| Computer Lib / Dream Machines | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Ted Nelson |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | History |
| Publisher | Tempus Books of Microsoft Press |
| Publication date | 1987 (originally 1974) |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
Computer Lib is a book by Ted Nelson, originally published in 1974 by Nelson himself, and packaged with Dream Machines, another book by Nelson. The whole publication (referred to as just "Computer Lib" by Nelson and others) had two front covers to indicate the "intertwingling" of the two books, and was republished with a foreword by Stewart Brand in 1987 by a division of Microsoft Press. The book, which is subtitled "You can and must understand computers NOW," and which Nelson says in the 1987 edition was inspired by Brand's Whole Earth Catalog, is a spirited manifesto that was inspiring to a generation of DIY computer-lovers. In his book Tools for Thought, Howard Rheingold calls Computer Lib "the best-selling underground manifesto of the microcomputer revolution."[1] It is sometimes considered the first book about the personal computer, since it was initially published prior to the release of the Altair, however, that honor is actually Nicholas Negroponte's, for his 1970 book The Architecture Machine: Towards a More Human Environment.
In Computer Lib, Nelson writes passionately about the need for people to understand computers deeply, more deeply than was generally promoted as "computer literacy," which he considers a superficial kind of familiarity with particular hardware and software. His rallying cry "Down with Cybercrud" is against the centralization of computers such as that performed by IBM at the time, as well as against what he sees as the intentional untruths that "computer people" tell to non-computer people to keep them from understanding computers.
In Dream Machines, Nelson covers the flexible media potential of the computer, which was shockingly new at the time (1974).
Both the 1974 and 1987 editions have an unconventional layout, with two front covers (one for Computer Lib and the other for Dream Machines) and the division between the two books marked by text (for the other side) rotated 180°. The text itself is broken up into many sections, with simulated pull-quotes, comics, side bars, etc., similar to a magazine layout.