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The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing Personal
by
A study of the evolution of the modern computer profiles the work of MIT psychologist J. C. R. Licklider, whose visionary dream of a human-computer symbiosis transformed the course of modern science and led to the development of the personal computer. Reprint.
Paperback, 512 pages
Published
August 27th 2002
by Penguin Books
(first published 2001)
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hi Anshu, listen to what Patrick says about it at 17:05 in this video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrDZh...
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Start your review of The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing Personal

Having just read Katie Hafner's Where Wizard's Stay Up Late I was ready to tackle this book, which is both deeper and more ambitious. Where Hafner's book was purely about the origin of the Internet, Waldrop is taking on the whole idea of personal computing. Licklider thus provides the focus for this book, for while he played a crucial role in promoting networking, his true aim was always what he termed a symbiotic partnership between humans and computers, and for him networking was just a necess
...more

This is the most deeply insightful book I've read on the history & vision of computing.
It's special since it covers an amazingly broad scope – all the way from the mechanical machines employed in WW2 (cybernetics) to modern-day personal computing & the internet. It's even more special since it also covers the people & the culture that made all this happen.
It ties *so* many threads together:
– The origins of Claude Shannon's information theory & Von Neumann's architecture that laid the groundwork ...more
It's special since it covers an amazingly broad scope – all the way from the mechanical machines employed in WW2 (cybernetics) to modern-day personal computing & the internet. It's even more special since it also covers the people & the culture that made all this happen.
It ties *so* many threads together:
– The origins of Claude Shannon's information theory & Von Neumann's architecture that laid the groundwork ...more

Incredible book! I'm so glad that it found the way to me somehow (don't remember how it happened, maybe from some tweet from Bret Victor?). It goes through the history of computing, from when the Information theory was invented, ARPA, IPTO, Xerox PARC, invention of object-oriented programming, Smalltalk, multitasking, graphical interface, until current notion of personal computer.
I HIGHLY encourage everybody who loves computers to read this book cover to cover. I'll definitely re-read it in comi ...more
I HIGHLY encourage everybody who loves computers to read this book cover to cover. I'll definitely re-read it in comi ...more

May 30, 2017
Jayesh
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Jayesh by:
Alan Kay
Shelves:
non-fiction
I have read quite a few books covering different parts of the history of computing but none of them were as expansive as this one. Not sure if keeping Licklider's name in the title was necessary since the book covers so many people important to the "revolution" that he mostly ends up being a framing device for an expansive tale.
...more

This book is as good as all the other reviews say it is. Alan Kay recommends it as the best history of that era.
While it might take some time to read, Waldrop's prose travels smoothly into your mind, allowing you to focus on the ideas, people, and relationships. Waldrop writes fairly: where there's controversy, he'll mention multiple perspectives, and his narrative voice makes a clear distinction between the consensus and his speculation, an important habit for a chronicler. And the people: ther ...more
While it might take some time to read, Waldrop's prose travels smoothly into your mind, allowing you to focus on the ideas, people, and relationships. Waldrop writes fairly: where there's controversy, he'll mention multiple perspectives, and his narrative voice makes a clear distinction between the consensus and his speculation, an important habit for a chronicler. And the people: ther ...more

One of the best non-fiction books I've ever read. Sure, I'm probably biased because my life revolves around computer programming, but nonetheless I'd avidly assert that anyone who takes pleasure in using a personal computer or the internet in any way would greatly enjoy this story about the inception, story, and humans behind the ideas at their foundation.
...more

This is a brilliant biography of J.C.R. Licklider, as well as personal computing and networking which has shaped the lives of our generation in every aspect.
This book hit me in the process of writing my honours thesis, I am working with technologies that the characters so clairvoyantly dreamed of and then made real. Every time a new technology is introduced as an idea floating around somewhere in Cambridge MA or the nascent Bay Area it makes you gasp at the ingenuity, and the hard work, context ...more
This book hit me in the process of writing my honours thesis, I am working with technologies that the characters so clairvoyantly dreamed of and then made real. Every time a new technology is introduced as an idea floating around somewhere in Cambridge MA or the nascent Bay Area it makes you gasp at the ingenuity, and the hard work, context ...more

A detailed history of the personal computer, from the first analog ballistic computers to the Apple Macintosh. There's a lot of interesting history here, and the book explores important ideas through the eyes of the people who invented computing. But at times it all feels a little too detailed. Still, I'm glad I read this and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in knowing more about the pioneers of computing.
...more

