Description
Book SynopsisTurns to the past to trace the cultural history of computers. The author charts the struggles to define the meanings of these machines over more than a century, from the failure of Charles Babbage's difference engine in the 19th century to struggles over file swapping, open source software, and the future of online journalism.
Trade ReviewElectric Dreams is at once a synthetic history of the personal computer, a history of representations of the computer, and a treatise on how to think about computing as a cultural phenomenon. Friedmans original analyses and clear style make the book a pleasure to read. -- Jonathan Sterne,author of The Audible Past: Cultural Origins of Sound Reproduction
This engaging but ultimately unsatisfying book examines the utopian sphere — a public forum in which alternative futures can be imagined and debated - that arose in response to computing innovations, ranging from Charles Babbages Difference Engine to web logs -- Kenneth Lipartito,Florida International University
[T]he general reader will thank Mr. Friedman. * Studies in American Culture *
Electric Dreams is a very solid cultural studies offering, smoothly written and largely steering clear of heavy-duty theory, making it an almost ideal candidate for undergraduate courses and as an introduction for newcomers to the field. * Science Fiction Reader *
This book is for anyone who owns or uses a computer. . . . Computers permeate our culture, but we have little idea of where they came from and why we use them the way we do.
Electric Dreams offers a mirror to our own hopes, desires, and fears, and empowers us as a community to use technology for our own benefit. * M/C Reviews *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: The Dialectic of Technological Determinism Part I Mainframe Culture1 Charles Babbage and the Politics of Computer Memory 2 Ideologies of Information Processing: From Analog to Digital3 Filming the "Electronic Brain" Part II The Personal Computer4 The Many Creators of the Personal Computer 5 Apple's 1984 6 The Rise of the Simulation Game Part III The Interpersonal Computer7 Imagining Cyberspace 8 Dot-com Politics 9 Beyond Napster 10 Linux and Utopia Conclusion: Cybertopia Today Notes BibliographyIndex About the Author
