DEALERS OF LIGHTNING
Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age
Michael Hiltzik
From a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist comes this riveting, true story of an extraordinary group of inventors who brought about a technological revolution that would change the world.
In the bestselling tradition of The Soul Of A New Machine and Accidental Empires, Dealers of Lightning is a fascinating journey of intellectual creation. In the 1970s and ’80s, Xerox Corporation brought together a braintrust of engineering geniuses, a group of computer eccentrics dubbed PARC. This brilliant group would create several monumental innovations including the first personal computer, the laser printer, and the graphical interface (one of the main precursors to the Internet) only to see these breakthroughs rejected by the corporation. Yet instead of giving up, these determined inventors turned their ideas into empires that would radically alter contemporary life and change the world. Based on extensive interviews with the people who lived the story, this riveting chronicle details PARC’s beginnings through its triumph as a hothouse for ideas, and shows why Xerox was never able to grasp and ultimately exploit the cutting-edge innovations PARC delivered.
“Superb. A gem of a story that has never before been so well told.”
—New York Times Book Review
“Read this book. A treat for anyone with even a passing interest in the origins of today’s siliconized culture.”
—Business Week