{"product_id":"9780571214976-backroom-boys","title":"Backroom Boys","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Secret Return of the British Boffin\u003cbr\u003eOffers an account of how British boffins triumphed across the decades in creating everything from computer games to Martian landers. This book contains chapters on the Beagle II, Elite - the 80s computer game, the Blue Streak missile, Concorde, mobile phone technology and the Human Genome Project, among others.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eORDER \u003ci\u003eNONESUCH\u003c\/i\u003e, THE NEW NOVEL FROM FRANCIS SPUFFORD, NOW \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA brilliant, beautiful account of how British boffins triumphed across the decades in creating everything from computer games to Martian landers.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBackroom Boys\u003c\/i\u003e is a vivid love-letter to quiet men in pullovers, to those whose imaginings take shape not in words but in mild steel and carbon fibre and lines of code. Above all, it is a celebration of big dreams achieved with slender means.Sad,  inspiring, funny and ultimately triumphant, it follows the  technologists whose work kept Concorde flying, created the computer  game, conquered the mobile-phone business, saved the human genome for  the human race - and who now are sending the Beagle 2 probe to burrow in  the cinnamon sands of Mars.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A wonderful accomplishment - \u003cb\u003eBackroom Boys\u003c\/b\u003e sharply evokes a lost world of Dan Dare, \u003ci\u003eLook and Learn\u003c\/i\u003e and Meccano, and goes on to show us how that world was never lost: that it is, in fact, the secret history of today.' Ken MacLeod\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Unreservedly marvellous . Francis Spufford is the Tom Wolfe of technology journalism.' \u003ci\u003eFocus\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Provides start-to-finish enjoyment . [Spufford] can make the heart leap simply by detailing what engineers do with mild steel or carbon fibre.' \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'I don't want to pretend that \u003cb\u003eBackroom Boys\u003c\/b\u003e is perfect; It's just as near to it as makes no difference.' \u003ci\u003eDaily Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'The man writes like a dream - informed, fresh, racy prose .\u003cbr\u003eYou wouldn't think that a book describing the fall and rise of British technologies since 1945 could be unputdownable, but Spufford shows it can be done.' \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57536494961014,"sku":"9780571214976","price":11.14,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/orig_36404745.jpg?v=1774289091","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9780571214976-backroom-boys","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}