This is an incredible journey of computing of from WW2 towards the invention of WWW/The Internet. There are a lot of lessons along the way, the names we might have heard of and their relationships with the computers. This quote sticks with me most
And I guess this i ...more
hire the most brilliant experimenters in the country, give them the best equipment money could buy, inspire them to the highest possible standards of intellectual clarity and experimental precision—and work them fourteen hours per day.
And I guess this i ...more

Inspirational. It was a pleasure to follow Lick's life as computers went from nonextant to bicycles for the mind. I think that I believe in more determinism than the author does, personal computers likely would have happened even without ARPA's valiant efforts. It was still a pleasure to read about this man who had A Vision For the Future and did his best to make it happen, inspiring generations of computer scientists along the way. I have too many thoughts about this book right now to write a c
...more

A very well-written, surprisingly comprehensive, & exciting to read history of 'personal' computing & the internet, this book is a fitting tribute to JCR Licklider, 'the father of it all'. It's a must read if you learn about computing history.
...more

Ugh, this was such a great book. I’m a sucker for computing history. It ties together Chomsky, Claude Shannon, Von Neumann, Douglas Engelbart, and a host of other prominent characters in an easy to read, engaging narrative. I loved how it humanized everyone and didn’t read like a dry textbook.
The topics covered span wide, giving a holistic view of how modern computing came to be. It’s like getting a quick romanticized snapshot of my Computer Engineering degree (I bet CS / Cogs grads would love ...more
The topics covered span wide, giving a holistic view of how modern computing came to be. It’s like getting a quick romanticized snapshot of my Computer Engineering degree (I bet CS / Cogs grads would love ...more

Less a biography of a single person and more the story of an idealistic thread in computing history.

Incredible book.
Basically tells the whole history of computing starting from pre-WWII years, through John von Neumann and Alan Turning years, invention of LISP, Arpanet, Xerox PARC, TCP/IP, Unix and interactive computing and finally internet.
It just connects all the great people together: Norbert Wiener, von Neumann, Noam Chomsky, JFK, Alan Kay, Vint Cerf, John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, Steve Jobs, Al Gore. And all connected via work of J. C. R. Licklider.
Basically tells the whole history of computing starting from pre-WWII years, through John von Neumann and Alan Turning years, invention of LISP, Arpanet, Xerox PARC, TCP/IP, Unix and interactive computing and finally internet.
It just connects all the great people together: Norbert Wiener, von Neumann, Noam Chomsky, JFK, Alan Kay, Vint Cerf, John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, Steve Jobs, Al Gore. And all connected via work of J. C. R. Licklider.

This is the story of the Computer Revolution, starting in the late 30s-40s and reaching the early 90s. The author uses the figure of J. C. R. Licklider, one of the central figures in unlocking the potential of the personal computer, as the main thread and dives into the characters that brought the vision of a dream machine into reality.
This book does an amazing job at bringing life to these famous characters in the history of Computing, people like Von Neumann, Norbert Wiener, McCulloch and Pit ...more
This book does an amazing job at bringing life to these famous characters in the history of Computing, people like Von Neumann, Norbert Wiener, McCulloch and Pit ...more

Just brilliant
Best history of the computer revolution I've ever seen. Seems to be only available on Kindle. Why isn't this masterpiece back in print? ...more
Best history of the computer revolution I've ever seen. Seems to be only available on Kindle. Why isn't this masterpiece back in print? ...more

Apr 01, 2020
Josh Friedlander
rated it
really liked it
Shelves:
biography,
history-of-science-tech-society
This book began as a somewhat vague project, in response to a grant for a book about software. As Waldrop explains in the acknowledgements, he wanted to write about the history of the personal computer, and Licklider's name kept coming up, so he decided to write his biography. But the book is mostly a history of the idea of computing from the 1950s to the new millenium, with Licklider's bio inserted periodically as the connecting tissue. A creative, brilliant polymath, "Lick" was frustrated by t ...more

Review on re-read:
At once dense and lucid, this is a spectacular story of how computers got to where they are today. This is an expansive book, and it touches upon more than a dozen researchers and engineers (spending considerable amount of time with each) whose work has brought us the modern computer system and internet.
It starts from the 1930s (Norbert Weiner, Von Neumann, Turing, Shannon , UNIVAC, ENIAC, the people at the MIT Rad Lab etc.) and goes up to the early 1990s (Tim Bernes Lee, NSFNe ...more
At once dense and lucid, this is a spectacular story of how computers got to where they are today. This is an expansive book, and it touches upon more than a dozen researchers and engineers (spending considerable amount of time with each) whose work has brought us the modern computer system and internet.
It starts from the 1930s (Norbert Weiner, Von Neumann, Turing, Shannon , UNIVAC, ENIAC, the people at the MIT Rad Lab etc.) and goes up to the early 1990s (Tim Bernes Lee, NSFNe ...more

