The Soul of a New Machine
E436513
The Soul of a New Machine is a Pulitzer Prize–winning nonfiction book by Tracy Kidder that chronicles the intense, behind-the-scenes effort of a small engineering team racing to design a new computer in the late 1970s.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Soul of a New Machine canonical | 3 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4384713 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Soul of a New Machine Context triple: [Tracy Kidder, notableWork, The Soul of a New Machine]
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A.
Computer Lib / Dream Machines
Computer Lib / Dream Machines is a pioneering 1974 book by Ted Nelson that passionately advocates for personal computing, hypertext, and user empowerment in the digital age.
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B.
Business @ the Speed of Thought
Business @ the Speed of Thought is a business and technology book by Bill Gates that explores how digital systems and information networks can transform organizations and decision-making.
-
C.
Engines of Logic
Engines of Logic is a book by mathematician and computer scientist Martin Davis that explores the historical development of mathematical logic and its foundational role in the creation of modern computers.
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D.
The Machine of the World
The Machine of the World is a famous allegorical vision in Luís de Camões’ epic poem *Os Lusíadas*, in which the cosmos and its secrets are revealed to the Portuguese explorers.
-
E.
The Road Ahead
The Road Ahead is a non-fiction book by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates that explores the future impact of personal computing and the internet on society, business, and everyday life.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Soul of a New Machine Target entity description: The Soul of a New Machine is a Pulitzer Prize–winning nonfiction book by Tracy Kidder that chronicles the intense, behind-the-scenes effort of a small engineering team racing to design a new computer in the late 1970s.
-
A.
Computer Lib / Dream Machines
Computer Lib / Dream Machines is a pioneering 1974 book by Ted Nelson that passionately advocates for personal computing, hypertext, and user empowerment in the digital age.
-
B.
Business @ the Speed of Thought
Business @ the Speed of Thought is a business and technology book by Bill Gates that explores how digital systems and information networks can transform organizations and decision-making.
-
C.
Engines of Logic
Engines of Logic is a book by mathematician and computer scientist Martin Davis that explores the historical development of mathematical logic and its foundational role in the creation of modern computers.
-
D.
The Machine of the World
The Machine of the World is a famous allegorical vision in Luís de Camões’ epic poem *Os Lusíadas*, in which the cosmos and its secrets are revealed to the Portuguese explorers.
-
E.
The Road Ahead
The Road Ahead is a non-fiction book by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates that explores the future impact of personal computing and the internet on society, business, and everyday life.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Pulitzer Prize-winning work
ⓘ
nonfiction book ⓘ technology book ⓘ |
| author | Tracy Kidder NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| awardReceived |
National Book Award for Nonfiction
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| coverArtist | Little, Brown and Company design department ⓘ |
| depicts |
Data General Corporation
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
development of the Eclipse MV/8000 minicomputer ⓘ |
| describes |
race to design a new computer
ⓘ
technical and personal challenges of engineers ⓘ |
| firstEditionPageCount | approx. 293 pages ⓘ |
| firstPublicationMedium | print ⓘ |
| focusesOn |
behind-the-scenes product development
ⓘ
small engineering team ⓘ |
| genre |
literary journalism
ⓘ
nonfiction ⓘ technology writing ⓘ |
| hasCriticalReception | widely acclaimed ⓘ |
| hasEdition |
hardcover edition
ⓘ
paperback edition ⓘ |
| hasInfluenced | writing about technology and engineering culture ⓘ |
| hasISBN | 9780316491976 ⓘ |
| hasOCLCNumber | OCLC 7179775 ⓘ |
| hasSequel | none ⓘ |
| hasStyle | reportage blended with narrative ⓘ |
| hasSubject |
innovation under time pressure
ⓘ
minicomputers ⓘ project management in engineering ⓘ workplace motivation ⓘ |
| includedIn | canon of classic technology writing ⓘ |
| isAbout | Data General Eclipse MV/8000 project NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| literaryForm | narrative nonfiction ⓘ |
| mainSubject |
computer design
ⓘ
computer engineering ⓘ engineering team dynamics ⓘ |
| notableFor |
detailed portrayal of computer engineers
ⓘ
insight into high-tech corporate culture of the 1970s ⓘ |
| placeOfPublication | Boston NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1981 ⓘ |
| publisher | Little, Brown and Company NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| setInPeriod | late 1970s ⓘ |
| targetAudience |
general readers
ⓘ
technology professionals ⓘ |
| timeToWrite | several years ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: The Soul of a New Machine Description of subject: The Soul of a New Machine is a Pulitzer Prize–winning nonfiction book by Tracy Kidder that chronicles the intense, behind-the-scenes effort of a small engineering team racing to design a new computer in the late 1970s.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.