Before the Computer [Paperback]

James W. Cortada (Author)

Book Description

Series: Princeton Studies in Business and Technology | Publication Date: March 20, 2000

Before the Computer fully explores the data processing industry in the United States from its nineteenth-century inception down to the period when the computer became its primary tool. As James Cortada describes what was once called the "office appliance industry," he challenges our view of the digital computer as a revolutionary technology. Cortada interprets reliance on computers as a development within an important segment of the American economy that was earlier represented largely by such instruments as typewriters, tabulating machines, adding machines, and calculators. He also describes how many of the practices of the office appliance industry evolved into those of the computer world. Drawing on previously unavailable industry archives, the author adds to our understanding of IBM's early history and offers short corporate histories of firms that include NCR, Burroughs, and Remington Rand. Focusing on the United States but also including comparative material on Europe and Asia, Before the Computer will be a unique source of knowledge about the companies that built office equipment and their enormous impact on economic life.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The punch-card era was brief, but Cortada, a former IBM executive and prolific writer on data processing, finds it remarkably predictive of today's computer industry. He focuses on business structures and marketing practices developed for card equipment, typewriters, calculators, and other office machines and gives extensive, if dry, detail on the financial and distribution sides of the industry. Short corporate histories are featured on NCR, Burroughs, and Remington Rand, and individual industry achievers such as Thomas Watson are also profiled at length, though exclusively through their business personae. For business history collections. (Index not seen.)-- Justine Roberts, Mill Valley, Cal.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Easily the best attempt to date to integrate the present-day computer industry with its office machine past. It is strongly recommended as a significant contribution to the literature of the history of computing and the information handling industries." -- Martin Campbell-Kelly, Business History

"This beautifully produced book ... makes an essential contribution to the history of data processing and computing. Its data alone should make the book a basic reference for scholars." -- Steven W. Usselman, American Scientist

This beautifully produced book ... makes an essential contribution to the history of data processing and computing. Its data alone should make the book a basic reference for scholars. -- Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 376 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (March 20, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691050457
• ISBN-13: 978-0691050454
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,530,150 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was trained as an historian with a Ph.D. in modern history, but have spent nearly 40 years at IBM in sales and consulting and am the author of a dozen books on European history and two dozen on the history of information technologies and another dozen on business management. My interests are largely around the role of information in moder societies: use, managemnt, and history. I am currently writing a global history of how computing spread around the world so fast and am publishing a book on how historians think with a lot of my experiences, called Hunting for History. I just did a book on the role of information as THE thing businesses do, make, and worry about, called Information and the Modern Corporation. It was a lot of fun to write and is intended for everyone.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Before the Computer, November 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Before the Computer (Hardcover)

As a graduate instructor for technology courseware I was please to find such a good resource for the history of the computer industry. This is a great resource for those in the industry who wish to learn more about the early evolution of computers. It also captures the length that our society has used computers and puts a framework around what people "think" is a 10 - 20 year old industry. It definately should be a part of anyone's library who has a role in the computer industry and wishes to understand the past and how it relates to the future.