# The Dream Machine *By M. Mitchell Waldrop. Viking, 2001 (Sloan Technology Series).* > I did not read the whole book. The description and contents come from the Library of Congress contents page, the publishers and library listings, and a *Publishers Weekly* review. The author's background comes from his own CV and publisher biographies. I make no claims about specific passages. The source that mentioned it, the Doug Engelbart Institute's biography page, lists it only as further reading. ## 1. Book facts | | | |---|---| | Title | *The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing Personal* | | Author | M. Mitchell Waldrop | | Publisher | Viking (hardcover, August 2001). Penguin paperback 2002. Stripe Press edition 2018 | | ISBNs | Viking hardcover 9780670899760; Penguin paperback 9780142001356; Stripe Press 9781732265110 | | Pages | Viking hardcover 528 (*Publishers Weekly*, AbeBooks). The Penguin paperback is listed at 502 (Google Books) and 512 (Amazon). The Stripe Press edition is 528 and adds three Licklider texts | | LCCN | 2001017985 | | Language | English | **Where it came up.** One mention, in the "Selected reading" list: - [Doug Engelbart: Biography](https://www.dougengelbart.org/content/view/183/), a sourced biography compiled from the Doug Engelbart Institute, ACM and other published sources (note published 1 November 2026). The list puts Waldrop's book beside Howard Rheingold's *Tools for Thought* as "two other standard accounts". Vault note: [[Video Summaries/Doug Engelbart/Doug Engelbart - Biography]] ## 2. Book resources **Free (legal).** The book is in copyright; these are library routes only. - **Libby/OverDrive.** The Los Angeles Public Library catalog lists an ebook ([OverDrive record](https://www.overdrive.com/media/6144840)). You need a library card, and I did not check availability or wait times. Your own library may differ. - **Internet Archive controlled lending.** [dreammachinejcrl00wald](https://archive.org/details/dreammachinejcrl00wald) was listed as borrowable (free account needed). [dreammachinejcrl00waldrich](https://archive.org/details/dreammachinejcrl00waldrich) is flagged print-disabled. I did not open the borrow pages. - Open Library: [work OL15835908W](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15835908W) and [work OL4300550W](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL4300550W). I did not check Hoopla. **Paid.** - Publisher: [Stripe Press](https://press.stripe.com/the-dream-machine) (current edition). - Audiobook: [Audible](https://www.audible.com/pd/B07HYDBNYC) lists the book as read by Jamie Renell (as shown in an Audible search; I did not check the length or price). - Amazon and Kindle: [Penguin paperback page](https://www.amazon.com/Dream-Machine-Licklider-Revolution-Computing/dp/014200135X). I did not open it, so I have not checked price, stock or Kindle availability. - Used copies are widely listed (AbeBooks showed Viking hardcovers from about US$12 in a search snapshot). **Cover:** [Open Library cover image](https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/402828-L.jpg). ## 3. Author biography M. Mitchell Waldrop is a science writer and editor. He has a B.S. in mathematics (University of North Carolina, 1969), a Ph.D. in theoretical or elementary-particle physics (University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1975) and a master's in journalism (Wisconsin, 1977). He was a writer and West Coast bureau chief at *Chemical & Engineering News* (1977 to 1980), a senior writer at *Science* (1980 to 1991), a freelancer, a public affairs officer at the National Science Foundation (2003 to 2006), and an editor at *Nature* (2008 to 2016: editorial page editor, then features editor). His books are *Man-Made Minds* (1987, on artificial intelligence), *Complexity* (1992, on the Santa Fe Institute), *The Dream Machine* (2001) and *Cosmic Origins* (Springer, 2022). He lives in Washington, D.C. Sources: [his CV](https://sites.google.com/view/mmwaldrop/about); [Computer History Museum profile](https://computerhistory.org/profile/m-mitchell-waldrop/); [Pulitzer Center](https://pulitzercenter.org/people/m-mitchell-waldrop); [Springer author note](https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-98214-0). His CV calls the physics degree "theoretical physics"; the other sources say "elementary particle physics". ## 4. Author interviews and talks - **Luminary podcast, three parts (August 2021).** Hosts Erik Cederwall and Sachin Gandhi interview him about the book: [Part 1, 1940s to 1970s](https://luminary.fm/episode/mitch-waldrop-on-the-dream-machine-part-1-1940s-to-1970s/); [Part 2, 1980s to present](https://luminary.fm/episode/mitch-waldrop-on-the-dream-machine-part-2-1980s-to-present/); [Part 3, Licklider, Xerox PARC and TCP/IP](https://luminary.fm/episode/mitch-waldrop-on-the-dream-machine-part-3-jcr-licklider-xerox-parc-and-tcp-ip/). I read the episode descriptions only (the site blocked a direct fetch from my box), not the audio. ## 5. Summary **What the book is (publisher and review description).