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Summary: A fantastic book about computers & hackers
Review: An amazing book that chronicles the beginnings of the personal computer age, including how the present-day institutions of Microsoft and Apple started out. It is truly the one book that defined what a hacker is and can make almost anyone understand the passion many people have for computers. I have read it 2 or 3 times since it first came out and I still love it.
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Summary: Classic book, a must read in its field.
Review: This book is not about computer crime, despite the impression you may get from the title. In fact, the whole thrust of the book is to study those people who called themselves hackers before the first computer crime had ever been commited, together with their successors who clung to the name even after it had picked up darker connotations.
The story starts with the original hackers at the AI lab at MIT.
Whilst the Computer Science department at MIT had a typical hierarchical chain of command, something slipped at the nearby AI lab where somehow the lunatics had control of the asylum.
Levy details the glorious early years at the AI lab where hacking was all, elegance won out every time against pragmatism and bedtime was always the
wee small hours. Not content with inventing many fundamentals of computer science such as Lisp and time-sharing systems, one hacker even added new
machine instructions armed only with a soldering iron. Don't try this at home folks.
Leaving the East Coast, Levy surveys the early West Coast computer scene, including computer hardware hackers such as Steve Wozniak, father of the Apple II, and this leads on to the third wave of hackers, the games writers. It's at this point in the story that big business arives on the scene. Some hackers made the transition successfully, others didn't. I was not surprised
to find one of the earliest and most obnoxious "breadheads" of the original home computer scene in this book to be none other than Bill Gates. As far as I can tell from this book, he was always in it for the money. Yeah you're rich Bill, and I'm not, but people just don't like you OR your company, ok?
Having completed a thorough survey of a period of decades in the computer industry, Levy then justifiably stopped and published the book. My edition however is a reissue, and Levy has added an afterword, "The Last Hacker" where he returns to MIT just in time to witness the destruction of the Hackers Citadel by commercial greed.
In this final chapter, Levy is really in his element as he relates the story of the last lone defender on the ramparts, single-handedly
holding back the dark barbarian hordes. The defender knew it was a lost cause, but was determined to make his point, and only gave up
after exacting fearsome retribution when he had decided to abandon anger and revenge and instead found a new city which would, this time, have unbreachable defences. The name of the lone defender? Richard Stallman. The new project? The GNU project - the same project that produced the text editor I wrote this review with (Emacs), that
facilitated this operating system (Linux) and that is still going strong this very day, thus the book takes us right to the present day - Hackers are alive and well and living near you :-)
Highly Recommended.
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Summary: A pivotal life-experience for me.
Review: I am a happily employed professional programmer. This book is largely the reason I got involved in this field
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Summary: The Essential Document for the Computer Age!
Review: If you work in the computer industry or are simply interested in "how it all started", you MUST read this book
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Summary: A summary of Hackers, by Steven Levy
Review: A well-written book about the people who paved the way to the computers and software that we use today. It follows game hackers of the 80's, the makers of the personal computer of the 70's, and students at the MIT Arificial intelligence lab of the 60's
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Summary: A history of "Real" hackers before the public redefinition
Review: This book is a history of the "real" hackers, from the startin 1959 at MIT up to the early 1980's. I mean "real",because today there is a public confusion between hackers - those who circumvent limitations - and crackers - those who circumvent security. This book, in conjunction with Eric S. Raymond's "New Hacker's Dictionary" in either book or online form, gives both the newbie and the uninitiated a good look at the true nature of wonderful culture responsible for much of today's computer technology.
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Summary: Great book
Review: Tells you about how the computer revolution started and takes you up to about 1982
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Summary: A must read for a Computer History buff
Review: If you saw Robert X Cringeley's "Triumph Of The Nerds" on PBS, this book pre-dates it by *years* Many of the people RXC mentions are here in the book. This book's a wild and wooly romp through the little-known side of the True History of computers and the unsung heroes who, only for the glory of solving a problem or impressing their friends brought us to the revolution/evolution of the Personal Computer. I got this when it was first published in hardcover and have long since lost the dust jacket and have read it countless times.
