{"product_id":"tools-for-thought-the-history-and-future-of-mind-expanding-technology-9780262681155","title":"Tools for Thought: The History and Future of Mind-Expanding Technology","description":"\u003cb\u003eIn a highly engaging style, Rheingold tells the story of what he calls the patriarchs, pioneers, and infonauts of the computer, focusing in particular on such pioneers as J. C. R. Licklider, Doug Engelbart, Bob Taylor, and Alan Kay.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe digital revolution did not begin with the teenage millionaires of Silicon Valley, claims Howard Rheingold, but with such early intellectual giants as Charles Babbage, George Boole, and John von Neumann. In a highly engaging style, Rheingold tells the story of what he calls the patriarchs, pioneers, and infonauts of the computer, focusing in particular on such pioneers as J. C. R. Licklider, Doug Engelbart, Bob Taylor, and Alan Kay. Taking the reader step by step from nineteenth-century mathematics to contemporary computing, he introduces a fascinating collection of eccentrics, mavericks, geniuses, and visionaries.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe book was originally published in 1985, and Rheingold's attempt to envision computing in the 1990s turns out to have been remarkably prescient. This edition contains an afterword, in which Rheingold interviews some of the pioneers discussed in the book. As an exercise in what he calls \"retrospective futurism,\" Rheingold also looks back at how he looked forward.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHoward Rheingold, an influential writer and thinker on social media, is the author of \u003ci\u003eTools for Thought: The History and Future of Mind-Expanding Technology\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier\u003c\/i\u003e (both published by the MIT Press), and \u003ci\u003eSmart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50872499470610,"sku":"9780262681155","price":54.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_8fed7a40-39e9-462a-bbc5-e3e77fca6339.jpg?v=1737900052","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/tools-for-thought-the-history-and-future-of-mind-expanding-technology-9780262681155","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}