|
Loading... The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing…by M. Mitchell WaldropSeries: Sloan Technology Series
LibraryThing recommendationsMember recommendationsLoading...
won't like
will probably not like
will probably like
will like
will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. Waldrop's Complexity is one of the best popular science books ever written, and he scores again with this brilliant history of early computing. It's extremely detailed when it needs to be, always fair and evenhanded, and easy to read, despite its considerable length. This is as good as history gets. (  ) wanack | Jun 28, 2008 |  This book painted a really inspirational picture for me of the pioneering days of computing. There is a lot of extremely well researched history here that I really had no clue about beyond high level details about ARPA and ARPANET. The book is about JCR Licklider , a truly fascinating and compelling guy who somehow managed to be a driving force behind a wide range of movements that drove computing off of the big iron/batch style status quo of IBM and to the interactive time sharing and eventually the stand alone graphical terminals of PARC. Completely fascinating read, but a bit slow in the first 50 pages or so. I had to wonder if Lick's role wasn't being overstated by the author, but at the same time the portrait of the man felt honest and included warts that balanced the narrative and avoided making him too big of a hero. I only wish that the man was still alive so we could see more of him and so that he could see more of what he helped create. (  ) chriswhitmore | May 6, 2008 |  no reviews | add a review
References to this work on external resources.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wikipedia:WikiProject Computing/List of books on the history of computing |
| Book description |
|
"Lick," as his students and colleagues called him, was deeply involved in guiding the evolution of personal and networked computing from the 1950s through the 1980s, after leaving a career in cognitive psychology. Waldrop captures his spirit vividly--contrary to our stereotypical view of computer scientists, Licklider was profoundly interested in his fellow humans, and this interest helped him lead the design of technology adapted to human needs.
Waldrop interviewed dozens of contemporaries and examined reams of notes and primary sources to compose this massive biography of influence that stretches from MIT to the Pentagon to Xerox PARC and far beyond. If it sometimes seems that Licklider was a little too well beloved, especially in comparison to some of the more colorful figures in computing's recent history, it is worth remembering that his patience and humility were the very qualities that helped deliver the home-computing revolution we take for granted today. If we had to choose just one 20th-century computer pioneer that we couldn't do without, it would have to be the man behind the Dream Machine. --Rob Lightner
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:12 -0400)
The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details.
Quick Links |
Wikipedia in English (3)
