While there have been several histories of the personal computer, well-known technology writer John Markoff has created the first ever to spotlight the unique political and cultural forces that gave rise to this revolutionary technology. Focusing on the period of 1962 through 1975 in the San Francisco Bay Area, where a heady mix of tech industries, radicalism, and readily available drugs flourished, What the Dormouse Said tells the story of the birth of the personal computer through the people, politics, and protest that defined its unique era.

Based on interviews with all the major surviving players, Markoff vividly captures the lives and times of those who laid the groundwork for the PC revolution, introducing the reader to such colorful characters as Fred Moore, a teenage antiwar protester who went on to ignite the computer industry, and Cap’n Crunch, who wrote the first word processing software for the IBM PC (EZ Writer) in prison, became a millionaire, and ended up homeless. Both immensely informative and entertaining, What the Dormouse Said promises to appeal to all readers of technology, especially the bestselling The Soul of a New Machine.

约翰·马科夫 （John Markoff），曾为《时代》杂志撰写科技文章，后成为《纽约时报》的一位资深撰稿人。着有畅销书《电脑叛客》、《小心骇客》等。现居住在加利福尼亚州旧金山市。

硅谷的文化观察家Paul Saffo这麽形容他：“马科夫属于非常特殊的信息专业人(infonaut)。他有学界的好奇心和执着，但更难能可贵的是，他也有与现实非常接轨的一面，例如他是为《纽约时报》，而不是什么艰涩的专业杂志写文章。马科夫最重要的地方在于他不只是报导独家消息，而总是报导独家幕后的独家。他告诉我们早已发生而我们一无所知的事情，接着他又在更大的脉络底下往下深究一层。”

译者黄圆圆，东西文库2014年度优秀译者获奖者，英语语言文学硕士，美国研究方向，对文化、外交、军事、政经、大众科普文章感兴趣。

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译言·东西文库

东西文库是译言旗下的出版品牌，致力于“科技文化”的思考、传播与交流。已出版《失控》、《技术元素》、《新经济，新规则》、《数字乌托邦》、《颠覆医疗》、《智能时代》、《有限与无限的游戏》等图书。

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