Today, technology is cool. Owning the most powerful computer, the latest high-tech gadget, and the whizziest web site is a status symbol on a par with having a flashy car or a designer suit. And a media obsessed with the digital explosion has reappropriated the term "computer nerd" so that it's practically synonymous with "entrepreneur." Yet, a mere fifteen years ago, wireheads hooked on tweaking endless lines of code were seen as marginal weirdos, outsiders whose world would never resonate with the mainstream. That was before one pioneering work documented the underground computer revolution that was about to change our world forever. With groundbreaking profiles of Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak, MIT's tech Model Railroad Club, and more, Steven Levy's Hackers brilliantly captures a seminal moment when the risk takers and explorers were poised to conquer twentieth-century America's last great frontier. And in the Internet age, "the hacker ethic"--first espoused here--is alive an well.

Steven Levy這部經典力作的25周年版從20世紀50年代早期跨越到80年代後期，追述瞭計算機革命中初期黑客的豐功偉績，他們都是最聰明和最富有個性的精英。他們勇於承擔風險，勇於挑戰規則，並把世界推嚮瞭一個全新的發展方嚮。本書更新瞭一些著名黑客的最新資料，包括比爾·蓋茨、馬剋·紮剋伯格、理查德·斯托曼和史蒂夫·沃茲尼亞剋，並講述瞭從早期計算機研究實驗室到最初的傢用計算機期間一些妙趣橫生的故事。

在Levy的筆下，他們都是聰明而勤奮的人，他們極富想象力，他們另闢蹊徑，發現瞭計算機工程問題的巧妙解決方案。他們都有一個共同的價值觀，那就是至今仍然長盛不衰的“黑客道德”。本書描述瞭近代曆史上的一個萌芽時期，描述瞭黑客用默默無聞的行動為當今的數字世界照亮瞭一條道路，描述瞭那些打破陳規“非法”訪問穿孔卡片計算機的MIT的學生，也描述瞭締造齣Altair和Apple II電腦這些偉大産品的DIY文化。