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Books on Computer History?

Posted by Cliff on from the tracking-progress dept.

catf00d asks: "My Dad has been in the computer biz since there was a computer biz. (He programmed the UNIVAC-1 and just retired from IBM.) For X-mas, I'd like to get him a book on the history of computers, so that he can see his place in the grand scheme. Can you guys recommend a good book?"

21 comments

  1. Hackers by m_evanchik · · Score: 2

    Hackers by Stephen Levy

    It's not as far reaching as you are looking for, but still a very good book. The title refers to the old-style hacker, one who likes to find out how things work, rather than the more malevolent cracker.

    Hackers outlines the desktop software development movement, starting from the halls of MIT to the early days of the PC. It's less a definitive history and more of an interesting story, but it definitely gives good perspective of how big computing movements develop from small beginnings.

    It was written over ten years ago, so it is not "up-to-date" but it is a great snapshot of the personalities involved at the start of the PC era.

    --

    evanchik.net

  2. this might be a good book by self+assembled+struc · · Score: 1
    Go to.



    It's more then the usual microsoft/apple stories, but also includes histories of some programming languages and stuff.



    if your dad is old-school he might actually remember a lot of the stuff that happened in this book.

    1. Re:this might be a good book by sigwinch · · Score: 2

      I second Go To. I haven't finished reading it yet, but it's got good material on the early development of modern computing. Definitely not the usual Sili Valley and/or Microsoft story.

      --

      --
      Kuro5hin.org: where the good times never end. ;-)

  3. Computer... by EnVisiCrypt · · Score: 1

    Computer - a history of the information machine by Martin Campbell-kelly and William Aspray is a great book.

    --


    *everything* is Orwellian to cats.
  4. Havn't seen any good ones about general computing by azephrahel · · Score: 1

    That said, there are many excellent books about specific area's of computing and computation science in general. They would probably bore your father, or most people who arn't interested, to tears. Most of the good works on general computing arn't books, there articles and such. Acm classics probably has the best articles on the subject, but thats just my opinon, and you can't forget the jargon file. And not forget BOFH if he's had to do any support work. Anything much more specific than that, and you get into extreamly specific realms.

    --
    You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely.
  5. Personal Computer History by TomSawyer · · Score: 1

    I don't know of any whole books that cover the UNIVAC era, but if your dad is an ex-IBMer he might be interested in Computer Wars : The Fall of IBM and the Future of Global Technology. The first third of the book covers IBM history including the lead up to the PC. It does a great job of cataloging all the pointy-haired management decisions along the way. The second third of the book covers what was happening at IBM around the time the book was written. The last third is comprised of suggestions from the authors on what they believed at the time IBM needed to do to get back to its position among industry leaders.

    Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer is an even meatier tome but with an emphasis on Silicon Valley.

    --
    If you disagree then it must be overrated, redundant or trolling.
  6. Here's a few: by Cyrus · · Score: 1

    These will make great reading for your dad:

    The Computer From Pascal to von Neumann
    Herman H. Goldstine
    ISBN 0-691-08104-2 (Hard cover) ISBN 0-691-02367-0 (Paperback)
    This book covers the WWII era development in detail. Well written. I think the author is the Naval officer responsible for getting the Eniac funded when all the other experts said it wasn't worth developing.

    Eniac - The triumphs and Tragedies of the Worlds First Computer
    Scott McCartney
    ISBN 0-8027-1348-3
    A detailed look inside the development of the Eniac. Extensively researched, a great read.

    In the Beginning: Recollections of Software Pioneers
    Robert L. Glass
    ISBN 0-8186-7999-9
    This book comprises a series of anecdotes and histories, by 15 software pioneers. It's unevenly written, but tremendous fun reading.

    Hope that helps!

