Paperback, 455 pages
English language
Published Aug. 13, 1994 by Penguin Books.
Today, technology is cool. Owning the most powerful computer, the latest high-tech gadget, and the whizziest website is a status symbol on a par with having a flashy car or a designer suit. And a media obsessed with the digital explosion has reappropriated the term "computer nerd" so that it's practically synonymous with "entrepreneur." Yet, a mere fifteen years ago, wireheads hooked on tweaking endless lines of code were seen as marginal weirdos, outsiders whose world would never resonate with the mainstream. That was before one pioneering work documented the underground computer revolution that was about to change our world forever.
With groundbreaking profiles of Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak, MIT's Tech Model Railroad Club, and more, Steven Levy's Hackers brilliantly captures a seminal moment when the risk takers and explorers were poised to conquer twentieth-century America's last great frontier. And in the Internet age, "the hacker ethic" -- first espoused …
Today, technology is cool. Owning the most powerful computer, the latest high-tech gadget, and the whizziest website is a status symbol on a par with having a flashy car or a designer suit. And a media obsessed with the digital explosion has reappropriated the term "computer nerd" so that it's practically synonymous with "entrepreneur." Yet, a mere fifteen years ago, wireheads hooked on tweaking endless lines of code were seen as marginal weirdos, outsiders whose world would never resonate with the mainstream. That was before one pioneering work documented the underground computer revolution that was about to change our world forever.
With groundbreaking profiles of Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak, MIT's Tech Model Railroad Club, and more, Steven Levy's Hackers brilliantly captures a seminal moment when the risk takers and explorers were poised to conquer twentieth-century America's last great frontier. And in the Internet age, "the hacker ethic" -- first espoused here -- is alive and well. - Back cover.
I read this book a couple times over the years and highly recommend it. You can find the first two chapters on Project Gutenberg.
Best hacking book ever
I loved this book. It introduced me to hackerism and opensource ethics. I read it years ago, and re-read it this year. It made me want to hack something. It explores the romance of late nights, bathed in the cold glow of monitor, surrounded by the clacking of keyboards.
It's interesting in the "where do many commonly held beliefs and arguments originate?" sense. It looks at the birth of the American computer culture from the 1950s to the 1980s, mostly through the viewpoint of computer games and their development. As a chronicle of the teething period of the field it might only be interesting to those deeply involved in computer culture, but I suspect it holds wider appeal. It also has the remarkable ability to make the reader want to just go out and do something.
This is a recently updated and reissued version of Levy's classic book from 25 years ago. He traces the development of computing from the MIT model railroad club in the late 1950s through Silicon Valley in the 1980s. All of the major figures are covered, and he really brings home what the hacker ethic is about. If you have any interest in the history of computing this is one of those books you have to read
This is a classic history detailing the behind the scenes rise of the modern computer culture.
I had an Apple II growing up and remember reading about a lot of the personalities (The Williams,etc) in the magazines. It is striking, the blur of changes in those few years, 1979-83. Getting an inside overview of what was going on, even if it just did highlight a few of the major players, helped give a better picture of what was happening around those times. The stories from the early days, the PDP hackers, were really enlightening.
Although, it seems like it could have been edited better. It wasn't really necessary to reiterate what the hacking ethic was in every single chapter. It started to get repetitious after a while.
It was an engrossing read and kept me looking forward to the next chapter.
