Customer Reviews

Electronic Life: How to Think About Computers

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Electronic life was published before anyone even knew what dotcom was or what www stood for. It was a forward-thinking, visionary, consumer-oriented book about one writer's thoughts about how computers would be in our lives in ways we couldn't even imagine -- and guess what? He was right!

Is is not out of date? Yes -- that's why it's out of print by the publisher. Before people start dissing the work, perhaps they should first investigate the original publication date. Then it won't be seen as ancient -- rather, a document that was ahead of it's time.

Michael Crichton, well known for his fiction, was an early adopter of the personal computer. In this 1983 book, he tried to help people overcome their fear of computers. Viewed 23 years later, it is quaint, to say the least.

Crichton's explanation of how computers work is simple and clear. It serves just as well today as it did then - though his reference to 256K --- yes, K as in Kilobytes --- of RAM as sufficient are amusing.

So much has changed, yet so much has remained the same. Crichton talks about the menace of software piracy when software was a $200 million market. Microsoft alone now sells $40 billion of software annually.

Yes, this book is a walk down memory lane. Still, an updated version wouldn't be a waste of time. There are still millions of people who don't understand the potential of their little computers.

Jerry

This book by Crichton is a amazing look into the modern electronic and computer age. Its concepts thoroughly summarize the benefits, drawbacks, and concerns of this age and leaves you thinking about what man has done in the past, today, and what he will do in the future when it comes to technology. It's a delightful, concise book and a must read. Also, Bantam Books, its publisher needs to reprint it.

I am the author of Ada, The Enchantress of Numbers and I am including this book in the bibliography of my forthcoming paper back. Crichton's book is a simple, super, guide to thinking in an electronic age. Please, please re publish it Bantam.

I agree with madrasi 100 percent. This book was out WAY before anyone knew what the internet was. The fellow beneath madrasi seems to not pay attention, or it just dosent matter to him. I have to stress that Crichton in my opinion is as much a philosopher as he is a doctor, or writer. You can really see these traits come out in his non fiction work.

This book has nothing to do with anything. Once again, Crichton wants to make money. All he did was write a few hundred pages of basic common sense and stretched it out to look all technical and intelligent. We all have these ideas in our mind already, we don't need someone to repeat them to us. This is pure silliness.