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Visionaries, Rebels and Machines

The Story of Humanity’s Extraordinary Journey from Electrification to Cloudification

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Visionaries, Rebels and Machines

By: Jamie Dobson
Narrated by: Jamie Dobson
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About this listen

The electrifying story behind technology’s greatest breakthroughs.

From the first sparks of electrification to the dawn of artificial intelligence, Visionaries, Rebels and Machines is a rip-roaring adventure through the history of technology.

It reveals how curiosity, ingenuity, bold breakthroughs and pure chance have driven progress, leading to the artificial intelligence, automation and cloud computing that’s reshaping our world today. It’s not just about how we got here, but also where we’re heading. Understanding this evolution helps us make informed decisions, seize opportunities and stay ahead in a rapidly shifting landscape.

Discover the domino effect of innovation – those unexpected connections and coincidences that have triggered ideas, innovation, experimentation and technological revolution. And, along the way, meet an eccentric cast of fascinating characters that include a video-rental entrepreneur, a bookseller-turned-tech titan, scientists electrifying frogs, a teenage cybercriminal and the brilliant minds who fled Nazi-occupied Europe to reshape computing forever.

With wit, insight and a touch of irreverence, industry expert Jamie Dobson tells a gripping tale of risk-takers and revolutionaries, taking you on a whirlwind ride through tech’s surprising history that’s bigger, bolder and more astonishing than you ever imagined.

©2025 Jamie Dobson (P)2025 Jamie Dobson
History History & Culture
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Visionaries, Rebels and Machines is an untangling of the history of information technology; it takes a step back to reflect on the iteration of ideas and the threads which connect them. The book explains, from a recent historical context, the themes and theories which explain the uncanny recurrence that happened in the almost quarter millennium between inventing electricity through to today’s quandaries of AI.

I always think audiobooks are best when read by the author (if read well) to put the emotion and emphasis into the work. And Jamie doesn’t disappoint, his relaxed approach, quiet passion, and humour come across in the competent read. If you’re from outside of the UK you’re going to learn a sprinkling of slang which is refreshing to hear in a book, in-so-doing Jamie keeps his messaging playful, even though the information shared comes from decades of a high-performing technology leader, who’s been (apparently) powerless to keep himself from asking why, then applying those answers in his own domain to test their efficacy.

The historical whistlestop is very enjoyable, and I’d be surprised if anyone knew all of the stops on the journey to this degree. But, add in the psychology and business-psych, particularly around people working together to solve complicated problems and the mechanisms which allow them to thrive or spend their lives swimming against the current are illuminated by highlighting established, although not widely known, models to explain the challenges and solutions.

I’d recommend this book to:
- Technologists who want to know how things came to be, to help contextualise today’s world and tomorrow’s opportunities.
- History fans who want to hear what’s driven the monumental developments they’ve lived through or were born into, and what ideas may have bounced around the heads of the leaders who changed our world.
- Business leaders who want to understand how to get the engine of technology working for them (through stories of leaders who came before), and improve the lives of the creative problem solvers in their companies, to improve the lives of us, those who enjoy the services and products which come from those creative ‘Learning Oriented’ people.

Superb.

Tech history and practices which made them work, superb

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