This book (a 1982 Pulitzer Prize winner) documents the
adventure of the design of a new Data General computer, the
MV-8000 Eagle. It is an amazingly well-done portrait of the
hacker mindset -- although largely the hardware hacker -- done by
a complete outsider. It is a bit thin in spots, but with enough
technical information to be entertaining to the serious hacker
while providing non-technical people a view of what day-to-day
life can be like -- the fun, the excitement, the disasters.
During one period, when the microcode and logic were glitching at
the nanosecond level, one of the overworked engineers departed
the company, leaving behind a note on his terminal as his letter
of resignation: "I am going to a commune in Vermont and will deal
with no unit of time shorter than a season."
Life
with UNIX: a Guide for Everyone