Rating:  - Great book on Hackers and Programmers :)
It was great, and covered the history (up until 1985 anyway) of computers from a different angle than any other book I've read on it, starting with the "Tech Model Railroad Club" (TMRC) at MIT back in the mid-1950's.
I learned where the term "Hacker Ethic" came from, and how the early hackers began on a simple machine called the TX-0 (which I had never heard of before) and of course the DEC PDP-1.
Paper tapes, teletypes, blinking lights and computers the size of a few refrigerators.. We take it for granted with the sleek advanced gear we get to use today I think.
It was incredible to read how early computer game programmers wrote most of their programs in assembly language. Almost nobody these days works that close to the machine. And some of the people profiled in the book were not computer science graduates (or even college graduates at all, but teenagers), but learned assembly for the Apple and Atari machines on their own and went on to create wildly successful games.
[...].
Rating: - I'm not very interested in computer innards, but...
I love books ABOUT computers! My husband is the computer guru while I just like what I can do on computers, from putting together web pages to making podcasts. He bought this book originally when it came out and left it on the table. I picked it up and started reading, and couldn't stop. I've read it at least 10 times, and I'm reading it again now. It's a fascinating book and very readable (humorous too) and I don't think a person necessarily has to be interested in computers to enjoy the stories and style of writing. I really liked the people in the book, and re-reading it is like visiting with old friends. True, I've never met them and never will, but it's like a well-read and beloved novel in that way, only better because these people lived and did great (or even just interesting) things.
Besides this book, I also love The Soul of a New Machine, and Cuckoo's Egg, and have read all three many times. I still have no interest in the inner workings of computers I must admit. As long as they work, I'm happy. I have a lot of respect for these hackers though, and through the years I've constantly tried to set people straight when they use the term "hackers" in a negative way.
Rating:  - Good, But with Minor Flaws
This is a good book on the early (good guy) hackers primarily from the MIT point of view. However, to someone in the know, it is very detracting that may extremely well known acronyms, such as TECO (Text Editor and COrector) are written phonetically in the book, i.e., totally and consistently wrong. Like any other book this size, it also has some omissions and minor error. But overall it does a good job of giving the flavor of the times. (Note: I am mentioned twice in passing in the book.)
Rating: - Escape to another time and place
These guys aren't the hackers that create viruses that damage your computer hard drive.
These are the original hackers. The ones that slept next to the huge mainframes waiting for a chance to get on and test their programs.
I had read about them in other computer history books devoted to artificial intelligence. One such book is "The Brain Makers" by HP Newquist.
But this book takes me so close into their lives that I feel I am actually there with them.
I read a chapter in the book and then get the urge to learn another computer language.
Rating: - The definitive book on the original Hackers
If you are a techie, or just interested in the Technology Revolution, this is a must have book.
It contains three sections describing three different kinds of hackers: The True Hackers (part 1), The Hardware Hackers (part 2), and The Game Hackers (part 3). However, to me, I've always imagined it thusly (in my head): part one ("The True Hackers") are about the original hackers, those who did research and were hackers with a code and with principles; part two ("The Hardware Hackers") were about "the hobbyists" like Woz and the rest; and part three ("The Game Hackers") was about the commercialization of the computer world.
Part one ("The True Hackers") focuses on the MIT AI Lab, while touching on the Stanford AI Lab (SAIL) and related environments. For me, this was my favorite section - I've read and reread the stories of The Model Railroad Club (TMRC) and the foibles of the men that organized the first computer lab at MIT.
Part two ("The Hardware Hackers") focuses to a large degree on the Homebrew Computer Club, and on projects such as Community Memory and the Well. It tells the story of the Apple I and of the founding of Apple Computer.
Part three ("The Game Hackers") revolves largely around the story of the game company Sierra On-Line and of Ken and Roberta Williams.
The Epilogue is also not to be missed: "The Last of the True Hackers." True hacker devotees should already know the focus of this section: Richard Stallman, the founder of the GNU Project and of the Free Software Foundation - and I believe, even a founder of the League for Programming Freedom. Richard Stallman was the creator of GNU Emacs (a text editor), gcc (a language compiler), and more.
The writing is clear and easy to comprehend, even for a technical subject. It is lucid and vivid - and makes you feel like you can reach out and visit with the men described in these pages. When you are done, you feel like you've made some new friends....
Get this book if you love reading about hacker culture or computer culture - you won't regret it.
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