Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age

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.

As a technical participant in the Xerox Star commercialization effort, I worked with many of the PARC researchers described here. Hiltzik tells a very balanced and nuanced story that certainly captures the concepts, dynamics, and conflicts of that time. One can quibble with whether the participants' recollections are always fair, but Hiltzik's story about these exciting times is basically accurate with respect to the personalities and events that I knew, and he fills in a wealth of background and details that I didn't know.

This book corrects a lot of misinformation about PARC research and Xerox commercialization efforts. It is a good read for anybody interested in the history of technology. It should be required reading for everybody in research management--for many examples of what to do and what not to do. This history should also be read by anyone who believes another big leap in software technology can be achieved while research funding is cut back, universities are drained of their talent, and almost everyone competitively focuses on six month commercialization goals.


A gripping tale about historic computing research.   March 26, 1999
James J. Horning (Palo Alto, CA USA)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

If you read only one book about research management, researchers, or computing research this year, this is the one to read.

Dealers of Lightning is the story of the seminal first 13 years of Xerox's famed Palo Alto Research Center, a period in which PARC developed laser printers, the ethernet, internets, networked personal computers, the client-server model, bitmap displays, icons and graphical user interfaces, the desktop metaphor and overlapping windows, and various other foundations of the computing world as we know it today. But this is not primarily a book about technology -- it is about the people who generated it: How they were brought together, how they interacted, and finally, how they dispersed.

Michael Hiltzik is a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, and he has clearly done his homework. He seems to have talked to all the major (and many of the minor) figures involved, read everything that has been written on the subject, and understood most of it. There are ample footnotes, source citations, glossary, and acknowledgements. Some of his accounts are as close to definitive as we are ever likely to see. For example, his story of the famous demos for Steve Jobs that had such an influence on the Lisa and the Macintosh (while recognizing that participants recollections conflict) has more information about them than I was able to gather while at PARC.

As an "unindicted co-conspirator," neither interviewed by Hiltzik, nor mentioned by name (although I was close to the epicenter for the last half of the book's time span), I have both inside information and personal biases. I spotted a few small factual errors, and in some cases my interpretation of events is different than Hiltzik's. Nevertheless, he has done an amazingly good job of capturing the gist. This book is more complete, more accurate, and more nuanced than Smith and Alexander's Fumbling the Future: How Xerox Invented, then Ignored, the First Personal Computer.

Hiltzik is an excellent writer, and the book is a page-turner (even when you know how it ends). The plot is gripping; the cast of characters large and interesting. Parts of the book are too incredible to be published as fiction. I stayed up well past my bedtime three different nights, repeatedly promising myself I'd read "just one more chapter."

My main complaint is that the book is so crowded with people and events that almost all the characters come out one-dimensional, often associated with a single recurring tag phrase. Bob Taylor at least gets a two-dimensional treatment, but it is too often through the eyes of his (numerous) enemies; the admiration and loyalty he inspired in many others is frequently remarked on, but never explained.

The book is littered with insights about research and technology transfer -- both from the characters in the book and from Hiltzik. There are stimulating comments on what worked, and what did not, and why. Of course, I don't agree with all of them, but formulating convincing counter-arguments can be quite challenging and instructive.

I particularly recommend the Epilogue, "Did Xerox Blow It?" Unfortunately, it really needs to be read in the context of the entire book. I first tried reading it out of order, and it didn't have the same force.

Hiltzik discusses fairly even-handedly Steve Jobs's claim that "Xerox could have owned the entire computer industry today. Could have been, you know, a company ten times its size. Could have been IBM--could have been the IBM of the nineties. Could have been the Microsoft of the nineties." After weighing the pros and cons, Hiltzik concludes that it's not clear that Xerox could have ridden the tiger to that kind of success -- even if it had avoided all its known blunders.

Hiltzik also points out that laser printing alone repaid the cost of PARC many times over, and that no company can expect to exploit every worthwhile thing that comes out of a research laboratory.


Fascinating account of the magic that took place   January 18, 2000
Robert A. Navarro (Bellevue, WA USA)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful

Michael Hiltzik has done an incredible job in describing the context of the environment and the dynamics of the personalities as they interacted in the birthplace of computing technology. All of the computer interfaces that we take for granted today were developed at PARC. Hiltzik weaves a tale of the evolution of the group of geniuses and the obstacles that they encountered in dealing with the hierarchy at Xerox headquarters. In many ways, the top management at Xerox was the forerunner of the "Dilbert Boss Syndrome"--a total lack of appreciation and knowledge of what was being developed by these research magicians. It is a story of a very unique period in the history of technology and is very similar to what took place during the Manhattan Project of the 1940's. I for one am glad that Mr. Hiltzik did not spend very much of the book in explaining the technology that was developed for that would have distracted from the account. He did describe the essence of what was being developed in a brief, very excellent and informational manner--enough to let the reader know its importance. The book represents a milestone in relating the events that have brought us to our present state in the computing industry. Kudos to Mr. Hiltzik for a fine job of writing!


Excellent history of a major player in computing history   June 28, 2005
Robert Pratte (charleston, il USA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

I found this an excellent, well-written overview of the history of Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). Not only are major players and products covered (the Alto, Smalltalk, Alan Kay), but the background and collateral history appears as well (DARPA, Vannevar Bush, J.C. Licklider, The Spacewar article in Rolling Stone). Much like Steven Levy's book Hackers, reading this book makes you feel like an expert, like you were there. Moreover, there is so much context and excitement, one feels compelled to find out more about the secondary characters mentioned. Fortunately, electronic copies of such seminal pieces as the Spacewar article and Bush's "As We May Think" essay are easily found online, making quick diversions into supplemental reading not only of interest, but also possible and highly recommended. That is the real beauty of this book: it provides enough information about other relevant topics without wandering too far down tangential paths. I really felt that I learned a lot by reading this book, and my learning wasn't limited to Xerox PARC.

That said, while there is a strong focus on the early history/founding of PARC, it seems that the more recent history is skimmed over if not omitted. After the rich background I encountered in the book's early chapters, I felt as if things were moving a bit fast in the later ones.

Bottom line: If you are interested in the history of computing then this is a must read book.