    1. Re:Here's a few: by BlueLightning · · Score: 1

      I did a paper on the history of computing last semester. The guy taking the paper (Garry Tee, University of Auckland) is reasonably distinguished in this area. Particularly he did not recommend the first book mentioned (by Herman Goldstine) - "The first half (1620-1940) is worthless, and should not be used". Some of the more general books which he did recommend were (sorry, no ISBNs)

      Bit by Bit: an Illustrated History of Computers
      Stan Augarten

      A History of Computing Technology
      Michael R. Williams

      The Origins of Digital Computers
      Brian Randell (editor)

      A Computer Perspective
      Charles & Ray Eames

  7. Some books by smoon · · Score: 2

    "A few good men from Univac" is a great book (good luck finding it though, as it's out of print...)

    "Eniac" is good.

    "Nerds" is a good history of the genesis of the Internet.

    "We were burning" is a good book about the japanese semiconductor industry.

    "A history of modern computing" is good.

    "The invention that changed the world", actually about radar, but nice lead-ins from 1940s technology providing the genesis for the computer industry.

    --
    "But actually trying to use m4 as a general-purpose langage would be deeply perverse" --ESR
  8. Books on Taco-Snotting? by The+WIPO+Troll · · Score: -1
    THE OFFICIAL TACO-SNOTTING FAQ By The WIPO Troll, $Revision: 1.13 $

    Why have I been receiving emails from some guy called "CmdrTaco," in which he seems to be speaking in some kind of code language?

    You have been receiving email from a certain Robert "CmdrTaco" Malda, owner of the popular technology website Slashdot. Actually, it's not a very "popular" site in the common sense of the word; the site is rife with pimply, antisocial geeks, zit-faced nerds, dirty GNU hippies and communists, and other societal rejects. It's also home to the world's most infamous pædophile ring, the "Slashdot crew."
    Whenever CmdrTaco gets bored (and who wouldn't, running a site like Slashdot all day), he roams through the Slashdot database, penis in hand, looking for people who might enjoy engaging in homosexual orgies with him. How he determines this is anyone's guess; but if you have a homosexual-sounding nickname, or a nick with the letter P or E in it, you're in trouble.
    And this time, he found you. Lucky you.
    CmdrTaco's code language is relatively easy to decipher. He prefers to speak in thinly-veiled sexual innuendo to evade the watchful (but relatively stupid) eye of Slashdot's parent corporation, VA Software. CmdrTaco's "Commander" is, of course, his penis -- a small, withered little thing that lives in his pants and only comes out in the presence of other male geeks or at the beck and call of CmdrTaco's own lubed-up right hand. His "Taco bells" are the shriveled testicles that droop beneath his Commander, and his "Taco sauce" is his thick, gooey semen. It should be more than obvious to you now what he means if he asked you to "ring his Taco bells" or "taste his gourmet Taco sauce."
    Lastly, there is the practice he refers to as "Taco-snotting" and the more revolting "circle-snot."

    Good Lord. What is "Taco-snotting?"

    "Taco-snotting" is the term used by CmdrTaco to refer to an act of fellating a homosexual man (or unwilling heterosexual; CmdrTaco is rumoured to prefer rape), then blowing the semen out his nose onto the face and body of his partner or victim. Naturally, a long, bubbly stream of milky-white semen is left on CmdrTaco's face, dribbling out of his nose and down his cheek: hence the term, "Taco-snotting."
    A "circle-snot" is a Taco-snotting circle-jerk, another practice common among the Slashdot crew. CmdrTaco, CowboiKneel, and Homos get together and snot each other with their gooey, sticky cum -- spooging their jizz-snot all over each other's faces and pasty, white bodies, until they're covered head to toe with their own and each other's man juice. This vile ritual can go on for hours. For the homosexual penetration that follows this lengthy foreplay, Roblowme is usually there to provide plenty of anal lubricant; he owns a limo service and has ample supplies of motor oil and axle grease ready to go.
    To complete this perverted orgy, fellow geeks Michael, Timothy, and Jamie will usually join in, dressed in tight leather mock-S.S. uniforms, jack boots, and leather gloves. The whole group then proceeds to snot each other's spunk and whip each other's pudgy asses with riding crops and chains until their pale, white geek bodies are exhausted and soaked in stinking sweat from the hours of passionate, homosexual revelry.

