Hackers Paperback – 29 Jun. 2010

This is now a classic, I read it in the early nineties first and this is an updated version.It follows various eras of computing the early pioneers in the fifties labs (Cambridge, Boston), the Homebrew era in Northern California and finally home games programming in the 80s. My favourite era is the homebrew one that led to Apple computers.The writing is consistently entertaining and there's a lot of historical detail. I reread this on my kindle recently and enjoyed it the second time.

This is a great book for anybody interested in computers, very interesting and eye opening content. I'm an IT consultant and programmer so this book was brilliant for me.

If you work within the field of computing and have an interest in how and why things have developed the way they have, then this book is one that you really should get. In this context, "Hacker" is not a perjorative term; it does not refer to the people that set out to maliciously damage systems, but rather to those that tried to understand how and why things work they way they do, by deconstructing them, and then trying to make them work more efficiently.The author provides details of how many of the pioneers of modern computing honed their skills; the relationships between the various people and also tries to give an insight into their thinking. It's clear that in many cases, no-one was particularly driven to go down a particular route, they were just trying to see what they could do. It's equally clear that some of the development was as the result of external forces from people that probably knew little if anything about the potential of the coming computer revolution.The book can seem a bit lengthy; the author has tried to highlight the activities a very large number of people that were active through the first few decades of the modern computing era. But it is a very worthwhile read.

If you thought the term 'Hackers' had anything to do with computers you were mis-informed - but they invented the entire industry, bootstrapping it from skills learned from people running the early mainframe computers while on the search for components for their giant train set. Amazingly detailed, Steven Levy has lived and worked among the generation of geeks who became the household names from Microsoft and Apple, the games houses and software companies that are now world wide big business. And with the development of the Raspberry Pi it might be starting all over again!!

Read the paperback years ago and loved it. A great look back at "nerds" et al who were at the cutting edge of technology when it was in its infancy.

This product gets 5 stars because it is an absolutely fascinating insight into the history of hacking. A must read for any ICT professional or hobbyist.

That is a guy "hacking" at a computer and nothing to do with system security infiltration which is an entirely different thing.I think this book is aimed at a few hundred thousand people like me who were around when Milnet was being used - for me it is very well written and interesting, for anybody not aware that Computers existed before Windows XP - forget about it.

Despite being a bit too American for my taste the author depicts masterfully the stories of the pioneers who invented a way of using computers that changed the world. If you're a hacker yourself this is a must read!