Focus - The ASML Way - Inside the Power Struggle over the Most Complex Machine on Earth (Marc Hijink, 2023)

 (337 pages)

ASML today is a world-famous company.  Its core product is photolithography machines, used to print intricate patterns on silicon wafers, a key step in chip manufacturing. ASML is the sole supplier of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines, enabling the production of smaller, faster, and more powerful microchips.  Largest tech company in Europe.

Their machines are critical to production of pretty much every single advanced chip - for AI or whatnot.  I don't understand all this so well, I just read that price of newest machine is nearly $400 million per unit.

I'm deeply interested in the company because I was lead lawyer for ASML's US operations (based in Phoenix) from 1991 - 1996.  It was fascinating work at the time.  The newly-released (1991) PAS 5500 wafer stepper cost an astounding $1 million per unit.  We were doing purchase agreements with Micron and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).  And a new customer - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC).  It was interesting to read that many 5500s continue in operation to this day.  I'm wondering about the service contracts we wrote for those machines in the 1990s!  ASML's big competitor was Nikon.  Karl Zeiss lenses were a big selling point, that was a new relationship for ASML when I was involved.

My then-law firm had initiated the relationship with ASML in approximately 1984. ASML was a pure Dutch start-up funded by Philips (big Dutch electronics company), but didn't fit well with Philips.  Tech entrepreneur Arthur del Prado - founder and CEO of Dutch corporation Advanced Semiconductor Materials International (ASMI) - talked Philips into a 50-50 joint venture with ASMI.  My then-law firm already represented ASMI in the US, so took over the joint venture (soon named ASML).  

Arthur del Prado is a guy I spent quite a bit of time with, both in the Netherlands and in the US.  An entrepreneur with a vision for ASMI of developing wafer processing machines that would cover every step of the manufacturing process (from the "front end" - high science devices that mostly made the chips - to the "back end" - incrementally less sophisticated machines that cut the wafers into chips and then packaged them and attached lead "wires").  ASML would have filled a key gap in the ASMI front-end product line. But ASMI had too ambitious of a goal, and was running out of money - so it reluctantly sold out its interest in ASML in 1988 (back to Philips).  A decade later, ASML alone - concentrating on a single key wafer processing machine - was worth more than all of ASMI put together. (ASML considered changing its name - it didn't like the "ASM" portion of the name once the ASMI relationship had ended - but finally decided that the confusion and hassle wasn't worth it.) (ASMI did have some product hits, including a wafer stepper that processed every single Pentium chip manufactured by Intel.)

Even though ASMI no longer had any ownership interest in ASML, we in Phoenix were able to continue representing both companies. Per above, 35-year old me took over the relationship in 1991 with both ASMI and ASML.

The book discusses ASML hiring Peter Wennink as CFO in 1997, and how he became effectively co-CEO, just hitting retirement now.  Wennink was a Deloitte partner and I got to know him in that capacity. Philips listed ASML shares on Nasdaq starting in 1995.  I was looking to leave my law firm, and Wennink asked if I was interested in taking a general counsel role with ASML (he liked my securities law experience in addition to general familiarity with the company). I didn't want to take on the commitment - which would have involved lots of travel to the Netherlands - and I'm not sure they even wanted someone like me - after I ended the discussion, they hired a more junior person for US operations and he has worked out great. (It also wasn't clear to me how things would work with the corporate center of gravity still in the Netherlands. I ended up moving to Employee Solutions as GC/SVP (we loved titles!))

The book also discusses the hiring of Doug Dunn as ASML CEO at the same time - I got to know him, liked him, he didn't last nearly as long as Wennink.

The book goes on to describe ASML's ascension to world-class status - most of that happened long after I no longer worked with the company - the discussion of TSMC and ASML in Arizona in recent years is of course very interesting (CHIPS Act as part of the story).  Also the political issues have gotten quite hot, with the US in particular interested in preventing China from getting its hands on ASML's technology. This was happening during both the Trump and Biden administrations, probably still is. 

A good read.  ASML's product is magic, unbelievable stuff.

A Man at Arms (Steven Pressfield, 2021)

(316 pages)

St. Paul's letter (epistle) to the Corinthians needs to be delivered from [wherever it was penned]; copies are entrusted to several messengers; all but one are intercepted by Roman forces (Rome considering the letter as highly insurrectionary).  The final copy is entrusted to a courier named Michael, traveling with a mute girl named Ruth. Rome enlists Telamon - former Roman legionary - as a mercenary to find the pair and bring back the letter.  Telamon has an unexpected apprentice (Michael); they are dogged by a sorceress who accompanies them for long stretches. 

Rome is not trustworthy and pursues the pair with its own forces; also chased by Jews feeling threatened by Christianity, other bounty hunters.

The tale of the pursuit and the journey in general - from Judea to the Nile and across to Greece - is very well done.

I did not see the ending coming, but I thought it was really effective.  The contrast between Roman brutality and St. Paul's messaging.  

(I don't know much theology though understand that chunks of St. Paul's writings are out of favor with some; but yes there remain many quite fine passages.) 

Having attended literally thousands of Roman Catholic Masses - St. Paul included in the readings for no doubt a large majority of them - the familiarity with the topic makes this story more compelling.  

High - A Journey Across the Himalaya through Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Nepal, and China (Erika Fatland, 2023)

 (570 pages)

Author took a journey through the areas mentioned in the title; it was divided into two segments, each lasting months.

I like travel books - they give a feel for geography and history told against a story line of things the traveler is encountering, difficulties along the way, etc.