    Ewwwwww. So, can I stop receiving these emails?

    Hopefully.
    You most likely forgot to uncheck the "Willing to Taco-snot" checkbox in your account preferences. CmdrTaco has probably already got the hots for your wad, and he's probably already been lurking outside your bathroom window for weeks with a camera, some tissues and lube. There's no escaping a geek in heat, so it's probably too late for you, but you can possibly rectify this situation. To remove yourself from CmdrTaco's sights, log into your Slashdot account, go to your user page, click on Messages, and uncheck the box next to "Willing to Taco-snot." Maybe he'll ignore you. Probably not.

    I can't stop receiving these emails from CmdrTaco!?

    If you indulge him in a Taco-snot or two, he might leave you alone. You might also want to look into mail filtering, restraining orders, or purchasing a heavy, blunt object capable of warding off rampaging homosexual geeks in heat. Trust me, when they charge... oh, the humanity. If he gets you, and you let him Taco-snot you, you will most likely end up tied up in his basement to be used as his sex slave for the rest of your life (or until he accidentally drowns you in spunk in a circle-snot).

    Have you ever been Taco-Snotted?

    Unfortunately, yes. I first met CmdrTaco at an Open Source Convention. He invited me back to his room for a game of Quake and some "gourmet Tacos," but when I got there, he jumped me and tied me to his bed, stripping me. After taking his "Commander" out of his pants, Mr. Taco made me suck the withered thing six times. He then performed his vile Taco-snotting ritual on me three times over the next two hours, bringing me to orgasm after sweaty, mind-numbing orgasm... then he snotted my own milky-white jizz back onto my face, into my mouth, then again on my exposed belly.
    CmdrTaco invited several of his Open Source (or rather, "Open Sauce" -- man sauce) buddies over to continue the twisted snotfest. Linux Torvalds raped my ass with his "monolithic kernel," and Anal Cox used his "network stack" in a multitude of unspeakable ways on and in every orifice in my defenseless body. Michael was there in his leather Nazi uniform, caning my ass with a bamboo pole and ranting about "all those Censorware freaks out to get him."
    How did you finally escape, you ask? After about 16 hours of countless homosexual atrocities perpetrated against my restrained body, they all finally went to sleep on top of me, sweat-soaked and exhausted. I was left there, covered in bubbly, translucent jizz-snot, chained to the bed, with half a dozen fat, pasty-white fags lying around and on top of me. Fortunately the spooge coating my flesh worked wonderfully as a lubricant; I was able to squirm my way out of the handcuffs and slip out the back door. I'm just glad I survived the ordeal. These geeks had a lot of built-up spunk in their wads -- I could've easily been drowned!

    That's horrible. Does "Taco-snotting" have anything to do with CmdrTaco's "special taco"?

    No, that's a different disgusting perversion CmdrTaco indulges himself in. CmdrTaco is usually not satisfied with merely snotting your own jizz back onto your face, he most often enjoys involving his own bodily fluids in his twisted games. WeatherTroll has spent some time trying to educate the Slashdot readership about this vile practice (emphasis added):
    You may be wondering what CmdrTaco's "special taco" is. You will be wishing that you hadn't been wondering after you finish reading this post. To make his "special taco", CmdrTaco takes a taco shell and shits on it. He then adds lettuce, jacks off on the taco, and adds a compound to make the person who eats the taco unconscious. Of course, the compound does not make the person unconscious until the taco is fully eaten. Thus CmdrTaco force-feeds the taco to the unsuspecting victim.
    After the victim is unconscious, he is held against his will and used for CmdrTaco's nefarious sexual purposes. This includes shoving taco shells up the victim's ass, Taco-snotting, and getting Jon Katz involved.
    Completely different, yet no less revolting. It should be clear to you now that CmdrTaco is a very, very sick individual, as are most of the Slashdot editors.

