MacDirectory Magazine

BOOK REVIEWS HACKERS REVIEW BY RIC GETTER Drawn to machinery that could manifest complex logic, they tried at first to access the school’s carefully sequestered IBM mainframe but soon discovered they could grab some time on a smaller, friendlier minicomputer precursor called the TX-0. The group created its own vocabulary (Google “hacker’s jargon”–the dictionary lives on) and its own ethic (sharing, hands-on computing and unrestricted collaboration). “Hackersis not about computers. It’s about the people who made computers what they are today.” “Hacking” has gotten a bad name over the years. The term has become synonymous with malware and malfeasance. However, for much of computing’s relatively brief history, it connoted the hard work that is done by professionals, students and dedicated enthusiasts at or near the cutting edge of technology. Steve Levy’s Hackersis to the early days of computing what Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuffis to aerospace. Hackers has just been reissued in a new edition by O’Reilly and there’s a good reason for that — just because the technology behind the Bell X-1 rocket plane or the DEC’s PDP-1 minicomputer is outdated, the stories of the people who pushed these one-time marvels to and past their known limits remains relevant and utterly fascinating. Hackersis the first of six books written by Levy, currently a senior writer for Wiredas well as a regular contributor to magazines ranging from the Rolling Stoneto The New York Times Magazineto Macworld. In Levy’s telling, “hacking” was born in the relatively obscure TMRC Lab at MIT in the mid-fifties. No, the acronym doesn’t refer to any of the mysterious defense department programs or arcane pure- science research facilities at the prestigious institute in Cambridge. The Tech Model Railroading Club attracted a certain kind of über-geek with an obsessive desire to understand and improve the insanely complex array of switches, circuits and relays lying underneath the room-size railway. In Hackers, Levy goes beyond superb journalism and great storytelling. He’s able to convey the timeless excitement of exploring new frontiers and smooth out the brutally arcane terrain of early computing into a landscape that that is not only comprehensible but absolutely compelling. His story spans a fast-paced 25 years where a “generation” is measured by the time a newbie student becomes a mentor or a bright idea and spur-of-the-moment project becomes a lasting legacy. The scope of the story requires a cast of characters whose number rivals a Tolstoy novel, but Levy manages to make each one memorable, which is quite an achievement with a group of individuals who knowingly and completely loose themselves in their work. And that’s probably the most important aspect of Levy’s book. Hackersis not about computers. It’s about the people who made computers what they are today. Their names may not be as familiar as Chuck Yeager or John Glenn, but they are no less important. Hackersby Steven Levy; $21.99, O’Reilly (OReilly.com); 499 pgs. ISBN 978-1-449-38839-3 46 MacDirectory

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