Michael Hiltzik has worked for the Los Angeles Times as a financial, political, and foreign correspondent and
as a technology writer and editor. Twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, he lives in Southern California with
his wife and two sons.
Review
"Read this book. A treat for anyone with even a passing interest in the origins of today's siliconized
culture."
--Business Week
Submitted by Publishers, July, 2001
Summary
In the bestselling tradition of The Soul of a New Machine, Dealers of Lightning is a fascinating journey of
intellectual creation. In the 1970s and '80s, Xerox Corporation brought together a brain-trust of engineering geniuses,
a group of computer eccentrics dubbed PARC. This brilliant group created several monumental innovations that triggered
a technological revolution, including the first personal computer, the laser printer, and the graphical interface
(one of the main precursors of the Internet), only to see these breakthroughs rejected by the corporation. Yet,
instead of giving up, these determined inventors turned their ideas into empires that radically altered contemporary
life and changed the world.
Based on extensive interviews with the scientists, engineers, administrators, and executives who lived the story,
this riveting chronicle details PARC's humble beginnings through its triumph as a hothouse for ideas, and shows
why Xerox was never able to grasp, and ultimately exploit, the cutting-edge innovations PARC delivered. Dealers
of Lightning offers an unprecedented look at the ideas, the inventions, and the individuals that propelled Xerox
PARC to the frontier of technohistoiy--and the corporate machinations that almost prevented it from achieving greatness.