    Does Jon Katz get involved in any of this? I thought he was a pædophile, not a homosexual.

    Actually, Jon Katz is a homosexual pædophile. He's also a coprophiliac, and, many suspect, a zophile. Jon Katz is somewhat of a loner and doesn't involve himself in circle-snots. Mr. Katz usually engages in a game called " Katz juicy-douching" with his harem of little-boy slaves: a vile practice which involves administering an enema to himself of the little boy's urine (forced out of them with a pair of pliers), spooging the vile muck from his ass back into the enema bag, then squirting and slathering the goo all over himself, and the little boy's chained-up and naked bodies. If he's in the mood, he will sometimes skip refilling the enema bag and just squirt it from his ass onto his boys. Unwilling boys are further tortured with the pliers until they comply and allow Mr. Katz to juicy-douche them for the rest of their lives.
    As I already said, Mr. Katz is also a zophile. As if the sexual escapades with the helpless little boys aren't enough, Jon usually enjoys his juicy-douches best when his penis is firmly planted in a female goat's anus. He is also rumoured to get off on watching his little boys eat the goat's small, bean-like turds.

    ...Are you getting hard writing this?

    Why, yes. :) Join me in a WIPO-snot?

    No, thanks. I'm already CmdrTaco's boi toi.

    ________________________________________ RECENT READER COMMENTS

    Once comments have been archived by Slashdot, they're removed from the Official Taco-Snotting FAQ. However much I would like to paste 200k crapfloods into Slashdot, my browser is a piece of shit and won't let me!

    1. Re:Taco-Powered Christmas Snot (Score:0) by Anonymous Coward on 2001.12.15 7:05 (#2707493)

      Has this been submitted to linuxdoc.org yet?

    2. Re:Bye bye Windows! (Score:0) by Anonymous Coward on 2001.12.15 5:12 (#2707245)

      That may be true, but have you made love to a wombat today?

    3. Re:That's my department, boy! (Score:-1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward (actually afree87) on 2001.12.15 2:51 (#2706921)

      Wow, WipoTroll, you really know how to snot! And you can scramble Slashdot's HTML, too! I love boys who do that! Come over to my place sometime!

    4. Re:CmdrTaco BANNED FOR LIFE from Taco Bell!!!!!! (Score:-1) by WeatherTroll on 2001.12.15 2:48 (#2706907)

      CmdrTaco only goes to Taco Bell to get their hot sauce, and to solicit hot sauce enemas from underage male employees. He makes his own tacos.

    5. Re:Snottle OSnotX, BSnotD, and Snottan Snottard (Score:0) by Anonymous Coward (actually afree87) on 2001.12.15 2:47 (#2706900)

      We love you, WipoTroll! We want you to snot us, WipoTroll!

    6. Re:Bye bye Windows! (Score:-1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on 2001.12.15 1:35 (#2706675)

      I want some Taco-snot! Where can I get some?

    7. Re:Bye bye Windows! (Score:-1) by JonKatz on on 2001.12.15 0:29 (#2706495)

      Please, please, please Taco-snot me. I know I would love it almost as much as fucking young boys. Pleadingly, JonKatz

    8. Important Information For Slashdot Users (Score:-1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on 2001.12.14 3:09 (#2702660)

      It has recently come to my attention that the entire Slashdot crew engage in homosexual activities. CmdrTaco is one such person, and has dedicated his life to spreading the ideals of Taco-Snotting while enjoying the benefits of it. For further information on Taco-Snotting please refer to George WIPO Bush's Taco-Snotting FAQ which can be easily found by searching for the Slashdot journal of George WIPO Bush or by looking in the comments of Slashdot articles (Usually modded -1).

