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theseventhl's review
5.0
It feels like this took me a million years to read, but I'm glad I stuck with it. Dense with information, it really blew my mind how much PLATO did before anyone else, and the community it built among its users, both in Champaign-Urbana and around the world. I'm probably biased for this since I'm currently a UIUC graduate student and barely a stone's throw away from such monuments to PLATO like the Power House and CSL, but I'd highly recommend this to anyone interested in computing history and the connective power of computers and a bunch of programming nerds sitting around monitors late at night, drinking Mountain Dew and playing Airfight. Also, it's hard to hate a book which features a cameo from Leonard Nimoy himself.
linesuponapage's review
4.0
The Friendly Orange Glow by Brian Dear. My father was a computer programmer and his first use of the computer systems was PLATO and NovaNET as part of his training to work with different platforms and be able to solve other people’s porblems. I was blessed to have one of the first in-home computer units as a young child because of his job (we were the envy of the neighborhood, no one had ever seen these monstrosities before!
I was really excited to read this book, because of our family history with computers and networking. Sadly, I was unable to finish the book., The only reason I was unable to finish this book was in the middle of the book there was too much weaving in and out of the timelines and many repeats of history, which made me want to throw the modern day representation of those huge computers of learning—my iPad at the wall. It was too much repeating for me and I lost patience.
Thanks for the opportunity to read the portion of the book I did read.
We all owe B.F. Skinner for the wonder we have In our lives for computer use while learning even in lieu of the education systems till not grasping the proper use of his vision.
My early love of gaming started young, I appreciate the opportunity to feel a connection to some of the history in the book. While as a college student, I used numerous Pearson programs. I appreciate Mr. Dear for taking upon himself the challenge of learning about PLATO and telling the PLATO story so we can all learn about an integral component in our lives and show us the past where computing has been in existence for much longer than most people ever knew.
I give this book a rating of 3/5 stars.
I was given this book by Penquin’s First to Read for my honest review. Thank, Penquin Random House!
* I finally finished the book. It was better than I originally rated it. I know give it a 4/5 stars.
I was really excited to read this book, because of our family history with computers and networking. Sadly, I was unable to finish the book., The only reason I was unable to finish this book was in the middle of the book there was too much weaving in and out of the timelines and many repeats of history, which made me want to throw the modern day representation of those huge computers of learning—my iPad at the wall. It was too much repeating for me and I lost patience.
Thanks for the opportunity to read the portion of the book I did read.
We all owe B.F. Skinner for the wonder we have In our lives for computer use while learning even in lieu of the education systems till not grasping the proper use of his vision.
My early love of gaming started young, I appreciate the opportunity to feel a connection to some of the history in the book. While as a college student, I used numerous Pearson programs. I appreciate Mr. Dear for taking upon himself the challenge of learning about PLATO and telling the PLATO story so we can all learn about an integral component in our lives and show us the past where computing has been in existence for much longer than most people ever knew.
I give this book a rating of 3/5 stars.
I was given this book by Penquin’s First to Read for my honest review. Thank, Penquin Random House!
* I finally finished the book. It was better than I originally rated it. I know give it a 4/5 stars.
errspace's review
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
Interesting to read about a period in computing history I was totally ignorant of. The history of the device itself and the technical innovation that went into it was fascinating. But there was too much detail on individuals and particular games/applications, it could easily be a third shorter.
chris_nz's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
5.0
What a fantastic book! I had never heard of PLATO before I read this - someone in a forum discussion mentioned it. I listened to this while walking my dog each day and became completely engrossed in it. The idea there was a massive network of terminals with touchscreen plasma screens with 512x512 pixels of graphics in 1974, one year before I was even born, blows my mind!
Then about 3/4 of the way through, I discovered that there is a PLATO system running online (on a simulated CDC sitting on top of a Sun box or something like that) that you can connect to (at cyber1.org), and it has all the games, notes and a ton of the courses that are discussed in this book. I just about squeed when I discovered this, now I can play MORIA or Airfight for real, and it just brings the whole thing to life for me. I listened to the audiobook but I might have to buy an ebook copy and read the chapters that talk about MORIA while playing the actual game. It's so frickin exciting! lol
For anyone who has any interest in early computing I would absolutely recommend this book.
