The Computer-My Life [Hardcover]

Konrad Zuse (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0387564535 | ISBN-13: 978-0387564531 | Publication Date: August 1993

Zuse is one of the great pioneers of the computer age. He created the first stored-program computer in 1941 and continued to build machines for a quarter century, as well as writing books and articles. This is his autobiography--full of fascinating details of his life, work, and philosophy.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Personal computers didn't appear until the 1970s, but as early as 1941, the first automated, program-controlled, and freely programmable computer was up and running. The Computer-- My Life is the story of Konrad Zuse and his revolutionary invention--the computer (or mechanical brain as he liked to call it), which Zuse built in his parents' living room. Zuse writes his autobiography simply and directly to be accessible to a wide audience of non-technophiles and includes hand-drawn diagrams of computer functions, as well as cartoons from his younger years when he dreamed of becoming an artist. The book also includes appendices with detailed technical information for the more technical reader.

Language Notes

Text: German --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 243 pages
• Publisher: Springer-Verlag (August 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387564535
• ISBN-13: 978-0387564531
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,114,273 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Critical for an understanding of the hist. of computers, April 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Computer-My Life (Hardcover)

Zuse explains how and why he build the world's first computer. Easy to understand, but not belittling. This book is essential for anyone interested in the history of CS.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the few imporant biographies of the 20th century., June 30, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Computer-My Life (Hardcover)

This book and its author are just amazing. Konrad Zuse is definitly a unique character and so is his story of the invention of the FIRST computer during World War II in Berlin.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding & Only Autobiography By First Generation Computer Pioneer, November 18, 2010

By 

Ira Laefsky "Ira Laefsky" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Computer - My Life (Paperback)

This autobiography, the only one by a first generation computer constructor is fascinating in several respects. First, Konrad Zuse working in almost total intellectual isolation (from the mainstream US and UK efforts in calculator/computer development) between 1936 and 1945 developed one of the most sophisticated and Turing-complete computers prior to ENIAC and most other US efforts (the only other comparable binary computer--of more limited capacity--at the time was the Antanasoff-Berry Computer at Iowa State University). Secondly, unlike other computer pioneers of that era he was an artist and mechanical/civil engineer rather than a physicist, mathematician or electrical engineer, and his artistic and mechanical studies strongly influenced this development. Also, we have no autobiography of Mauchly, Eckert, Antanasoff, Turing, or Aiken giving their personal reminiscences of that pioneering era in computation. Finally, beside being a pioneer in computer construction he, Zuse, formally specified the first higher-level computer language the Plankalkul between 1941 and 1945. This specification although theoretical was sufficiently complete that the Free University of Berlin implemented it in 2000. Zuse is also known as a pioneer in suggesting later in 1967 that the universe is a computational process occurring in physical space, a theory later espoused by Edward Fredkin and Stephen Wolfram.

The personal and technical story of a long and productive life is fascinatingly told in this outstanding autobiography.

---Ira Laefsky, MSE/MBA
Information Technology Consultant formerly on the Senior Staff of Arthur D. Little, Inc. and Digital Equipment Corporation