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I loaned the book from Uxbridge town library, Middlesex, UK in autumn 1988. I read (but never finished) the book in the 1980's where a man has dreams to build a computer. He draws all the schematics and builds it.

On powering it up he asks the question - Who Are You? (Or something like that.)

The computer replies that it is Satan, the Devil, Lucifer, or some-such.

The book goes on but I never finished it.

Does anyone happen to know the name and author of this book?

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  • When you say the man "has dreams" of building a computer, are you speaking figuratively, or do you mean the plans for the computer literally come to him in his sleep? Was the computer handheld or desktop size, or did it fill a big room? Did the man build the computer at home, or at work in some industrial or government laboratory?
    – user14111
    Commented Oct 24, 2017 at 20:53
  • The man dreamt the schematics while he was asleep. I think it was a desktop sized computer. And I think he built it at home, possibly having obtained the hardware and components from his work. I say "I think" because I can't be definite.
    – Jordan Walters
    Commented Oct 25, 2017 at 18:37
  • I too am hunting for this author. The chunky paperback I had, late '80s, had a bright red cover with 'Satan' in large letters. I vaguely recall the story had some sex scene in it involving the actual computer.
    – Froglet
    Commented Oct 15, 2021 at 15:05
  • Are you certain it's not FuzzyBoots' suggestion? The Wikipedia description of the book's Dr. Leo Szlyck character seems to match.
    – Ayshe
    Commented Apr 28, 2022 at 7:39
  • Yes, absolutely positive it is not that book, confirmed when I read the Wikipedia description. Thank you for taking the time to answer.
    – Jordan Walters
    Commented May 1, 2022 at 9:45

2 Answers 2

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Could it be Satan: His Psychotherapy and Cure by the Unfortunate Dr. Kassler, J.S.P.S. by Jeremy Leven?

Alas, poor Satan. He's not happy. No one seems to like or understand him; people have got him all wrong. And his relationship with God is a hostile one. Unloved and misunderstood, he's come back to Earth in search of a psychotherapist; he's prepared- if cured- to deliver the all-important Great Answer.In Jeremy Leven's wildly original comic novel, we follow the Prince of Darkness through his seven amazing therapy sessions. And we watch him grow increasingly well adjusted while his therapist, the unfortunate Dr. Kassler, descends deeper and deeper into hell.

It was published in 1982 and some of the reviews mention that Satan manifests on a computer.

No one has ever done a subtler or a more devastating send up of the psychiatric/psychology industry, nor have many been able to insinuate sly philosophical digressions into a frothing satiric text with such grace and pacing. This satan, faceless, locking himself inside a computer in a public gallery, has the charm to coax a snake out of new skin. The complications are wonderfully wild and orchestrated, and Kassler's travails as a single dad trying to rekindle a relationship with his children are heart breaking as they are potently hilarious.

If so, I found it by searching for book man dreams of computer named satan

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  • Thank you. Yes, I have come across that book. And bought it although I cannot lay my hands on it at home. But it is not the one I am searching for. I am beginning to wonder if I didn't dream the book myself.
    – Jordan Walters
    Commented Oct 24, 2017 at 13:26
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    @JordanWalters Whatever you do, don't try to re-create what you're dreaming about!
    – Steve-O
    Commented Oct 25, 2017 at 0:17
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Is it the book “The God Machine” (1968) by Martin Caidin?

Set in the near future, the novel tells the story of a top-secret cybernetic technician, Steve Rand, one of the brains behind Project 79, a top-secret US government project dedicated to creating artificial intelligence. Rand survives an attempt on his life before he realizes that Project 79 has gained sentience and is trying to control the minds of humans and take over the world. Assisted by a security agent and a mathematician, Rand sets out to destroy Project 79 before it is too late.

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    You could improve this answer by editing it to explain how The God Machine matches the OP's description of the book they were looking for. It'd help other users (and possibly the OP themselves) decide how likely it is to be the correct answer.
    – LogicDictates
    Commented Oct 7 at 23:13
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    I can't find anything in the book that meets the description. The computer doesn't refer to itself as Satan or Lucifer or The Devil, indeed its primary failing as a thinking entity is its incapacity to lie.
    – Valorum
    Commented Oct 8 at 1:41

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