A vivid retelling of the birth of modern computing
The Dream Machine traces the birth of modern computing, primarily focusing on the 1940s through the 1970s, but reaching back all the way to the 1920s and looking forward into the 1990s. (It was written in the late 90s.) It’s central scaffolding is the story of J. C. R. Licklider, a visionary psychologist and computer scientist who played a key role in evangelizing, funding, and realizing interactive computing. In particular, through his work at A ...more
The Dream Machine traces the birth of modern computing, primarily focusing on the 1940s through the 1970s, but reaching back all the way to the 1920s and looking forward into the 1990s. (It was written in the late 90s.) It’s central scaffolding is the story of J. C. R. Licklider, a visionary psychologist and computer scientist who played a key role in evangelizing, funding, and realizing interactive computing. In particular, through his work at A ...more

This is a splendid, if long, book about the development of the personal computer, starting just after World War Two. Many brilliant individuals got involved over the years, sometimes working independently, often eventually joining others in a team -- many teams over time, at many places around the world, including a number of universities and other labs.
JCR Licklider had the knack of bringing together brilliant, talented people to accomplish great things, even what sometimes seemed impossible. ...more
JCR Licklider had the knack of bringing together brilliant, talented people to accomplish great things, even what sometimes seemed impossible. ...more

🐝 The Dream Machine by M. Mitchell Waldrop #book
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J.C.R. Licklider is quite unknown outside US. It's a pity, since he influenced computers evolution enormously. As a head of ARPA he put money into many obscure research groups, thus literarily emulating VC in 60s!
He did not like to write papers and books, but loved to invent things, talk to people and share ideas. And he had many.
This is an overview of the whole computer industry from 50s to 90s. And this is good and bad at the same time.
Positiv ...more
--
J.C.R. Licklider is quite unknown outside US. It's a pity, since he influenced computers evolution enormously. As a head of ARPA he put money into many obscure research groups, thus literarily emulating VC in 60s!
He did not like to write papers and books, but loved to invent things, talk to people and share ideas. And he had many.
This is an overview of the whole computer industry from 50s to 90s. And this is good and bad at the same time.
Positiv ...more

This was a lot for me. I am not used to any sort of book that is written like this or follows this kind of subject matter, honestly I felt out of depth on the first page of the book. However, I do note the importance of what Waldrop was communicating and the impact it had on our world. I never did understand or bother to figure out why computers went from essentially massive calculators to the desktop, internet browsing free-to-code types we have today, but now I know that it's mainly because of
...more

A truly incredible book in its detail, narrative, and scope. It gets a little slow at times, but the the way Waldrop follows the threads of the development of computers from their primordial moments to the not so distant past is a masterclass. Waldrop spares no angle and detail, telling us about the lives and emotions and dreams of the people who shaped the technology that permeates our world.
One of the seminal ideas that sticks with me: computers were for a long time considered to be very larg ...more
One of the seminal ideas that sticks with me: computers were for a long time considered to be very larg ...more

The computing revolution, as we know it, usually dates from Paul Allen (RIP, Paul) seeing the Altair in a magazine, and Boom! PC Dead! Mainframes.
However, this book tells the story of the idea itself, that is computing. Interactivity was the spirit of the PC revolution and a few people were the enablers of an environment where creativity could foster, and one of them was J.C.R. Licklider.
Reading about the Internet, one always just heard that first there was something called Arpanet and then Tim ...more
However, this book tells the story of the idea itself, that is computing. Interactivity was the spirit of the PC revolution and a few people were the enablers of an environment where creativity could foster, and one of them was J.C.R. Licklider.
Reading about the Internet, one always just heard that first there was something called Arpanet and then Tim ...more

Jan 05, 2019
Michiel Appelman
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
history,
technology
As a long time enthusiast and professional in the computer/networking world, it is a shame that I have only read this extensive account now. I did know about Doug Engelbart's demo in 1968 and how it already included most of the concepts we currently take for granted in using computers, but reading about Lick and his vision, and how it developed was truly exciting. His insights and apparent dedication in fulfilling this dream are admirable.
Because the story features so many people and names, pers ...more
Because the story features so many people and names, pers ...more

