Dealers of Lightning
Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age
by Michael A. Hiltzik
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More Recommenders
“Below are my favorite books and articles about the history of computing and Silicon Valley. | My favorite books for understanding the history of Silicon Valley: Troublemakers by Berlin The new new thing by Lewis Dealers of lightning by Hitzik Hackers by Levy Would love to hear any other recommendations. Haven?t read a great one about Intel or HP | My favorite books for understanding the history of Silicon Valley: Troublemakers by Berlin The new new thing by Lewis Dealers of lightning by Hitzik Hackers by Levy Would love to hear any other recommendations. Haven’t read a great one about Intel or HP | Some of my favorite books are on unique times in history when a group of incredibly talented people came together to build: American Prometheus (Manhattan Project) Dealers of Lightning (Xerox PARC) The Idea Factory (Bell Labs) Masters of Doom (id Software) Skunk Works”
Source →“Below are my favorite books and articles about the history of computing and Silicon Valley. | My favorite books for understanding the history of Silicon Valley: Troublemakers by Berlin The new new thing by Lewis Dealers of lightning by Hitzik Hackers by Levy Would love to hear any other recommendations. Haven?t read a great one about Intel or HP | My favorite books for understanding the history of Silicon Valley: Troublemakers by Berlin The new new thing by Lewis Dealers of lightning by Hitzik Hackers by Levy Would love to hear any other recommendations. Haven’t read a great one about Intel or HP | Some of my favorite books are on unique times in history when a group of incredibly talented people came together to build: American Prometheus (Manhattan Project) Dealers of Lightning (Xerox PARC) The Idea Factory (Bell Labs) Masters of Doom (id Software) Skunk Works”
Source →Recommended by 4 notable people, including Patrick Collison and Sam Altman
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Reading Profile
Should I read this?
Starts as a vivid inventory of inventors, projects, and lab culture at Xerox PARC, written in reporterly detail that foregrounds anecdotes and corporate memos. Main value is a textured sense of how early GUI, networking, and printing research happened and how personalities and management decisions shaped outcomes. Limitation: the narrative can dwell on minutiae and internal politics, slowing forward momentum and offering few clear takeaways for readers seeking practical lessons or modern startup playbooks. It reads like sustained magazine reporting, so detail-oriented readers are rewarded while those after a brisk how-to may be frustrated.
Read this if...
- •a product manager at an established software company arguing for long-term R&D funding; offers historical precedents and narrative scenes that show how lab breakthroughs and management choices interacted.
- •a computer science grad student preparing a seminar paper on early user-interface and networking history; supplies names, project descriptions, and period detail useful for citations and context.
- •a tech writer or podcaster assembling an episode about early computing labs and corporate decisions; provides anecdote-rich material and archival-style moments to mine for storytelling.
Skip this if...
- •you want quick, actionable startup tactics — this is not a how-to manual and lacks step-by-step guidance.
- •you'll likely put it down when chapters linger on internal memos, personnel disputes, or bureaucratic maneuvering; the narrative slows in those stretches.
- •annoying if you prefer tight, analytical summaries rather than anecdote-heavy, reporterly storytelling — expect repetition and prolonged scene-setting.
The Barnes & Noble Review March 1999 While Gates, Jobs, and the other big boys of Silicon Valley are basking in the glory of the information age, renowned Los Angeles Times reporter Michael Hiltzik reveals how, back in the early '70s, a group of inventors at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) blazed the trail for all of today's indispensable ...
Before You Buy
Reading Specifications
Difficulty:hard
Audience Fit
- a product manager at an established software company arguing for long-term R&D funding; offers historical precedents and narrative scenes that show how lab breakthroughs and management choices interacted.
- a computer science grad student preparing a seminar paper on early user-interface and networking history; supplies names, project descriptions, and period detail useful for citations and context.
- a tech writer or podcaster assembling an episode about early computing labs and corporate decisions; provides anecdote-rich material and archival-style moments to mine for storytelling.
- you want quick, actionable startup tactics — this is not a how-to manual and lacks step-by-step guidance.
- you'll likely put it down when chapters linger on internal memos, personnel disputes, or bureaucratic maneuvering; the narrative slows in those stretches.
- annoying if you prefer tight, analytical summaries rather than anecdote-heavy, reporterly storytelling — expect repetition and prolonged scene-setting.
Check formats, pricing, and availability options for Kindle, physical print, or audiobooks directly.
View available editions on AmazonKey themes
Why recommended
Recommended by 8 sources and appears in Silicon Valley, Most Recommended Books, and Programming.
Recommended by notable people
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
Recommendation Signals
Recommendation proof is sourced from public posts, interviews, reading lists, and cited references.
Patrick Collison
Co-founder and CEO of Stripe
“Below are my favorite books and articles about the history of computing and Silicon Valley. | My favorite books for understanding the history of Silicon Valley: Troublemakers by Berlin The new new thing by Lewis Dealers of lightning by Hitzik Hackers by Levy Would love to hear any other recommendations. Haven?t read a great one about Intel or HP | My favorite books for understanding the history of Silicon Valley: Troublemakers by Berlin The new new thing by Lewis Dealers of lightning by Hitzik Hackers by Levy Would love to hear any other recommendations. Haven’t read a great one about Intel or HP | Some of my favorite books are on unique times in history when a group of incredibly talented people came together to build: American Prometheus (Manhattan Project) Dealers of Lightning (Xerox PARC) The Idea Factory (Bell Labs) Masters of Doom (id Software) Skunk Works”
View sources (3) ▾80%
Appears In
Not sure if this is the right fit?
Consider Accidental Presidents by Jared Cohen. Recommended by 10 sources.
“Accidental Presidents offers eight narrative portraits of men who succeeded to the U.S. presidency without election, using anecdote-rich scenes and readable context to show how personality and circumstance interact with office power. It’s strongest as a set of self-contained stories that make succession stakes concrete for non-specialist readers; it does not prioritize dense archival argument or exhaustive methodology, so expect some interpretive generalizations and repeated themes across cases. Use it for fast historical orientation rather than scholarly deep-dives.”
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How recommendation signals are reviewed
Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.