Rating:  - 2nd Read
This really helps you understand where we are right now by opening a window on some of what went by before. Its been a while since I read this for the first time but I'm giving it a second read to help motivate myself for studying for computing exams :-). Remembering back to the first read I'd happily concur with the very positive reviews and recommend this to anyone who wants to de-mystify and appreciate the enthusiasm you can have for all thing computing.
Rating: - Perfectly Captures the Hacker Mentality
Up until 4 years ago, I taught undergraduate Computer Science classes. Based on my observations, the most important early indicator of a great programmer is their motivation to innovate. Although understanding the theory/mechanics of programming is essential, it is the student's drive to experiment with & apply what they've learned that separates the oustanding programmers from the mediocre ones. Therefore, I tried to cultivate "the hacker mentality" in my students. One of the principal ways I did this was by motivating my students to read books that inspired their creative spirit. While not part of the "approved" curiculum, I offered extra credit to students who read at least one of three books: "The Fountainhead", "Soul of a New Machine", or "Hackers". All of these books celebrate the inventor/innovator, and thus help inspire programmers to develop their own, unique hacker mentality. I've personally witnessed the work of poor students dramatically improve after digesting these books. Unfortunately, since "Hackers" is now out of print, its message isn't widely available to new generations of hackers. I hope Mr Levy will one day publish an update that covers the birth of the Internet.
Rating: - a great history of the personal computer revolution
steven levy truly does a great job writing about computers from its beginnings as the domain of a very few select, perhaps nerdy, but extremely intelligent group of students and non-students at MIT to the explosion of personal computers in the 1980s. the book ends at 1984 (when it was first published), so it does not go into the internet boom, but up until that point it provides an extensive and also entertaining view of what was going on and who was making it all happen.
i highly recommend this book to everyone that wants to know the beginnings of our technology-driven society, whether you are technical minded or not. don't be discouraged by the talk of machines you may never have heard of or programming languages and hardware terms you're not familiar with -- these are important to the story, no doubt, but levy explains everything clearly from where the term 'hackers' orignated to why IBM 'hulking giants' were so disdained to what chip does what. and the main story being told is not in the machinery itself, but in the people.
the book reads like fiction. from the middle school genius kids who were openly accepted into the MIT hackers groups, to the cocky 19-year-old named bill gates who refused to share his code openly the way everyone else was doing with each other at the time, and to the 20-something millionaires of the gaming revolution in the 1980s, levy shows us what was happening but also gives us insight into what made these people who they were.
levy has done his research. with facts from extensive interviews, re-interviews, newspaper articles and other resources, he's managed to put together not just a story about the birth and 'growing up' of personal computing, but also show us the human spirit of these geniuses and artists. if you are at all interested in 'hacking' (whether computer-based or otherwise) this book will doubtless inspire you to spend sleepless nights working on your creations knowing that amazing things can happen when you put your mind to it.
as a woman, i'm only sorry that there weren't more women hackers to admire and look up to among all the men, but then, that's not a flaw of the book so much as a sad truth of history.
this book may be out of print, but it is not outdated, and well worth searching through a few used bookstores to find a copy. borrow mine if you must :)
Rating: - The Real Thing--Definitive Early Study
This is the definitive book on the early hackers, true hackers, and should be required reading for all those people, generally with good intentions, that ignorantly refer to electronic criminals and vandals as "hackers". Steven starts his book with a "who's who" in hacking that includes Lee Felsenstein from Interval, Bill Gates, Steven Jobs, and Woz Woniak, among others, and then goes on in three parts to examine the original night hackers at MIT and other nodes of excellence, then the hardware hackers, and finally the game hackers. Hackers are a national resource, and it is only the ignorant who do not understand this.
Rating:  - The computers.....
I haven't read the whole book yet, but if anyone knows where i could find more information about the computers(IBM 704,TX-0,PDP-1) then please email me, thanks.
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