The only contemporary history of the birth of Silicon Valley―from the reporter who had a ringside seat to it all

Over the past five decades, the tech industry has grown into one of the most important sectors of the global economy, and Silicon Valley--replete with sprawling office parks, sky-high rents, and countless self-made millionaires--is home to many of its key players. But the origins of Silicon Valley and the tech sector are much humbler. At a time when tech companies' influence continues to grow, The Big Score chronicles how they began.

One of the first reporters on the tech industry beat at the San Jose Mercury-News, Michael S. Malone recounts the feverish efforts of young technologists and entrepreneurs to build something that would change the world--and score them a big payday. Starting with the birth of Hewlett-Packard in the 1930s, Malone illustrates how decades of technological innovation laid the foundation for the meteoric rise of the Valley in the 1970s. Drawing on exclusive, unvarnished interviews, Malone punctuates this history with incisive profiles of tech’s early luminaries--including Nobelist William Shockley and Apple's Steve Jobs--when they were struggling entrepreneurs working 18-hour days in their garages. And he plunges us into the darker side of the Valley, where espionage, drugs, hellish working conditions, and shocking betrayals shaped the paths for winners and losers in a booming industry.

A decades-long story with individual sacrifice, ingenuity, and big money at its core, The Big Score recounts the history of today's most dynamic sector through its upstart beginnings.

唯一一部关于硅谷诞生的当代史--来自亲历这一切的记者

在过去的五十年里，科技行业已经发展成为全球经济中最重要的部门之一，而硅谷--充满了无垠的办公园区、天价的租金和无数的白手起家的百万富翁--是其许多关键参与者的家。但是，硅谷和科技行业的起源要谦逊得多。在科技公司的影响力持续增长的时候，《大记事》记录了它们如何开始。

作为《圣何塞水星报》最早的科技行业记者之一，迈克尔-S-马龙（Michael S. Malone）讲述了年轻的技术专家和企业家们为建立能够改变世界的东西而做出的狂热努力--并为他们赢得了丰厚的报酬。从20世纪30年代惠普公司的诞生开始，马龙阐述了几十年的技术创新如何为20世纪70年代谷地的飞速崛起奠定了基础。马龙利用独家的、不加修饰的采访，用对科技界早期名人的精辟介绍来点缀这段历史--包括诺贝尔奖得主威廉-肖克利和苹果公司的史蒂夫-乔布斯--当时他们还是在车库里每天工作18小时的挣扎的创业者。他还将我们带入谷地的黑暗面，在那里，间谍活动、毒品、地狱般的工作条件和令人震惊的背叛塑造了一个蓬勃发展的行业中的赢家和输家的道路。

这是一个长达数十年的故事，其核心是个人的牺牲、聪明才智和大笔的金钱，《大笔交易》讲述了当今最具活力的行业的历史，包括其初创时期。