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This Paperback Book was reviewed on 10-Oct-2008.
Search ISBN:B000H2MIM4 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. Computer: A History of the Information Machine (The Sloan Technology Series) Reference Book. Classifications : General Reference Subjects Books Paperback Mass Market Trade Binding (binding) Refinements Books Printed Books Format (feature_browse-bin) Refinements Books . Click the following link to view the cover of Computer: A History of the Information Machine (The Sloan Technology Series). Related topics: General. Reference. Subjects. Books. Paperback. Mass Market. Trade. Binding (binding). Refinements. Books. requestid: 47378253-c98f-4cf0-a4ba-63369e7b536e
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1) Paperback Book Computer: A History of the Information Machine (The Sloan Technology Series) by . These comments are based on the 1st edition, published in 1996.
This book is an excellent overview of the history of the computer, from its precursors, to its invention, to the first personal computers, and to the inception of the World Wide Web upon the backbone of the Internet. It is an overview, a first look: not in any sense whatsoever is it a detailed study of the development of the computer. It is a comfortable place to begin and does not pretend to be anything else.¤ 2) Paperback Book Computer: A History of the Information Machine (The Sloan Technology Series) by . Campbell-Kelly and Aspray tackled an impossible problem and they did a credible job. They wrote a readable historic narrative spanning more than 100 years, including the major developments leading to the creation of the first programmable electronic computers in the mid 20th century and the subsequent 50 years of development leading to personal computers and the Internet explosion. This book capably captures much of the flavor of the developing industry and it´s not as dry as one Amazon reviewer might have you think. It isn´t larded with a ton of esoteric technical specifications that merely bore the casual reader. I read the first edition and it contained a few blatant technical errors. Mistaking the 32-bit Motorola 68000 microprocessor, circa 1979, for the 8-bit Motorola 6800 microprocessor, circa 1975, and misidentifying the 6502 microprocessor vendor MOS Technology as MOSTEK (two completely different companies) are two errors that I recall seeing. I hope these errors are corrected in the newer second edition. On the whole, I liked this historical overview very much.
Note that this books serves as an excellent handbook and guide to the computers and other artifacts on display at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. Although the book was written before the current museum was established, its chapters closely parallel the historic timeline formed by the museum´s aisles of computing artifacts, from the early mechanical calculators and punched-card machines through ENIAC, SAGE, and onwards to the personal computer. Many of the developments discussed in the book, spanning hundreds of years of work, are on display in the museum.¤ 3) Paperback Book Computer: A History of the Information Machine (The Sloan Technology Series) by . This book is a very well-written history of the essential phases of how computing and computers developed into what dominates today. It shows not only the "Museum" aspects of the inventions but gives also good deal of information about the settings of the situations in which the developments took place.
One slight drawback might be some missing focal points to the European part of the history.¤ 4) Paperback Book Computer: A History of the Information Machine (The Sloan Technology Series) by . There are countless books covering the PC revolution from about the 1970´s and onwards, but not very many that carefully cover the saga of the 1800´s and onward! This book does an excellent job at capturing what happened in the realm of computing from Babbage´s work all the way up to what began the downfall of the mainframe to the minis.¤ 5) Paperback Book Computer: A History of the Information Machine (The Sloan Technology Series) by . As a kid, I read this book over and over, soaking up the volumes of information. The reading is pretty dry, but the story covered is fascinating. Perhaps one thing that made it interesting was reading about the person who bought it for me - my grandfather. He was pleased with how he had been interviewed and, of course, thought they could have said more about his area of study!¤ 6) Paperback Book Computer: A History of the Information Machine (The Sloan Technology Series) by . Blending strong narrative history and a fascinating look at the interface of business and technology, Computer: A History of the Information Machine traces the dramatic story of the invention of the computer. More than just the tale of a tool created by scientists to crunch numbers, this book suggests a richer story behind the computer’s creation, one that shows how business and government were the first to explore the unlimited potential of the machine as an information processor. Not surprisingly, at the heart of the business story is IBM. A story of old-fashioned entreprenuership in symbiotic relationship with scientific know-how, it begins way back when ”computers” were people who did the computational work of scientists, and Charles Babbage attempted in vain to mechanize the process. But it also shows how entrepreneurs like Herman Hollerith, seeing a business opportunity in a machine that could mechanically tabulate the U.S. census, created a punched-card tabulator that became the technology that created IBM.The authors show how ENIAC, the first fully electronic computer, emerged out of the wartime need of the military for computers that performed at lightning speed and did not need human intervention at any stage of the process. Most interesting is the story of how the computer began to reshape broad segments of our society when the PC enabled new modes of computing that liberated people from dependence on room-sized, enormously expensive mainframe computers. Filled with lively insights—many about the world of computing in the 1990s, such as the strategy behind Microsoft Windows—as well as a discussion of the rise and creation of the World Wide Web, here is a book no one who owns or uses a computer will want to miss. ¤7) Paperback Book Computer: A History of the Information Machine (The Sloan Technology Series) by . This history of the computer explores the roots of the industry´s phenomenal development, tracing not only the development of the machine itself--beginning with Charles Babbage´s well-known 1883 mechanical prototype--but also chronicling the effects of manufacturing and sales innovations by such companies as Remington and National Cash Register that made the boom possible. The authors recount the transition from slow mechanical computers to the vacuum-tubed electronic computers, ENIAC and EDVAC, pioneered by a team led by mathematician John von Neumann during World War II. Later innovations made the computer a mass-market item, and now, the authors suggest, freedom of access to the technology is constrained only by the imperative of computer companies to make money.¤ Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 7-Nov-2008, , 380-500-900-340-2X0-740-730-740-B6B-M4B-8 
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