasing a technical IT fixes.

For the record I think the next great technical growth areas are far away from IT. I would speculate biology, genetic engineering and nanotechnology will increasingly feature in our futures.

Anyway, I would not recommend that you buy your own copy but if you want to better understand the employment environment for computer technologists (network managers, web-designers, software developers etc.) this book will help by providing a thoughtful view from an expert on IT in the commercial world.