      It has also come to my attention that CmdrTaco has other interests besides homosexuality (Believe it or not). One such interest includes a budding music career with a song titled "Gaping Anus". The details are sketchy on this topic but I do know that besides the lead vocals of CmdrTaco, it includes Timothy and CowboyNeal (Also members of the Slashdot crew). There has been no release date set for this album or which record label it will be produced under. I believe CmdrTaco is planning to set up his own label, Taco-Snotting Records, with the intention of releasing the song on a cd-single with various remixes as soon as possible (To catch the current popularity of the Taco-Snotting fad). On a side note, I would not believe this fad will ever wear out (like a Snotted-out-geek); I am sorry to say Taco-Snotting is here to stay :-(. Various remixes of Gaping Anus will include: "Extra Jizz", "Snot Me Baby One More Time", "www.Goatse.cx", and "Once You Taco-Snot, You Can't Stop". I am sure many, many, more are sure to come. I predict this album will be a very hot seller this holiday season, especially with in or out of closet homosexuals, and with those who have no self-respect (Readers of Slashdot).

      Through a good, non-homosexual friend of mine, I have recieved a copy of the lyrics to the Gaping Anus musical composition. Included after the lyrics is a very speical tribute written by yours truely. Perhaps CmdrTaco will ask me to provide the vocals. Please feel free to read the lyrics and post your comments and disgust. E-mail CmdrTaco with this disgust also.

      BTW, please do not reply with the intention of flaming me because the lyrics are a rip-off of Insane Clown Posse's "Slim Anus". For more information on ICP and Slim Anus refer here and here. CmdrTaco is the author of this fine musical work and not me. So, it is obviously he who has ripped off ICP and not me. Thank you.

      Read the rest of this shit...

    9. Re:Snotback: Snotto, Snotz, Snottion (Score:0) by Anonymous Coward on 2001.12.14 2:44 (#2702581)

      you know, every time i read this i want to punch you more and more. the taco snotting thing is old, lame, boring, and over done. it never was remotely funny or good though. it sounds like a 10th grader wrote it too. so please, go play in traffic or shut the fuck up so real trolls can post.

    10. Re:Italics are yummy! (Score:-1, Troll) by Super Mario Troll on 2001.12.14 2:33 (#2702535)

      Keep up the good work! Educate the masses to the dangers of Taco-Snotting!

      It's a me, the Super Mario Troll! Would you like to see my gaping troll anus
    11. Re:Italics are yummy! (Score:-1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on 2001.12.14 1:41 (#2702370)

      WIPO - Man you trolls are shit compared to Egg Trolls troll's. Egg Man is just so much more original.

    12. Re:The WIPO Troll Announces Portable Snotbox (Score:-1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on 2001.12.07 7:58 (#2669658)

      That leaky sound you hear is CmdrTaco pissing himself after seeing this.

      Slashdot trolling just got a whole lot easier...

      http://www.geocities.com/frostpist/

      Spread the word!

    13. Re:The WIPO Troll Announces Portable Snotbox (Score:-1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on 2001.12.07 5:48 (#2669422)

      Q: Is CmdrTaco gay?

      A: He Mos' certainly is!

    14. Re:The WIPO Troll Announces Portable Snotbox (Score:-1) by GaylordFucker on 2001.12.07 5:39 (#2669394)

      not to mention... The WIPO Troll used himself as a test subject to try out the portable snotbox... i await your results and hope your product gets approved...

      Regards, Gay

      Get that rats nest off your head, you numbskull -- Wesley Willis

    15. Re:Portable Snotcube! (Score:-1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on 2001.12.07 3:58 (#2669117)

      stfu. no one really cares about your lame little "troll". make some new material (not that anything you've ever said is worth a damn..)

    16. Re:Yum yum taco-snotting! (Score:-1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on 2001.12.02 22:15 (#2644499)

      Dear SLASH crew - this post makes it clear why you need to add a new category - "tell it like it is (+1)"

    17. This is getting old (Score:-1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on 2001.12.02 20:14 (#2644227)

      Hey dicksuck, why don't you come up with new troll material? Everyone has seen the tacosnotting 100 times already. Fuckwit. Assholage. Gay. Lick my anal nectar.

