This volume celebrates the can-do, risk-taking, creative pioneers of 
Texas Instruments from its inception in the 1930s as a tiny 
geophysical exploration company working out of the back of a truck in 
the oilfields of the Southwest, to its status in the world today as one of 
the world's leading electronics companies. From the determination of 
its founders—Eugene McDermott, Erik Jonsson, Cecil Green, and Pat 
Haggerty—to the genius of its inventors such as Nobel prizewinner 
Jack Kilby, TI has transformed the world in seven and a half decades.
 
In photographs and anecdotes, the book tells TI's history of 
innovation in products and technologies, including the development of 
the first commercial silicon transistors, the first integrated circuits, and 
the first electronic hand-held calculators. Today, this Fortune 500 
company is at the forefront of digital signal processing and analog 
technologies—the semiconductor engines of the Internet age. TIers 
are currently working on solutions for large global markets such as 
wireless and broadband access, and for a variety of emerging markets 
such as digital projection systems and digital audio.

The seventy-five vignettes making up this history paint a picture of 
TI and its people, providing a window into a corporate culture that 
fosters the creativity and mental toughness to compete in the world 
semiconductor market. The stories, in addition, show TI's staunch 
sense of fiscal responsibility, civic mindedness, and high ethical 
standards in its business practices.

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CALEB PIRTLE III, vice president and editorial director for Dockery 
House Publishing in Dallas, is the award-winning author of more than 
thirty books. A former travel editor for Southern Living magazine, he 
has co-written two teleplays for CBS and has written for such 
publications as Travel & Leisure, Bon Appetit, and Holiday. He's the 
recipient of a Texas Associated Press Award, Small Press Book 
Award, and a Discover America Award.