Then about 3/4 of the way through, I discovered that there is a PLATO system running online (on a simulated CDC sitting on top of a Sun box or something like that) that you can connect to (at cyber1.org), and it has all the games, notes and a ton of the courses that are discussed in this book. I just about squeed when I discovered this, now I can play MORIA or Airfight for real, and it just brings the whole thing to life for me. I listened to the audiobook but I might have to buy an ebook copy and read the chapters that talk about MORIA while playing the actual game. It's so frickin exciting! lol
For anyone who has any interest in early computing I would absolutely recommend this book.
docjh's review
5.0
I had never heard of PLATO which foreshadowed much of contemporary network and social technology in the 1960s-80s. Engrossing and surprising tech history.
kefkataran's review
3.0
Quarantine book #1
I picked away at this over the course of a year but sat down and blasted through the last half in the past couple weeks. A very dense, deep exploration of one of the earliest forgotten mainframe computer systems. The PLATO system was really ahead of its time, and Brian Dear does a great job of both getting into the nitty gritty and providing really entertaining anecdotes.
Also provided some great info on what are probably the earliest role-playing video games ever made. Technically that means this counts as work.
I picked away at this over the course of a year but sat down and blasted through the last half in the past couple weeks. A very dense, deep exploration of one of the earliest forgotten mainframe computer systems. The PLATO system was really ahead of its time, and Brian Dear does a great job of both getting into the nitty gritty and providing really entertaining anecdotes.
Also provided some great info on what are probably the earliest role-playing video games ever made. Technically that means this counts as work.
thomcat's review
3.0
Started this thick volume on April 1, and had to check twice to make sure I wasn't being fooled. This is the story of computing both ahead of it's time and mostly ignored by the mainstream. The information is interesting, if too complete, and the history scattered at times.
The first 200 pages are an excellent history of the PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations) terminal and the principal figures. Just the right amount of technical detail balances with history and even philosophy (of education). The next few hundred pages rambles some, covering a lot of territory. Topics such as games and network communities are discussed with relevance to PLATO. Firm editing and a few less anecdotes may have helped here.
The final section of the book covers the inevitable downfall of the company and the terminal, for a variety of reasons. The investments in Russia and Iran were unpredictably poorly timed, the overpricing of new hardware could have been avoided, but in reality the juggernaut of personal computers would have been impossible to avoid. The author clearly has some strong feelings about this topic. The book then concludes with some short bios of famous names connected to PLATO and an extensive bibliography and index.
I liked it and learned a lot. It is comparable to Stephen Levy's [b:Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution|56829|Hackers Heroes of the Computer Revolution|Steven Levy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1435697935s/56829.jpg|1407224] and Walter Isaacson's [b:The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution|21856367|The Innovators How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution|Walter Isaacson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1410191571s/21856367.jpg|41129225].
The first 200 pages are an excellent history of the PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations) terminal and the principal figures. Just the right amount of technical detail balances with history and even philosophy (of education). The next few hundred pages rambles some, covering a lot of territory. Topics such as games and network communities are discussed with relevance to PLATO. Firm editing and a few less anecdotes may have helped here.
The final section of the book covers the inevitable downfall of the company and the terminal, for a variety of reasons. The investments in Russia and Iran were unpredictably poorly timed, the overpricing of new hardware could have been avoided, but in reality the juggernaut of personal computers would have been impossible to avoid. The author clearly has some strong feelings about this topic. The book then concludes with some short bios of famous names connected to PLATO and an extensive bibliography and index.
I liked it and learned a lot. It is comparable to Stephen Levy's [b:Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution|56829|Hackers Heroes of the Computer Revolution|Steven Levy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1435697935s/56829.jpg|1407224] and Walter Isaacson's [b:The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution|21856367|The Innovators How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution|Walter Isaacson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1410191571s/21856367.jpg|41129225].