** A biography of J.C.R. "Lick" Licklider, the MIT psychologist who in 1962 took over a small office in the Pentagon's research agency and set out to use its money to make his vision of "human-computer symbiosis" real. The Viking jacket copy says he saw computers becoming "an exciting new medium of expression, a joyful inspiration to creativity, and a gateway to a vast on-line world of information". The book also runs through the wider history of modern computing, from the Second World War to Xerox PARC in the 1970s, the personal computer boom of the 1980s and the Internet boom of the 1990s. **Shape.** *Publishers Weekly* says Waldrop devotes "about 20%" of the book to Licklider himself and the rest to his teachers, colleagues and students at MIT and the Pentagon, including Douglas Engelbart, Wes Clark and Larry Roberts. It adds that Waldrop could not interview Licklider (he died in 1990) and mostly draws on secondary accounts. The reviewer judges the result "an informative and engaging history of computers from the 1930s to the 1970s", with emphasis on 1957 to 1968. **Chapter outline (page numbers from the Library of Congress contents page for this record, LCCN 2001017985, which I opened; they should match the 2001 Viking edition and may differ in other editions).** - Prologue: Tracy's Dad (p. 1) - 1. Missouri Boys (p. 7) - 2. The Last Transition (p. 24) - 3. New Kinds of People (p. 66) - 4. The Freedom to Make Mistakes (p. 99) - 5. The Tale of the Fig Tree and the Wasp (p. 142) - 6. The Phenomena Surrounding Computers (p. 196) - 7. The Intergalactic Network (p. 259) - 8. Living in the Future (p. 333) - 9. Lick's Kids (p. 411) - Then acknowledgments and notes (the LoC page does not give their pages). **Stripe Press edition.** Adds the original texts of three Licklider writings: "Man-Computer Symbiosis" (1960), the "Intergalactic Network" memo (1963) and "The Computer as a Communication Device" (1968, with Robert Taylor), per the Stripe Press and Google Books descriptions. **Reception.** A bookstore listing for the Penguin paperback quotes John Allen Paulos in the *New York Times Book Review* ("compelling") and John Seely Brown ("a masterpiece"). I did not find or read those reviews. The *Publishers Weekly* review quoted above is mixed to positive. **Why it is here.** The Engelbart biography note recommends it as a standard account of the people and funding behind interactive computing; Engelbart is one of the researchers the book covers. ## 6. Fact-check Overall verdict: **supported** for the publication facts; the description is the publisher's and reviewers', not my reading. | Claim | Verdict | Evidence | |---|---|---| | Viking, 2001, ISBN 9780670899760, 528 pages | Supported | *Publishers Weekly*; AbeBooks | | Penguin paperback 2002 is 502 or 512 pages | Disputed | Google Books says 502; Amazon says 512 | | Chapter titles and page numbers | Supported | Library of Congress contents page, opened | | About 20% of the book is about Licklider himself | Reviewer's claim | *Publishers Weekly* | | Waldrop did not interview Licklider (died 1990) | Supported | *Publishers Weekly* review; Licklider's death date is also on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._C._R._Licklider) | | Stripe Press edition adds three Licklider texts | Supported | Stripe Press site; Google Books | | Audible audiobook narrated by Jamie Renell | Partly supported | Audible search result; I did not read the full listing | | Waldrop's Ph.D. field | Disputed wording | CV says theoretical physics; publisher biographies say elementary particle physics | ## 7. Citations and references - [Library of Congress contents page, LCCN 2001017985](https://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/toc/fy031/2001017985.html) - [*Publishers Weekly* review](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780670899760) - [Stripe Press: The Dream Machine](https://press.stripe.com/the-dream-machine); [Google Books, 2018 edition](https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Dream_Machine.html?id=Hl2pugEACAAJ); [Google Books, Penguin edition](https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Dream_Machine.html?hl=&id=7HpQAAAAMAAJ) - [AbeBooks listing, Viking hardcover](https://www.abebooks.com/products/isbn/9780670899760) - Author: [CV](https://sites.google.com/view/mmwaldrop/about); [Computer History Museum](https://computerhistory.org/profile/m-mitchell-waldrop/); [Pulitzer Center](https://pulitzercenter.org/people/m-mitchell-waldrop); [Springer](https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-98214-0) - Interviews: the three Luminary episodes linked in section 4 - [Wikipedia: J. C. R. Licklider](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._C._R._Licklider) - Source: [Doug Engelbart: Biography](https://www.dougengelbart.org/content/view/183/)