Rating: 
Summary: pretty good
Review: As a hobbyist programmer, I had wondered for years how a computer worked at its most internal level. I had even had a couple of unsuccessful encounters with other "How Computers Work"-type books that left me mainly with the dissatisfied impression that the machine was an impenetrable black box.Petzold's book was not like this. While other books started with flashy graphics of internal designs all flowcharts with little in the way of explanation, Code starts off simply, with two flashlights and the goal of communicating at night. This problem, of course, would be easy solved by anyone who knows of Morse code. Yet, from Petzold's pen it becomes an illuminating and amusing journey with attempts to deal with similar scenarios of every increasing complexity until I realized two-thirds of the way through that given a sufficient time and space, I could, at least in theory, build a computer. This is the greatest success of Code, in my opinion. Rather than attempting to peel away the mysteries of the system a layer at a time like an onion, it delves directly to the core and builds upon its ideas in a fashion like that of the original computer designers, until everything forms into a cohesive whole. Petzold does an excellent job of capturing his excitement for the material, making the progressive developments a joy to read about. With my uneven background knowledge, there were a few sections that I felt that I could skim through, but also many a passage that I had to carefully scrutinize. Overall, I'd recommend this book for anyone interested in computers, from beginner to expert: Petzold provides enough explanation for a determined newcomer to understand all of the concepts, but enough breadth to still entertain and educate those with more experience in the area.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: As a merchant marine officer for many years I always enjoyed using a sextant and calculating some formulas to determine my position on the face of the earth to within a half mile. It just seemed like magic until one day I sat down and really thought about what was happening when I used a sextant and calculated these formulas, and finally it all made sense. I could see how there was a logical method to what initially seemed like magic. This book will reveal a similar enlightenment to the reader who feels that computers are magic (as I did). My only beef is that the book did not have a comprehensive index. That would have certainly been a big plus because I can see myself referring to this book in the future. Also, I kept waiting for an explanation of how a million transistors can fit onto a single silicon chip and it never came. Guess I'll have to find another book to explain that bit of "magic". But I recommend the book for anyone, neophyte or professional.
Rating:
Summary: Wow. What a Book.
Review: Have you ever opened up the case of your PC, only to find that there are seemingly millions of lego-esque pieces stuck together? Have you ever wondered how computing went from the abacus to the Palm IV? Have you ever asked how the engineers are able to do the things they do? Well, ask no more. Instead, read this book. Charles Petzold is able to describe the workings of a simple computer, starting from the ground floor. He begins with descriptions of a simple circuit, and slowly works his way to more and more complex structures. You learn about flashlights, Morse code, and the early computers, and how each has impacted modern computing. Will this book teach you how to program? No. But if you were not a computer science major or electrical engineer in college, this book will lay some of the foundations for understanding this technology. The technical aspects get a little dense at times, but this did not detract from the impact of this book. If you have been curious about what goes on in that beige box, now is your time to investigate. This is the place to start.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book To Understand Computers at the Basic Level
Review: I am a computer programmer by trade and sincerely wish I had this book 7 years back when I started formal education. During my 4+ years in the higher education system, and even after, I and my classmates (later colleagues) were taught how to program computers (in various languages) and many of the higher level ideas in programming (Data Structures, Algorithms, Program Structure, Etcetera, Etcetera, Etcetera) but we never really learned how the computers worked inside. Even to many trained programmers, or at least me:), these beige boxes can be something of a magical black box which we don't really understand at a fundamental beyond the point of it processing the instructions we give it in our chosen programming language. In school I recieved perhaps one single semester course that attempted to teach how these things worked inside, yet that course still skimmed on the inner workings, the teacher instead spent his time on how monitors drew pixels on the screen and how laser printers worked.....
Looking back on it, I would blame the ignorance of the inner workings of computers that some programmers have on the decline of having to learn Assembly language (starting in the early nineties?), the lowest level programming language sans actual Machine Code, where one would be forced to deal with the raw inner workings of a computer naturally. I myself hope to learn it one day after reading this book :D Instead, I was taught the C programming language and what we learned in school became only more abstract in regards to the actual hardware...
This is where this wonderful book came into play. Since I recieved it half-a-year ago, it must have been read/devoured by me a dozen times or more - it goes from teaching the make-up of various codes (morse, braille, etcetera) to showing how some simple to understand concepts can be combined until a working computer, calculator, etcetera, can be built....... it gives one a great foundation for learning what Computer Science is all about or gives a newer-generation Programmer, like me, much needed knowledge on how that beige box basically works, on a hardware level!
The best thing is that those computer analogies can be finally thrown out the window - we all heard them before - like how "ram is like a table, or workspace. The bigger it is, the more things you can have ready and available at one time. The hard drive is like your drawers and cabinets. You can store more stuff there, but to use it, you have to take it out first and put it either on the table (RAM) or hold it in your hand (cache)." Petzold also uses analogies when he introdues topics but quickly moves beyond them, giving his audiences real understanding of the subject - which is very welcoming since analogies tend to explain function well but break down quickly when one is determined to learn more about a topic.
