Top Selected Products and Reviews
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1.
"Quick Romp Through Computer History" - By Andrew (Connecticut)
In our modern world, the presence of computers is everywhere and the rate of progress in the technology is blindingly fast. It is with a book like this that one can take a quick look at the amazing amount of progress in computing technology.
The book itself is mainly an illustrative look at computers rather than one information-heavy. The pictures and photographs that fill this book make it a pleasure just to thumb through. The whole history of computers is shown, starting in the beginning days with large, analog calculators and then into digital technology to our modern world of laptops and iPhones. How computers are used is also shown from applications in areas such as science, military, entertainment, and communications.
This book seems to be targeted for the very casual reader and does not offer much hard information. It makes a great coffee table book.
In ... full review(10) -
2.
- In Stock.
List Price: $17.99 Price: $6.00 You Save: $11.99 (67%) "Definitive Entry-Level Book for the History of the Technological Revolution (and the personalities who shaped it)" - By Alex Bush
The unquestionable master of Walter Isaacson on full display. As someone who has been around computers all his life but never understood how they worked or where they came from (I feel I'm in good company), this was the best entry level book I could have come across. Isaacson demonstrates a expert grasp on the technologies and personalities behind each major breakthrough of computer science/engineering, and successfully weaves each disconnected story into a common theme; namely, that although the personal genius of tech's supernovas was undeniable, they achieved their legacies through successful collaboration with other brilliant minds in their field.
Disclosure: The book is long and at times feels it's never going to end, but this is understandable given the amount of ground Isaacson ends up covering.(1,024) -
3.
- In Stock.
List Price: $15.95 Price: $11.64 You Save: $4.31 (27%) "Excellent account of computing history" - By Abdulilah Dewachi (Beirut, Lebanon)
I have lived and workrd through the varous stages of the development of computing. I enjoyed being reminded of its successes and failures throughout time.
delivery was as promised and on time.(23) -
4.
- Available for download now.
Price: $6.49 "Great Insight" - By dg
This was always going to be a big topic for any author to cover, given the speed and size of electronic and IT development in the last 80 or so years. However, as a concise and well researched history, The author gets it right throughout.
The book comprehensively covers all of the big milestones in computational machine development, the initial driver being number manipulation without constant human input. There's fascinating detail on the way early machines were developed by pioneers and academic institutions, then an exploration of the world of business and government progress with their large budgets.
There are great insights into the solid state and semi-conductor revolution, parallel computing, the big move into business and the route to today's desktop workstations. There are well placed, relevant illustrations throughout.
If you like a technical book but not overwhelmingly so, I'd recommend this one. If you were ... full review(4) -
5.
- In Stock.
List Price: $29.99 Price: $19.64 You Save: $10.35 (35%) "GREAT book!" - By Amanda
I've been programming for years now, but have never had a great understanding of what's really going on in a computer to make it work. Sure, I had the vague idea that there were lots of transistors, and components like RAM, ROM, operating systems, etc... but I had no understanding of how these components actually worked, or how they all tied in together. I've been meaning to really sit down and learn what's going on, but was overwhelmed by the magnitude of terms to look up.
Then came this book... This book is EXACTLY what I was looking for. Petzold builds gradually on each of his previous chapters, so all of the content is very understandable and accessible. He is very clear in his language and explanations, and I found it remarkably easy to follow. There were a few chapters (most toward the beginning) where I had trouble seeing ... full review(406) -
6.
- In Stock.
List Price: $44.00 Price: $39.60 You Save: $4.40 (10%) "Will use it in my class" - By Kindle Customer (Austin, TX United States)
After finding this in the eBook section of our University library, I decided to use it in my computer literacy class. It is a concise, well done history of the computer and the electronic world written in a way the non-technical student can understand. And, it is inexpensive!
Pat Gibson
Adjunct Lecturer
Texas State University(9) -
7.
- In Stock.
Price: $21.99 "Absolutely a wonderful trek down Memory Lane for anyone who purchased and programmed a pre-IBM PC!" - By David Ecale (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
A pretty good review of the rise of the Killer Micros and the unseating of the mainframe (and mini) computers that preceded them. For anyone who grew up learning about computers in the '70s & '80s, this will be a wonderful trek down Memory Lane (pun intended). The only bad part of the book is that it could not run through *everything*, and as such, while you will be treated to a great read, you will also be left wondering about some of the more obscure, but seminal, events of the era. (And, yes, I know, a 2000 page book wouldn't sell!)(6) -
8.
