• Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution

  • 25th Anniversary Edition
  • By: Steven Levy
  • Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
  • Length: 20 hrs and 23 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (1,925 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution  By  cover art

Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution

By: Steven Levy
Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $29.95

Buy for $29.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Steven Levy's classic book traces the exploits of the computer revolution's original hackers - those brilliant and eccentric nerds from the late 1950s through the early '80s who took risks, bent the rules, and pushed the world in a radical new direction. With updated material from noteworthy hackers such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Stallman, and Steve Wozniak, Hackers is a fascinating story that begins in early computer research labs and leads to the first home computers.

Levy profiles the imaginative brainiacs who found clever and unorthodox solutions to computer engineering problems. They had a shared sense of values, known as "the hacker ethic" that still thrives today. Hackers captures a seminal period in recent history when underground activities blazed a trail for today's digital world, from MIT students finagling access to clunky computer-card machines to the DIY culture that spawned the Altair and the Apple II.

©2010 O'Reilly Media (P)2015 Audiobooks.com Publishing

What listeners say about Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,200
  • 4 Stars
    530
  • 3 Stars
    140
  • 2 Stars
    34
  • 1 Stars
    21
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,053
  • 4 Stars
    454
  • 3 Stars
    142
  • 2 Stars
    34
  • 1 Stars
    20
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,085
  • 4 Stars
    425
  • 3 Stars
    134
  • 2 Stars
    33
  • 1 Stars
    22

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Remember Why You Got Into Computing

I am in IT. Before reading this book I never considered myself a "hacker". Before reading this book I would have never considered myself in context and in league with the pantheon of computer legend like the MIT AI team and Woz. This book made me feel young again. It helped me shed a little of the jadedness that had begun creeping into my psyche.

Read this book and return with me to a time when pushing that power button meant it was time to explore potential and discover cool new possibilities that you were sure you were the first to find.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

29 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Stunningly bad writing

Has Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution turned you off from other books in this genre?

No, The Innovators by Walter Isaacson is a fantastic contribution in this space, though it focuses more on the hardware.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Mike Chamberlain?

Someone who knows that the emphasis does not always belong on the last noun phrase of the sentence.

Any additional comments?

Below are two quotes from this book. I checked the written text to make sure that these were not themselves quotes, but were in fact the author's own words.

"... it would rush through in an exhilarating rush."

"...[the Fibonacci sequence], a numerical trait established early on by some random math hacker."

Surely we're not calling Leonardo of Pisa ("Fibonacci"), the medieval mathematician about whom fairly little is known, a "random math hacker" are we? Incorrect and otherwise cringe-worthy snippets like this abound.

Though it doesn't cover exactly the same material, please read the Isaacson book instead.

Alternately, go read the jargon file. :)

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

26 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The Digital Wild West

Steven Levy's history of the early evolution of computers and those that pioneered the science, the titular Hackers, is still one of the most complete and authoritative resources on the subject. This book was a very difficult read at times, but I'm extraordinary glad I stuck with it. Also, if you're an old school computer game fan, Levy's history of Sierra and Ken and Roberta Williams might be worth it alone.

That said, I would only recommend this to someone already somewhat versed in computer history. If you're a newbie in this field, "Where Wizards Stay Up Late" by Katie Hafner has a much lower barrier of entry and is actually referenced several times in here. However, if the ARPANET is already old news to you and you're eager to start learning about Lee Felsenstein you couldn't ask for a better deal than this book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant work reflecting on a great passion!

Most of the men described in this book have pioneered the computer to what it is today. It's about the code, the framework and the over the top devotion to an idea that has become an enormous tool we walk around with in our pockets everyday. Awesome!!! T

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Hackers was Astoundingly Informative

First of all this is a book that is not for a person seeking a fictitious storyline that has perfect characters within. No, this is a book for someone who is looking for a read that has imperfect characters to match this imperfect world. As far as I know, this is a factual recreation of men and the turmoils they faced in 1950s to the 1980s.

The world looked down on these men and their magical machines, yet they pushed on bravely. None were without fault but that is human nature.

If you are looking for a great insight into the minds of the early hackers, and what hackers really were before the name was changed by the media then get this book. Also the book gives a listener just a dab at how computers came into mainstream through the lives of many young intellects.

Steven Levy did a superb job at writing this and was as complete in his writing as a subject like this allows.

Mike Chamberlain lends his incredible voice into this book that gives it the energy that I have come to expect from him.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

One of my all time favorite books

This book will inspire you with the hacker spirit. I must have read it eight times already and look forward to the next time.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

It's a classic

A must read for anyone interested in the history of the software industry. The "hacker ethic" theme feels outdated now, but the stories are captivating.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

must read for anyone that has an interest in tech

well researched and well written, the narrator voice is a bit commanding, but you'll get used to it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

amazing look at early computer pioneers

if you love vintage computer stories this book is required reading. from MIT to Sierra Online, it's a tour de force look at an entire new realm of human accomplishment

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

More a mix of stereotyped biographies

As a tech worker myself, I really wanted to like this book. I had figured the book would be for either a techy audience, who wanted to learn more about the early days of their industry, or non-technical backgrounds who wanted to understand better the booming industry. This book will disappoint both audiences. For the tech background people, the author clearly doesn't have a tech background and his explanations of what hackers were doing are tortured and relies on a heavy use of nerd stereotypes to formulate what the author calls the "hacker ethic", which never really existed by the very examples of personality diversity and nuance that are given in this very book.

Besides the cookie cutter charactertures, terrible technical analogies, there's also the glaring problem of over emphases on not only one country in the world, but one particular institution - MIT. While an important hub for pioneers of the industry, the book does not give a good idea of how hacking developed into a world-wide movement and community. No hackers in Europe, or Asia or anywhere else in the world are mentioned in the later timespan covered in this book where there was a booming tech industry in those areas.

The hacker way is about understanding some system deeply. This book doesn't do that for anyone, it is instead a rather arbitrary set of characterized biographies.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful