Matthew Symonds

Larry Ellison

A history of the computer company Oracle identifies the events and sometimes controversial choices that contributed to its rise to one of the industry's most powerful and profitable companies, noting its penchant for reinventing itself in pursuit of new goals, and complemented by additional notes by the company's co-founder and chief executive. Reprint. 20,000 first printing.

An Intimate Portrait of Larry Ellison and Oracle

Softwar

In a business where great risks, huge fortunes, and even bigger egos are common, Larry Ellison stands out as one of the most outspoken, driven, and daring leaders of the software industry. The company he cofounded and runs, Oracle, is the number one business software company: perhaps even more than Microsoft's, Oracle's products are essential to today's networked world. But Oracle is as controversial as it is influential, as feared as it is revered, thanks in large part to Larry Ellison. Though Oracle is one of the world's most valuable and profitable companies, Ellison is not afraid to suddenly change course and reinvent Oracle in the pursuit of new and ever more ambitious goals. Softwar examines the results of these shifts in strategy and the forces that drive Ellison relentlessly on. In Softwar, journalist Matthew Symonds gives readers an exclusive and intimate insight into both Oracle and the man who made it and runs it. As well as relating the story of Oracle's often bumpy path to industry dominance, Symonds deals with the private side of Ellison's life. From Ellison's troubled upbringing by adoptive parents and his lifelong search for emotional security to the challenges and opportunities that have come with unimaginable wealth, Softwar gets inside the skin of a fascinating and complicated human being. With unlimited insider access granted by Ellison himself, Symonds captures the intensity and, some would say, the recklessness that have made Ellison a legend. The result of more than a hundred hours of interviews and many months spent with Ellison, Softwar is the most complete portrait undertaken of the man and his empire -- a unique and gripping account of both the way the computing industry really works and an extraordinary life. Despite his closeness to Ellison, Matthew Symonds is a candid and at times highly critical observer. And in perhaps the book's most unusual feature, Ellison responds to Symonds's portrayal in the form of a running footnoted commentary. The result is one of the most fascinating business stories of all time.

The Roman army enjoys an enviable reputation as an instrument of waging war, but as the modern world reminds us, an enduring victory requires far more than simply winning battles. When it came to suppressing counterinsurgencies, or deterring the depredations of bandits, the army frequently deployed small groups of infantry and cavalry based in fortlets. This remarkable installation type has never previously been studied in detail, and shows a new side to the Roman army. Rather than displaying the aggressive uniformity for which the Roman military is famous, individual fortlets were usually bespoke installations tailored to local needs. Examining fortlet use in north-west Europe helps explain the differing designs of the Empire's most famous artificial frontier systems: Hadrian's Wall, the Antonine Wall, and the Upper German and Raetian limites. The archaeological evidence is fully integrated with documentary sources, which disclose the gritty reality of life in a Roman fortlet.

Fortlets, Frontiers, and the Quest for Post-Conquest Security

Protecting the Roman Empire

The fortlet, a previously overlooked military installation type, reveals how Rome built, secured, and lost its Empire.

Over its venerable history, Hadrian's Wall has had an undeniable influence in shaping the British landscape, both literally and figuratively. Once thought to be a soft border, recent research has implicated it in the collapse of a farming civilisation centuries in the making, and in fuelling an insurgency characterised by violent upheaval. Examining the everyday impact of the Wall over the three centuries it was in operation, Matthew Symonds sheds new light on its underexplored human story by discussing how the evidence speaks of a hard border scything through a previously open landscape and bringing dramatic change in its wake. The Roman soldiers posted to Hadrian's Wall were overwhelmingly recruits from the empire's occupied territories, and for them the frontier could be a place of fear and magic where supernatural protection was invoked during spells of guard duty. Since antiquity, the Wall has been exploited by powers craving the legitimacy that came with being accepted as the heirs of Rome: it helped forge notions of English and Scottish nationhood, and even provided a model of selfless cultural collaboration when the British Empire needed reassurance. It has also inspired creatives for centuries, appearing in a more or less recognisable guise in works ranging from Rudyard Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill to George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones. Combining an archaeological analysis of the monument itself and an examination of its rich legacy and contemporary relevance, this volume presents a reliable, modern perspective on the Wall.

Creating Division

Hadrian's Wall

A history of the computer company Oracle chronicles its rise to become one of the industry's most powerful and profitable companies, noting its penchant for reinventing itself in pursuit of new goals.

Matthew Symonds

About

Books

Join the club