These areas are generally unfamiliar to me. As she moves east, even less familiar.  Lots of visits to Buddhist temples (after starting more with Hindu-Muslim mix, mostly Hindu, then Hindu-Buddhist mix).

Discussions of India-China borderlands are interesting, also India-Pakistan - fraught areas, as is well-known. Kashmir.

Discussions of Chinese control in these areas - after some intermittent resistance, now it's mostly well-controlled.  Social media monitored more closely than in modern-day Great Britain! In the short "acknowledgements" section at the end of the book the author mentions the risks that folks took in speaking with her, including on dangerous topics; she obscured their names and locations in the telling. This atmosphere won't be changing anytime soon.

Lots of Chinese tourists in various areas - as the country has gotten wealthier, they are on the move.

Some of the areas are incredibly obscure.  Shamans with lots of power.  Menstruating women sent off to a hut for days; poor conditions, unhealthy to the point of causing some deaths.  Changing, but many still stuck with this.

Dealing with altitude. She visits Mt. Everest base camp, an interesting perspective from a person not attempting the summit.

Pretty amazing to imagine throughout; I don't foresee visiting any of these places; so it's nice to at least get an armchair experience.

Gates of Fire (The Battle of Thermopylae) (Steven Pressfield, 1998)

(384 pages)

Greek survivor at Thermopylae is asked by Xerxes, seeking understanding about the courage of the Spartans, to tell the story of the battle as he understood it.  A Persian historian records the tale.

A good job of moving back and forth in time. Weaving in early childhood experiences of the survivor (and his sister), his incorporation into Spartan ways.

I wasn't as interested in the battle sequences though no doubt they are rendered effectively.

This kind of fighting - no drones; no gunfire from a distance.  

Descriptions of the Spartan training.  Their superiority. Selection of the 300; their known fate.

I appreciated that the author typically presented the Persians, even their auxiliaries, as courageous fighters. 

Ending phases of the book are remarkably good.  The speeches of King Leonidas and others on the final morning of the battle. The type of brotherhood of these men in arms; echoes of similar stories from wars throughout history; very effective. A relationship unlike any other.

This is an idealized presentation of Sparta as I understand things - though that's OK, the focus here is military matters and it seems Sparta very much excelled there.

Courage of the Spartan women is presented, an interesting angle that I hadn't previously seen; how their support mattered.

Good discussions of courage and fear; "there are rooms we must not enter" - courage doesn't mean absence of fear.

Well worth reading.

The Pioneers (David McCullough, 2019)

 (258 pages)

Quick read, enjoyable, McCullough writes engagingly.

This is a story about the Northwest Territory - which became five states with which I'm quite familiar (WI, IL, IN, MI, OH) - I don't know much about this history.  

For one thing I didn't realize the scale of the Ohio River - looking at it on the map was useful.

Also didn't realize how this followed close on the heels of the Revolutionary War; lots of veterans involved.  First settlers head for Ohio in 1787. Founding of Marietta, Ohio.  

Author kind of obsessed with the education and anti-slavery planks of the founding documents; somewhat though much less interested in the fate of the local natives.

The stories about clearing the land, building settlements, dealing with Indians, etc. seemed more familiar.  Mad Anthony Wayne's expedition ended the Indian threat (if that's the way to describe it).

Rapid growth, a lot of change is seen - flatboats, keelboats eventually steam power. Crossing the Alleghenies very difficult; early travelers sometimes had to take apart their wagons and carry the pieces through a rough spot or two (along with the cargo).

Story is told via diaries and letters that I don't think were previously plumbed to such depth.  It's an effective way to tell the story - we see things through the eyes of selected founders and their descendants. One was a doctor who moonlighted as a naturalist (Hildreth). Reminded of the approach in Holland's excellent book about WWII in Italy (though not as compelling as that instance). 

Rabbit, Run (John Updike, 1960)

 (325 pages)

Updike is well thought of, I think.  This novel (and a couple companion pieces) are considered to be among his best, I think. 

But I only made it a little over halfway.  Maybe missed something great. But I don't like this kind of book.  Protagonist was a successful high school basketball player, later unhappy with his wife, acting immature, mostly interacting with unappealing folks.

Destiny of the Republic - A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President (Candice Millard, 2011)

(308 pages)

Book club selection per Nicole.

An era of US history I don't know much about. Garfield was elected in 1880 and assassinated shortly thereafter.  The author focuses on four people - 

1. James Garfield - author presents him as a great guy; not running for president (or at least effectively demure about it) but becomes nominee after an impasse.  Great orator, family guy, has a farm in Ohio, ancestors carved out life on the farm.  Civil War veteran with success despite no experience. 

2. The assassin - Guiteau or somesuch name - pretty much mentally ill, not very interesting. Minimal or zero security for US presidents at this era.

3. Alexander Graham Bell - had achieved great success with the telephone, now thought to apply related principles to create a device to locate the bullet embedded in Garfield. Probably on a useful track but this was difficult to pull off.  I was interested in the descriptions of Bell's creative process - in a way it reminded me of Mandelstam's (per the book immediately prior).  Inventive outbursts, keep going while the flame is burning!

4. Lister (of antiseptic medicine fame) and Bliss (Garfield's doctor) - avatars for the then state-of-the-art medical practices.  US doctors generally uninterested in Lister's ideas at this phase.  Bliss poking his fingers into the wound - guess what, lots of infection! Not that long ago.

Medical treatment in DC in the summertime - intense heat - a group try to create a sort of air-conditioning system.  Includes John Wesley Powell.

Insanity defense in the assassin's trial.  England's McNaughton rule.