A truly fascinating description of the creation of Computer Science and the Personal Computer.
While the book's objective is to describe J. C. R. Licklider's contributions to Computer Science it contributes so much more. Not only does it include the huge contributions of all the people who worked under Lick but other huge Computer Science rockstars of the time: John von Neumann, Douglas Engelbart, Robert E. Kahn, John McCarthy, etc.
While M. Mitchell Waldrop describes in detail the individual deve ...more
While the book's objective is to describe J. C. R. Licklider's contributions to Computer Science it contributes so much more. Not only does it include the huge contributions of all the people who worked under Lick but other huge Computer Science rockstars of the time: John von Neumann, Douglas Engelbart, Robert E. Kahn, John McCarthy, etc.
While M. Mitchell Waldrop describes in detail the individual deve ...more

Fascinating book on the vision of JCR Licklider and what that vision resulted in:
- Companies such as Xerox, 3com, Adobe etc
- Software such as WHSIWYG editors
- Hardware such as the mouse, Ethernet and more
- Core technology of the Internet, i.e. TCP/IP
More important than the vision of man-computer symbiosis was his courage and belief in others as he gave huge funding for many to research, build and iterate.
Lick was also clear a great family man and loved by many. Inspirational.
The book is incredib ...more
- Companies such as Xerox, 3com, Adobe etc
- Software such as WHSIWYG editors
- Hardware such as the mouse, Ethernet and more
- Core technology of the Internet, i.e. TCP/IP
More important than the vision of man-computer symbiosis was his courage and belief in others as he gave huge funding for many to research, build and iterate.
Lick was also clear a great family man and loved by many. Inspirational.
The book is incredib ...more
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“Through feedback, said Wiener, Bigelow, and Rosenblueth, a mechanism could embody purpose.
Even today, more than half a century later, that assertion still has the power to fascinate and disturb. It arguably marks the beginning of what are now known as artificial intelligence and cognitive science: the study of mind and brain as information processors. But more than that, it does indeed claim to bridge that ancient gulf between body and mind—between ordinary, passive matter and active, purposeful spirit. Consider that humble thermostat again. It definitely embodies a purpose: to keep the room at a constant temperature. And yet there is nothing you can point to and say, "Here it is—this is the psychological state called purpose." Rather, purpose in the thermostat is a property of the system as a whole and how its components are organized. It is a mental state that is invisible and ineffable, yet a natural phenomenon that is perfectly comprehensible.
And so it is in the mind, Wiener and his colleagues contended. Obviously, the myriad feedback mechanisms that govern the brain are far more complex than any thermostat. But at base, their operation is the same. If we can understand how ordinary matter in the form of a machine can embody purpose, then we can also begin to understand how those three pounds of ordinary matter inside our skulls can embody purpose—and spirit, and will, and volition. Conversely, if we can see living organisms as (enormously complex) feedback systems actively interacting with their environments, then we can begin to comprehend how the ineffable qualities of mind are not separate from the body but rather inextricably bound up in it.”
—
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Even today, more than half a century later, that assertion still has the power to fascinate and disturb. It arguably marks the beginning of what are now known as artificial intelligence and cognitive science: the study of mind and brain as information processors. But more than that, it does indeed claim to bridge that ancient gulf between body and mind—between ordinary, passive matter and active, purposeful spirit. Consider that humble thermostat again. It definitely embodies a purpose: to keep the room at a constant temperature. And yet there is nothing you can point to and say, "Here it is—this is the psychological state called purpose." Rather, purpose in the thermostat is a property of the system as a whole and how its components are organized. It is a mental state that is invisible and ineffable, yet a natural phenomenon that is perfectly comprehensible.
And so it is in the mind, Wiener and his colleagues contended. Obviously, the myriad feedback mechanisms that govern the brain are far more complex than any thermostat. But at base, their operation is the same. If we can understand how ordinary matter in the form of a machine can embody purpose, then we can also begin to understand how those three pounds of ordinary matter inside our skulls can embody purpose—and spirit, and will, and volition. Conversely, if we can see living organisms as (enormously complex) feedback systems actively interacting with their environments, then we can begin to comprehend how the ineffable qualities of mind are not separate from the body but rather inextricably bound up in it.”
“Nonetheless, his vision of high technology’s enhancing and empowering the individual, as opposed to serving some large institution, was quite radical for 1939—so radical, in fact, that it wouldn’t really take hold of the public’s imagination for another forty years, at which point it would reemerge as the central message of the personal-computer revolution.”
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