    18. Fucking hilarious too bad it didnt get a 5:Funny (Score:-1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on 2001.12.02 19:01 (#2644105)

      this is good shit man

    19. Re:Taco-snotting@Home! (Score:-1, Offtopic) by Dark_Cobra87 on 2001.12.01 23:03 (#2642180)

      Oops, forgot to check that Taco-snot option...

    20. Re:Fuck Linux! Fuck him hard! (Score:-1) by Fecal Troll Matter on 2001.12.01 20:55 (#2641791)

      Mmmmmmm, Taco Sauce...

      Sig (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)

    21. Look (Score:-1) by ArchieBunker on 2001.12.01 20:19 (#2641679)

      I love trolling but this shit is getting old, fast. At least start mixing them up a little bit. How about the 'How OSM was Freed' series?

      http://www.naawp.org/

    22. Re:Congratulations! You have been WIPO'd!! (Score:0) by Anonymous Coward on 2001.12.01 8:37 (#2640602)

      Stop posting this! I've got hangover and Taco Snotting doesn't make me feel any better.

      I'm really glad that Taco Snotting is illegal here in Europe.

    ________________________________________
    $Id: tacosnotting.html,v 1.13 2001/12/15 23:00:00 wipo Exp $
    Copyright © 2001 The WIPO Troll. Verbatim crapflooding of this document is permitted in any medium, provided this copyright notice is preserved, and next time you take a dump, you think of the WIPO Troll and all he's done to make Slashdot a better place.
    --

    J. Wipo Troll, Esq.
    Crapflooder Associates
    Slashdot.org

  9. try From Dits to Bits by pedro · · Score: 1

    Excellent book. I'm not sure if it's still in print, however.

    --
    Brak: What's THAT?
    Thundercleese: A light switch.. of TOTAL DEVASTATION!
  10. Out of Their Minds by wdavies · · Score: 2

    But its out of print according to Amazon, but they do have second hand copies. You might also get from B&N or elsewhere. Great Book.

    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/038798269 8/ qid=1008405307/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_11_3/002-2623870-83 06446

    Regards,
    Winton

  11. "The Best Of Byte" by Y-Crate · · Score: 1

    While it is out of print, I would strongly suggest picking up a copy of The Best Of Byte by Jay Ranade and Alan Nash.

    It includes tons of Byte magazine articles from the '80s and early '90s. Year-by-year timeline of developments, many of which have been utterly forgotten over time. Old ads from companies long gone, extremly rare interviews with legends of the industry.....highly reccomended.

  12. Computer History resources by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I put together a list of key resources in the history of computing for a recent NSF backed workshop on using history to teach computer science better . It has books as well as some links to history sites and other resources.

    The Campbell-Kelly and Aspray book is defintely the best overall history, and I use it in my own courses. Another overall history, stronger on Unix and minicomputers, is Paul Ceruzzi's "A History of Modern Computing." If he's interested in the early Univacs, then the detailed book to get is "A Few Good Men from Univac" by David E. Lundstrom -- out of print, but Amazon has it used. There's a ton of books on IBM, but for a good mix of technical and business, he might like "Building IBM: Shaping an Industry and Its Technology" by Emerson W Pugh.

    Thomas Haigh

  13. Actually... by cr0sh · · Score: 2

    The best computer "history" books that I know of aren't history books at all - but rather books contemporary for the time, which examine computers as "state-of-the-art" machines, describing them and the advances as they were happenning for the period.

    Finding such books can be a long and difficult task - almost all of them will be out of print. I suggest if you (or anyone else) take this route to build a "history", to check in the antique district where you live for used/rare/antique books - sometimes you will find the strangest things (like, I found one book that described how to build your own radio telescope - however it was tube based).

