While there have been several written histories of the personal computer, a well-known technology writer has created the first ever to spotlight the unique political and cultural forces of the 1960s that gave rise to this revolutionary technology.

While there have been several written histories of the personal computer, a well-known technology writer has created the first ever to spotlight the unique political and cultural forces of the 1960s that gave rise to this revolutionary technology.

"This makes entertaining reading. Many accounts of the birth of personal computing have been written, but this is the first close look at the drug habits of the earliest pioneers." --New York TimesMost histories of the personal computer industry focus on technology or business. John Markoff's landmark book is about the culture and consciousness behind the first PCs--the culture being counter- and the consciousness expanded, sometimes chemically. It's a brilliant evocation of Stanford, California, in the 1960s and '70s, where a group of visionaries set out to turn computers into a means for freeing minds and information. In these pages one encounters Ken Kesey and the phone hacker Cap'n Crunch, est and LSD,* The Whole Earth Catalog and the Homebrew Computer Lab. What the Dormouse Said * is a poignant, funny, and inspiring book by one of the smartest technology writers around.