First published 2002
This book examines how modern computing developed by focusing on MIT psychologist J. C. R. Licklider and his pioneering ideas. Waldrop traces Licklider's concept of human-computer symbiosis and shows how this vision shaped contemporary science. The author demonstrates how Licklider's work directly influenced the creation of personal computers. Through this biographical lens, readers see how one person's forward-thinking ideas about the relationship between humans and machines changed the trajectory of technological development. The book reveals the intellectual foundations that made today's computing world possible.
Genres: biography, 20th-century, 21st-century, computer-science, academic, history-of-science
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: biographical, intellectual-history
Setting: MIT
Period: 20th-Century, 21st-Century
512 pages · Paperback · Penguin Books