- In Stock.
List Price: $3.99 Price: $3.08 You Save: $0.91 (23%) "Finally a Kids Book telling about Important Women in Computer History" - By PVH Maryland (Silver Spring, MD)
Thank you Laurie Calkhoven for writing this book. More children need to know about these women who were not famous until they were quite old. Women do program computers and were in fact the first programmers.
So I have known this story my whole life because one of these women was my mother. We knew what she did, but the world didn’t know until 1985. If it had not been for Kathy Kleiman, these women’s story would never have been told. And Kathy had to dig for this story because the women themselves did not value their own work enough. Maybe it was because they grew up in a world that didn’t value the work they were doing. They were helping the war effort like so many other people. These “human computers” and then later the ENIAC programmers were treated as sub-professionals by ... full review(12) -
9.
- In Stock.
List Price: $16.00 Price: $9.28 You Save: $6.72 (42%) "Great book" - By Great Book
The book Where Wizards Stay up Late: The Origins of the Internet is a great read if you enjoy knowing the history of common place objects today. Personally I have always wondered how the World Wide Web came to be. It is so hard to believe that just forty-four years ago no one had a network to unite computers sitting right next to each other and in a few years' time computers were connects globally. The writing style of this book is very easy to follow and understand. Unlike most history books that are that dull and boring, Where Wizards Stay up Late: The Origins of the Internet is very entertaining. You feel connected to each person as the go through the process of trying to make their dreams a reality. The events are easy to picture and the people are real. The book is understandable and very easy to ... full review(120) -
10.
- In Stock.
List Price: $29.00 Price: $18.76 You Save: $10.24 (35%) "A Philosophical Approach" - By John Edwards (South Australia)
If you have been looking for a more academic approach to the history of computing then this is the book for you.
The book is divided into three parts. Part One contains a very comprehensive taxonomy/chronology showing the evolution of human number systems.
Part Two is where you will find the core "History of Computing" bit: tables, logarithms, analogue/digital, mechanical calculators, automatic calculation, electronic machines etc. It also includes an interleaved, and detailed, explanation of how computing has evolved from basic number crunching into abstract information processing.
Part Three reads like a long philosophical conclusion and contains some excellent material on ethics and artificial intelligence.(6) -
11.
- In Stock.
List Price: $45.00 Price: $29.35 You Save: $15.65 (35%) "A glimpse into the past" - By Christopher W Woods
The thesis of this book, which takes the format of a conversation between the authors, is that the history of painting is entwined with the history of photographic images. Simple as that sounds, it's an important contribution to our understanding of art history. Their conversation steers us through forgotten knowledge, and eventually brings us to the present, and a hopeful future of image making--all the while peppered with pictures in the way a lecture might be accomanied by slides.
Personally, I'm grateful for the effort to put this knowledge out there. Sure, there's no concensus on the authors' perspective of the history of pictures, but I find what they have to say very compelling. In terms of writing, the book can read a bit like an panel discussion at times; there's no back and forth or disagreement, it's just an accumulation of thoughts. That starts to get dry about ... full review(22) -
12.
- In Stock.
List Price: $17.99 Price: $15.61 You Save: $2.38 (13%) "Compelling history of technology story" - By Don DeLauder (Pittsburgh, PA)
I really enjoyed this book a lot. I've read some of the critique around the author's lack of understanding of the underlying technology and of software, in particular, but I think those are largely irrelevant points. This is a great story about people and also about the interaction between people and companies. I found it hard to put this book down.
I might have considered five stars, but the editing is appalling, actually. Also, I did find that the names and timelines started to get confusing and blurred quite a bit. A table or two would have been helpful. It may be that the problem is just that these are not included in the Kindle version, I don't know.(82) -
13.
- In Stock.
List Price: $25.95 Price: $22.06 You Save: $3.89 (15%) "Moving Innovation: A History of Computer Animation" - By chris willoughby
Easily one of the best non-fiction books I've read. Fascinating, thorough and full of interesting history and anecdotes, uncovering a history of CGI that goes back far longer than I imagined. Excellent work Tom Sito!(14)
