Top Selected Products and Reviews
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1.
- In Stock.
List Price: $16.95 Price: $11.10 You Save: $5.85 (35%) "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.(19) -
2.
- May take an extra 1-2 days to ship.
List Price: $29.99 Price: $14.96 You Save: $15.03 (50%) "fantastic read" - By Amazon Customer
I've been programming for about 10 years at this point. I started as a lowly Web Designer fresh out of High School and through a series of jobs, opportunities, necessity, and general interest in computers I've become a full time developer working in a multitude of languages for the past 8 years. Initially I had worked in higher level languages, as I learned more and more about how they worked I drilled down through the various aspects of computers (reverse engineering, understanding assembly, etc.) but I didn't really have a firm grasp on hardware. My learning preference is to start and the basics and work my way up adding layers of knowledge on layers of previous knowledge, it helps me visualize and understand abstracts more easily. I'd started reading some Electrical Engineering books, basic circuits, understanding Voltage, Current, Resistance, Ohms, Capacitors, Circuit Diagrams, etc. But ... full review(368) -
3.
- In Stock.
List Price: $17.99 Price: $10.12 You Save: $7.87 (44%) "This book covers a lot of territory ~ Very well written & easy to follow" - By Expressed Reviews
This rather large book does a wonderful job at reviewing the history of computing. It starts several centuries back and proceeds to the present age. While it may not satisfy the die-hard computer geek, it does fill an important need for the majority of people who want to know the origins of the computer and the Information Age. It goes into detail about the introduction of ENIAC just after World War II, and how one of its first programs was a study of the feasibility of the hydrogen bomb. It covers the advent of the Internet in detail and provides a great deal of information on topics that most layman wouldn't have known about.
I've read all of Walter Isaacson's books and thoroughly enjoyed this latest addition. He writes with conviction and provides superb insight, obviously spending a great deal of time researching and editing prior to releasing each ... full review(990) -
4.
- May take an extra 1-2 days to ship.
List Price: $29.00 Price: $21.01 You Save: $7.99 (28%) "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.(7) -
5.
"An initial history where it has been missing" - By T. Stewart (Auburn WA)
I decided to read this book because of a long-standing interest in computers and the science behind them, and I figured I should get to know how the whole industry got started. I feel this book (or really, a collection of essays) does a really good job of summarizing how the computer industry and the sience behind it got started.
The book makes an attempt to shape the history of computing, develop a history for computer software, and even explain the structure of computing in general.
A major theme from this book is "computing's presence in the humanities": "For much of common practice is undocumented, and yet it shapes what is documented." When people try to gather up the history on computer programming, there isn't much information or literature to go off of because programmers never documented their common practices. This was unfortunate, because there is a thick ... full review(1) -
6.
- In Stock.
List Price: $21.99 Price: $19.68 You Save: $2.31 (11%) "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) -
7.
- In Stock.
List Price: $17.00 Price: $9.87 You Save: $7.13 (42%) "A fascinating study of the history of cryptography, including Alan Turing's team cracking the German Enigma code during WWII" - By Bibliophile
A fascinating explanation of the history of cryptography. It includes the famous Enigma story of how Alan Turing and his brilliant team cracked the German code during WWII and then purposely did NOT avert a German attack on Allied naval ships in order to keep their discovery a secret, so the Germans would not change their code. Chapter 2 contains the story of the Beale treasure worth about $20 million in gold, silver, and jewels, and as yet undiscovered in Bedford County, Virginia. Chapter 5 details how the Allies used the Navajo code talkers to thwart the Japanese during WWII. The brilliant author writes in plain language for the lay reader. The book offers 10 cipher challenges with increasing difficulty. A very good book.(506) -
8.
- In Stock.
List Price: $44.00 Price: $36.74 You Save: $7.26 (17%) "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(10) -
9.
- In stock. Usually ships within 2 to 3 days.
List Price: $59.99 Price: $44.56 You Save: $15.43 (26%) "A welcome addition to the ongoing story of Ted Nelson" - By D. Kittrell (Seattle, WA USA)
Not a biography or even a bibliography this is an appreciation of Ted Nelson and his contributions. It offers a glimpse into some of what might have been had the world taken a different path on widespread public communications networking. Read Nelson's books (what, you haven't? and you call yourself a techie) and you'll understand more of the feelings expressed in this collection. Whatever your opinions of Nelson -- he's definitely a polarizing individual -- there's no doubt he had visionary ideas and brought together some concepts that are still fresh. Nicely put together book.(3) -
10.
- In Stock.
List Price: $40.00 Price: $35.99 You Save: $4.01 (10%) "very technical" - By Jeremy S. Kuris (Washington, DC USA)
This book is very technical, which is exactly what I was looking for. It is filled with architectual diagrams, opcodes, and even code fragments from the earliest computers. Some of these machines even predate World War 2.
The book opens with discussions on the taxonomy of these primordial computers. This section is the weakest part of the book. External references are mentioned, when they should have been described in detail. Another typical problem is on page 8, where a family tree is printed in a micro-fiche font.
The remainder of the book is divided into sections for the US, UK, Germany, and Japan. This is the bulk of the text, and the reason why you would want to buy it. I must stress again, that the articles are extremely technical. They will be hard to follow without a background in digital design, ... full review(7) -
11.
- In Stock.
List Price: $16.00 Price: $6.95 You Save: $9.05 (57%) "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(122) -
12.
- In Stock.
List Price: $16.00 Price: $14.49 You Save: $1.51 (9%) "Quick and entertaining tour" - By Gary Schroeder
"The Chip" attempts to pack a lot of history and a lot of ideas into a very short 260-odd pages. For the most part, it succeeds. The reader gets just enough history on boolean logic, Thomas Edison, and vacuum tubes to appreciate the astounding achievment of the first monolithic circuit without feeling overwhelmed by the technical details. But, this book is more than technological history; it also chronicles the personalities of the men who invented the machines, Kilby and (independently) Noyce. The politics of the chip are also covered, e.g., patent infringements (it took years to settle who invented the concept) and American efforts to beat back Japanese incursion into the chip market in the 1970s and 80s.
The depth of the treatments of all of these subjects is just enough to tell you what you need to know about the major events and players, though I have to admit, ... full review(61)