It is probably one of the few computer books on my shelf that can't get outdated and that's good, because it still will be there in 20 years.
Rating: 
Summary: WARNING: For hardcore geeks only!!!
Review: I am the manager of a computer store and a graphic/web designer and as such I use and troubleshoot computers every day and know rather a lot about them.
This book looked interesting because on the jacket it uses phrases like, "illuminating narrative" and "eminently comprehensible" and "no matter what your level of technical savvy".
In reality though after the 1st few chapters the book falls into an absolute quagmire of circuit diagrams and boolean logic tables and RAM address schemes and loses all sense of narrative or comprehensibility.
Unless you are really into math and/or are a programmer I would highly recommend AVOIDING THIS BOOK.
I am not a stupid person nor unfamiliar with computers but this was wayyyy beyond where I wanted to go with this. And my guess is that it's way beyond for most other folks as well.
If you are interested in learning how computers work I would highly suggest the series titled "How Computers Work" by Ron White.
(...)
'How Computers Work' contains very clear diagrams and explanations that while technical aren't at the picky and obtuse levels reached in the book 'Code'.
(...)
Rating:
Summary: If you are a geek you will love this book!
Review: If you are a geek you will love this book! As a programmer I found this book to be very interesting. I've read other reviews complaining that this book is for novice computer users, I completely disagree! Most developers work in a world of high level languages that completely abstract the inner workings of the computer's CPU and memory. This book manages to teach the reader the most basic elements of how a computer works starting with an intriging look at the basic physics of electricty and building up all the way to Assembly language. This book should be mandatory reading for all CS majors.
Rating:
Summary: Want to know exactly what a computer does?
Review: It's not often I willingly give money to Microsoft, but I bought this book in hardcover. I don't care if Petzold is a hardcore Windows guy or not; this book is as deserving of immortality as the Lions book or "Godel, Escher, Bach". Why? Because it lays it all out. Though it goes a bit light on the actual electronics, preferring to focus on the telegraph relay as its main way of understanding what's going on, this book takes the reader from square one -- sending messages to a friend with a flashlight -- to the structure of a modern microprocessor. It's an incredibly detailed yet easily accessible look at the internals of a computer system. Flaws? A couple -- no index, and as I said it gives short shrift to what may be the single biggest invention of the 20th century, the transistor. But by and large Petzold has written the ultimate book to explain the mysteries of the computer to the layperson. This book is a must-buy.
Rating:
Summary: Explains computer architecture to the intelligent layperson
Review: The average person who uses a computer to surf the web or type letters has so little knowledge of the underlying technology he or she is using that it may as well be magic. Even programmers, who typically spend their days solving problems with the high-end abstractedness of object-orientation, may be more than a little unclear about what's actually going on inside the box when their compiled code is running. Petzold attempts, and largely succeeds at, writing a book that leaves the reasonably intelligent layperson with a thorough comprehension of each layer that comprises a modern electronic computer (binary coding -> electronic representation -> transistors -> logic gates -> integrated circuits -> microprocessors -> opcodes -> assembly language -> high-level language -> applications). At times, the reader must follow along carefully, but Petzold tries to avoid needless complication. Code is a well written and very entertaining explanation of the digital electronic technology that has become an integral part of our daily lives. Short of getting a degree in electrical engineering, this book is your best bet to understand how it works.
Rating:
Summary: Excelent
Review: The book is super new and the delivery was too fast
Rating:
Summary: Great, but it's not ALL for a "Novice"
Review: The book starts out very solid, describing all the building blocks of a computer. The beginning is the best book I've seen so far describings everything from the binary system to electrical circuits, to gates to simple calculators, to memory, to a complete machine with a "control panel". But after that, the book started getting a LOT more broad (not necessarily a bad thing). It seems almost as if Petzold wanted to tell you everything about the world of computers, but couldn't fit it in a book such as this; so he dabbed a little here and there of a few terms, history, etc... (allowing you the option to look up anything you wanted if you had the interest). My oppinion is that the book is _great_ up to about the middle of the book, after which he just condenced all the rest of the information which would otherwise takes thousands of pages to describe in as much details as he described how to build a physical logic machine... I think that if someone isn't a "techie" or isn't in the computer field, they may have some hard time understanding a few minor points... but overall, this is a GREAT book.. one of a kind. Greatly recommended for everyone's library... I can honestly say, I always told people "a computer is nothing more than zero's and one's"... but until I read this book, I couldn't BUILD one... now I can (given time! :). P.S. This book is perfect for those who didn't necessarily go to college and learned everything on their own... it covers some CS, CE, and EE. Those who went to college with either of those majors probably learned the greatest part of this book... but it's a great review.
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