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Rating: 
Summary: Rich but dry
Review: As a kid, I read this book over and over, soaking up the volumes of information. The reading is pretty dry, but the story covered is fascinating. Perhaps one thing that made it interesting was reading about the person who bought it for me - my grandfather. He was pleased with how he had been interviewed and, of course, thought they could have said more about his area of study!
Rating: 
Summary: PC Coverage Lacks Depth, Scrambles Facts
Review: Early reviews made me hope for good coverage of the PC years, from 1974 on, but the book sprints through this era at a breathless pace and scrambles some facts and ignores important events. It also leaves out many of the players who were early to market with hobby or personal computers and software, but got left behind by marketing or technical snafus. Not much information about Gary Kildall and the advent of the CP/M operating system, a pivotal event for the hobbyist market in the late 70s. Innovative companies such as IMSAI, Cromemco, and others get tossed off in one sentence as "other" suppliers.These latter sections contain some technical errors that should have been picked up upon fact checking, or by the authors if they had relied on primary sources. For example, the authors cite the 6502 chip from Mostek as being used in the Apple II. The actual chip came from MOS Technology, later acquired by Commodore. No mention that the 6502 was derived from the Motorola 6800 by designer Chuck Peddle. The book is rich on history of early developments, but for in-depth history of the PC era, you'll have to find another source. Unfortunately, many of those sources have their own flaws or omissions. If you want a taste of computer history, buy this book, but understand after 1974 is barely scratches the surface.
Rating: 
Summary: The Companies and Economics behind the PC
Review: I recently finished this book and "Engines of the Mind : The Evolution of the Computer from Mainframes to Microprocessors" by Joel N. Shurkin. Both are attempts at writing a detailed history of the development of the computer and the events surrounding it, and I must admit that I found "Computer" much more entertaining than Shurkin's text. The difference between the two books is very slight, however, it is significant. "Computer" walks us through the work of Charles Babbage and carries us through the backrooms of large businesses at the turn of the 19th century. The authors discuss the work and lives of the people that were the first 'computers' working all day long to finish calculations that were used in business, and then for the calculation of artillery tables in the world wars. It was the replacement of these workers and their omissive errors and necessarily slow speed and development time that drove the development of the huge mainframes that would be developed by the military. The authors do a great job of walking through the history of the early computer companies, especially Hollerith's Tabulating Machine Co., now IBM, and National Cash Register. The role that these two companies played in increasing the public's reliance and trust in machines was a key enabler of the computer revolution. The authors then take us through to modern times and we follow the ultra-competitive computer industry through wave after wave of consolidation and rapid technological innovation. This book also shows us a slight glimpse of the business forces behind the development of the transistor, and how this invention would wind up changing the world. I could not have enjoyed this book more. Of the two, it definitely did the best job of focusing on the industry and economic changes that have led us to the modern computer age. The annecdotes and writing style of the authors is well-suited to the material and I very highly recommend this book. I also recommend the other book as well - I believe that if read together (with some time to digest in between them) they do a great job of painting the picture of a fascinating development of one of the most important technological changes in the history of man.
Rating:
Summary: The Companies and Economics behind the PC
Review: I recently finished this book and "Engines of the Mind : The Evolution of the Computer from Mainframes to Microprocessors" by Joel N. Shurkin. Both are attempts at writing a detailed history of the development of the computer and the events surrounding it, and I must admit that I found "Computer" much more entertaining than Shurkin's text. The difference between the two books is very slight, however, it is significant. "Computer" walks us through the work of Charles Babbage and carries us through the backrooms of large businesses at the turn of the 19th century. The authors discuss the work and lives of the people that were the first 'computers' working all day long to finish calculations that were used in business, and then for the calculation of artillery tables in the world wars. It was the replacement of these workers and their omissive errors and necessarily slow speed and development time that drove the development of the huge mainframes that would be developed by the military. The authors do a great job of walking through the history of the early computer companies, especially Hollerith's Tabulating Machine Co., now IBM, and National Cash Register. The role that these two companies played in increasing the public's reliance and trust in machines was a key enabler of the computer revolution. The authors then take us through to modern times and we follow the ultra-competitive computer industry through wave after wave of consolidation and rapid technological innovation. This book also shows us a slight glimpse of the business forces behind the development of the transistor, and how this invention would wind up changing the world. I could not have enjoyed this book more. Of the two, it definitely did the best job of focusing on the industry and economic changes that have led us to the modern computer age. The annecdotes and writing style of the authors is well-suited to the material and I very highly recommend this book. I also recommend the other book as well - I believe that if read together (with some time to digest in between them) they do a great job of painting the picture of a fascinating development of one of the most important technological changes in the history of man.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Read
Review: There are countless books covering the PC revolution from about the 1970's and onwards, but not very many that carefully cover the saga of the 1800's and onward! This book does an excellent job at capturing what happened in the realm of computing from Babbage's work all the way up to what began the downfall of the mainframe to the minis.
Rating:
Summary: Modern computer history with strong U.S. bias
Review: This is a history of the computer as a business tool and really only goes into detail after the ENIAC. There are interesting and informative parts on pre-computer office organisation and on human computers. Hardware from before 1945 is dealt with in a perfunctory manner: if I didn't already know what a differential analyser was like, I wouldn't find out from this book. Konrad Zuse gets just one sentence, and the Colossus similar short shrift. Actually this is understandable, because William Aspray has already edited a book on early machinery, "Computing Before Computers" which goes into great detail and has excellent pictures. Martin Campbell-Kelly also contributed to this book, which I suppose is Volume I and "History of the Information Machine" is Volume II. Little attention is paid to events outside the USA. I may be prejudiced, but nevertheless I find it interesting that a tea-shop chain developed a business computer which was demonstrated before Royalty a year before UNIVAC's famous TV appearance; and that Sir Charles Darwin, grandson of the other well-known Charles Darwin, was prominent in the development of the Pilot ACE. Neither fact is mentioned. Sir Clive Sinclair, who produced the first hobby computer that could actually be called cheap, doesn't appear in the book either. So buy this book - but try to get "Computing Before Computers" and "Early British Computers" (by Simon Lavington) as well.
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