I’ve been wanting to read What the Dormouse Said since it came out, and finally got the chance to read it this week. I was disappointed, although now I have a lot of other books & videos to dig into as a result of reading this book.

Markoff’s thesis, that the 1960s psychadelic subculture shaped the ideas that lead up to the first personal computers, is pretty reasonable. The parties and grassroot organizations of the day brought people together, and the dream of a “personal” computer was just another example of “power to the people”. He gives plenty of facts & tales to support this angle.

My biggest complaint is that the book lacks a cohesive narrative thread. I like how Fabio Rojas describes it in his review: “There are so many people that just appear and disappear that it’s hard to keep track of them.” Several times, I wished I had taken the time to draw a “family tree” of the subjects, so I had some idea who they were and how they tied into everything. ( )

I think Markoff is a fine journalist, but I've never really liked any of his books all that much. This is a fairly pedestrian history of early computing compared to classics like The Dream Machine or Where Wizards Stay Up Late. It does, however, rescue Fred Moore from undeserved obscurity. ( )

An interesting book, pointing out all the ways that the beginnings of the personal computer were touched by the 1960's psychedelic counter-culture. ( )