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Summary: A mildly melodramatic, entertaining look at hacker history
Review: I am a senior engineer for network security operations, who when nine years old in 1980 started computing on a Timex-Sinclair ZX-80. I probably first heard the term "hacker" when "War Games" was released in 1983. I read Steven's book because it is an early but enlightening account (first published in 1984) of the Hacker Ethic. Consider: in a closed, self-policed environment, like the computer labs of the 1960s and early 1970s, freely sharing information makes sense. In an open, under-policed environment, like the modern Internet, deviants abuse the Hacker Ethic. Well-intentioned "white hats" may explore the phone system purely to understand its operation, but evil-minded "black hats" abuse the same knowledge to make free long distance calls. Does this mean information should be confined? No -- full disclosure is still the best way to counter black hat activity. Steven lays the groundwork for these thoughts, and serves up gems from hacker history. His 1970s quote from Popular Electronics editor Les Solomon is the earliest reference I know linking hacking to kung fu: "The computer is...an art form. It's the ultimate martial art." Steven also shares tales of Sierra On-Line, Apple Corp., Homebrew Computer Club, the Altair, and even Bill Gates' 1975 rant against software piracy. "Hackers" will make you appreciate your unlimited access to the machine on which you're reading this review. Hackers of the 1960s and 1970s would have given their first born child to possess the power and availability of modern PCs; now we take PCs for granted, like indoor plumbing or refrigeration! Those who lived the early days of PCs will enjoy Steven's trip down memory lane. Those who are younger will discover the true meaning of the word "hacker" -- one who promotes access, freedom, decentralization, meritocracy, art, and joy through computers.
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Summary: A hacker classic
Review: Hackers is considered a classic of computer history (short as it is) and culture. Painstakingly compiled by Levy from both written accounts and hundreds of interviews with some of the most important figures in computing, ranging from Greenblatt and Gosper to Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak, and Steve Jobs. It's an outstanding work and is required reading for anyone interested in the origins of the computer industry.
The story progresses in a mostly linear historical manner, as much as is possible. Early on its much easier since almost all the computing going on was taking place in a few concentrated locations. Later in the 70s and early 80s there is some parallel storytelling after the explosive growth in the personal computer market and there is just too much going on.
Up first is the story of the original "true hackers" of the legendary MIT Tech Model Railroad and the 9th floor Tech Central and AI lab. Rejecting the batch processed mentality of IBM and the big iron mainframes, these elite hackers originated the image of the geeky programmer and the `hacker ethic' still followed to this day. This is probably the most important section of the book culturally speaking, as we get an intimate look at their utopian little society and all the unique patterns of behavior that followed: the lock picking, hardware hacking, soda guzzling, Chinese food eating, 30 hour programming sprees, prank pulling, and the utter disdain for all bureaucracy and administration.
Next up, this time on the other side of the country in California a very different but equally important revolution is underway. The true birthplace of the personal computer was not the elite halls of MIT, but the grungy garages of the original hardware hackers, centering primarily around the legendary Homebrew Computer Club. While the MIT hackers pounded out nifty but largely uninteresting programs on multimillion dollar timesharing microcomputers - the hardware hackers believed in bringing the power of computers to every home - and made it happen. These were men (yes they were all men) who thought nothing of buying an early Altair computer kit that consisted of nothing more than a box full of circuit boards - soldering them together with little or no instruction into something that barely resembled what anyone today would consider a computer - only to have no monitor or keyboard or sound. The entire operating system would have to be entered by hand in arcane assembly language each time the machine was turned.
The hardware hackers knew computers could eventually find a home with regular people at a reasonable price, and quickly delivered. However, once this was accomplished (via the Apple and Atari home computers) it still would take some time to answer the eternal question - what the heck do you do with these computers? The formation of three grassroots companies solved this question - and the game hackers were born. In those days an individual gifted programmer could author an entire game, and reap an incredible 30% royalty rate from its sales. In computer circles they literally became like rock stars, including the rampant drug abuse.
Levy ends with a newly added epilogue entitled The Last of the True Hackers. Here he takes a look at what became of many of the young and idealistic hackers 10 years after the original publishing of the book. In particular he focuses on the lamentation of the self described Last True Hacker - Richard Stallman, aka RMS. RMS is an ultra socialistic hacker and founded the Free Software Foundation in accordance with his overzealous belief that all software should be free.
Overall Levy's book is a fairly objective account of this unusual history. However there are a number of important themes which are developed and explored along the way. Chief among them is defining the principle tenets of The Hacker Ethic and understanding its origins. It is a difficult concept, and simultaneously the reason for the success of the early hackers, and the making of their ultimate downfall. Their inability to understand anything but the computers they worked on, they failed in commercial success and in truly advancing the worldwide adoption of computer technology. Their elitist attitude persists to this day. It was only the hackers who understood not only the technology, but the business side and the practical application of technology that really succeeded.
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