    For something in print, the best computer history book I have come across is "Computer: A History of the Information Machine" by Martin Campbell-Kelly and William Aspray (ISBN 0-465-02989-2).

    It starts out with basically Charles Babbage, moves on to Herman Hollerith, then into Remington Rand, NCR, and the birth of IBM (spawned from Hollerith's enterprise - which is a whole book unto itself), then into Lord Kelvin's Tide Predictor, the Harvard Mark I, the ABC, the MTI - then into ENIAC and EDVAC, EDSAC. Then it goes into business machines - UNIVAC, BINAC, IBM's early boxes, starting with the 701 - then onto the large iron - beginning with the 1401, moving into the System/360, then ending with IBM's decline with the PC market. Then, chapters on Project Whirlwind and SAGE, the SABRE system (airline reservation). Then, software, timesharing and simple computer languages (such as Fortran and BASIC), the rise of the minicomputers and Unix, finally ending with microcomputers, the internet, and more.

    A very good read - not overly technical, not overly detailed - but a good "overall" history, with enough detail to see how it all came together, who the major (and minor) players were, etc. It isn't like other books which start out with calculators and end with the ENIAC - instead, it starts closer to our time, with the beginnings of a true computer, albeit a mechanical one (Babbage).

    Actually, couple this book in a collection with "Herman Hollerith" by Geoffrey D. Austrian, "Hackers" by Steven Levy, and the recent American release of "The Difference Engine" by Doron Swade, and I daresay you will probably have as near as can be imagined "complete" history of computers (ok, there are a few other books I would add in - the book on the ENIAC, Where Wizards Stay Up Late, Soul of a New Machine, etc).

    You know - I look at my bookshelf - seeing these tons of contemporary and historical computer books - I think to myself "Amazing - the sheer vastness of this industry - this hobby - seems almost overwhelming!" - makes me wonder why man still fights one another over petty things... sigh.

    --
    Reason is the Path to God - Anon
  14. Book ideas, History resources by HistoryProf · · Score: 1
    The Campbell-Kelly and Aspray book is defintely the best overall history, and I use it in my own courses. Another overall history, more technical in general and stronger on Unix and minicomputers, is Paul Ceruzzi's "A History of Modern Computing." If he's interested in the early Univacs, then the detailed book to get is "A Few Good Men from Univac" by David E. Lundstrom -- out of print, but Amazon has it used. There's a ton of books on IBM, but for a good mix of technical and business, he might like "Building IBM: Shaping an Industry and Its Technology" by Emerson W Pugh.

    I put together a list of key resources in the history of computing for a recent NSF backed workshop on using history to teach computer science better . It has books as well as some links to history sites and other resources. People interested in this topic might also want to check out the site for my computer history and culture course at Colby College -- the pages for each session include additional links and readings." Hackers was one of the main texts -- it's a great book, but more recent. (I posted something anonymously -- sorry to duplicate. I got myself an account now).

  15. Levy. by saintlupus · · Score: 2

    People have already suggested _Hackers_ by Steven Lecy, and rightly so -- it's a hell of a read. His newer book, _Crypto_, is also quite good if your father has any sort of interest in cryptography or government supervision of the computer industry.

    Oh, and _Fire in the Valley_ is supposed to be good, though I haven't read it myself.

    --saint

  16. Alan Turing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Alan Turing : The Enigma. Lots of great stuff in this about colossus, ace, eniac, and much more

  17. Another good one by lokitoothus · · Score: 1

    Not a history of computing per se, but bios of some pretty interesting players is: "Out of Their Minds: The Lives and Discoveries of 15 Great Computer Scientists" A really good read.

  18. Accidental Empires by Robert X. Cringely by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Accidental Empires
    How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their
    Millions, Battle Foreign Competition, and Still
    Can't Get a Date
    by Robert X. Cringely

    is an excellent read.

  19. Life with UNIX by fathed · · Score: 1

    Great book, hard to find today, get one for yourself as well.

    --
    Intelligence is a matter of opinion.