^ That's a wonderful book. Haven't we talked about it already on MB? As I recall, you and I recommended it to Chula a while back.
I'm reading a non-fiction book right now:-
It's an exciting read, especially the first section which explores the strangely gifted nerds of the MIT Model Railroad Club, which turns out to be the banal birthplace of the computer revolution. It's always intriguing to read about something from humble beginnings that goes on to change the world. It's the narrative arc of various novels (like
Dune, for example) and there was also that guy who was born in a manger - remember?
As a writer, Steven Levy bears the marks of having been influenced by Tom Wolfe (which is not necessarily a bad thing) and he is considerate enough to put a "Who's Who" at the front of the book to help keep track of all the players of the compu revolution. Anyone else notice that all too often in non-fiction the author expects you, on page 345, to have perfect recall of someone who appeared once on page 34? It can be quite annoying.
One word of warning: this book was written in 1984, so (
*checks index*) SL talks about
interface and
interzone, but never once mentions the word
internet , which some of you cutting-edge computer buffs have probably heard of.