West is notable for being the key figure in the Pulitzer Prize winning non-fiction book The Soul of a New Machine.

[2] West began his career in computer design at RCA, after seven years at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, a job he'd gotten right out of college.

[3] After the publication of Soul of a New Machine, West was sent to Japan by Data General where he helped design DG-1, the first full-screen laptop.

[7] West married Cindy Woodward (his former assistant at Data General) in 2001; the couple divorced in 2011.

West died at the age of 71 in his Westport, Massachusetts home of an apparent heart attack.