The High Cost of High Tech: The Dark Side of the Chip

Two recognized authorities on the booming world of high tech put their years of Silicon Valley surveillance on the line in this informative, sometimes eye-opening evaluation of the computer revolution. Markoff is the San Francisco Examiner's Silicon Valley reporter; Siegel, a crusader for Silicon Valley safety and health standards, has been described as the Valley's ""resident gadfly.'' Here they produce an expose of the perils, present and potential, in the burgeoning Age of the Chipan expose so informed, restrained and evenhanded that it attains a powerful credibility. They range through quietly horrific descriptions of the electronic arms-race under way; discussions of the negative impact of data banks on our privacy, of computer learning on education, of industrial wipeouts and job losses. Their revelations about the immense toxicity associated with the ``clean'' high-tech industry will shock readers. A view of America at bay in a worldwide race for high-tech supremacy caps the book. November 6