I’m indebted to many people who assisted me in various ways while I was working on Hackers. First, to the people who agreed to be interviewed for the book. Some were veterans of this sort of journalistic exchange; others had only spoken to interviewers on technical matters, and hadn’t spoken of the personal or philosophical nature of hacking before; others just hadn’t spoken to people like me. Almost all spoke freely and candidly; I think it not coincidental that hackers are as free in conversation, once they get started, as they are with sharing computer code. Many of the following consented to multiple interviews, and often follow-up calls to verify facts or clarify technical details.

My conversations with them were the backbone of the book, and I would like to thank, in alphabetical order, Arthur Abraham, Roe Adams, Bob Albrecht, Dennis Allison, Larry Bain, Alan Baum, Mike Beeler, Dorothy Bender, Bill Bennett, Chuck Benton, Bob and Carolyn Box, Keith Britton, Lois Britton, Bill Budge, Chuck Bueche, David Bunnell, Doug Carlston, Gary Carlston, Marie Cavin, Mary Ann Cleary, Bob Clements, Tracy Coats, David Crane, Edward Currie, Rick Davidson, Bob Davis, Jack Dennis, Peter Deutsch, Steve Dompier, John Draper, Dan Drew, Mark Duchaineau, Les Earnest, Don Eastlake, Doug Englebart, Chris Espinosa, Lee Felsenstein, LeRoy Finkel, Howard Franklin, Bob Frankston, Ed Fredkin, Gordon French, Martin Garetz, Harry Garland, Richard Garriott, Lou Gary, Bill Gates, Bill Godbout, Vincent Golden, Dave Gordon, Ralph Gorin, Dan Gorlin, Bill Gosper, Richard Greenblatt, Margaret Hamilton, Eric Hammond, John Harris, Brian Harvey, Ted Hoff, Kevin Hunt, Chris Iden, Jerry Jewell, Robert Kahn, David Kidwell, Gary Kildall, Tom Knight, Joanne Koltnow, Alan Kotok, Marc LeBrun, Bob Leff, Mike Levitt, Efrem Lipkin, David Lubar, Olaf Lubeck, John McCarthy, John McKenzie, Robert Maas, Patricia Mariott, Bob Marsh, Roger Melen, Jude Milhon, Marvin Minsky, Fred Moore, Stewart Nelson, Ted Nelson, Jim Nitchals, Russ Noftsker, Kenneth Nussbacher, Rob O’Neal, Peter Olyphant, Adam Osborne, Bill Pearson, Tom Pittman, Larry Press, Malcolm Rayfield, Robert Reiling, Randy Rissman, Ed Roberts, Steve Russell, Peter Samson, Bob Saunders, Warren Schwader, Gil Segal, Vic Sepulveda, David Silver, Dan Sokol, Les Solomon, Marty Spergel, Richard Stallman, Jeff Stephenson, Ivan Strand, Jay Sullivan, Dick Sunderland, Gerry Sussman, Tom Tatum, Dick Taylor, Robert Taylor, Dan Thompson, Al Tommervik, Margot Tommervik, Mark Turmell, Robert Wagner, Jim Warren, Howard Warshaw, Joseph Weizenbaum, Randy Wigginton, John Williams, Ken Williams, Roberta Williams, Terry Winograd, Donald Woods, Steve Wozniak, and Fred Wright.

I would like to particularly thank those of the above who gave me extraordinary amounts of attention, people who include (but are not limited to) Lee Felsenstein, Bill Gosper, Richard Greenblatt, Peter Samson, Ken Williams, and Roberta Williams.

During the course of my research I was benefited by the hospitality of institutions that included the MIT Computer Science Library, the Stanford Library, the Computer Museum, the Lawrence Hall of Science, and the University of California Library.

On my travels to California and Cambridge, I benefited from the hospitality of Phyllis Coven, Art Kleiner, Bill Mandel, and John Williams. Lori Carney and others typed up thousands of pages of transcripts. Viera Morse’s exacting copy editing kept me linguistically honest. Magazine editors David Rosenthal and Rich Friedman gave me work that kept me going. Good advice was given by fellow computer scribes Doug Garr, John Markoff, Deborah Wise, and members of the Lunch Group. Support and cheerleading came from my parents, my sister Diane Levy, friends Larry Barth, Bruce Buschel, Ed Kaplan, William Mooney, Randall Rothenberg, David Weinberg, and many others—they know who they are—who will have to accept this insufficient mention.

The book was also a product of the enthusiasm and patience of my agent, Pat Berens, and my editor, James Raimes, who encouraged me mightily. Those terms also apply to Teresa Carpenter, who coped magnificently with the book and its author through the long process of research and writing.

Finally, thanks to Steve Wozniak for designing that Apple II on which I wrote the book. Had it not been for the revolution which I address in Hackers, my labors might have continued for another year, just to get a clean draft out of my typewriter.