Editorial Review

Few concepts in the history of 20th-century thought are as rich with both philosophical and practical implications as the computer. And few people in the history of computing are as intellectually and personally complex as Alan Turing, the man whose brilliant mathematical imagination laid the foundation for computers as we know them. You could easily spend the rest of the millennium reading up on Turing and his ideas, but if you've only got an afternoon, this engaging, pamphlet-length summary of the man's life and work should get you nicely up to speed.Read more

Reviews (5)

Computer Journalism
If you want to read about Turing and the origins of computing on the level and in the style of your Sunday newspaper, this is your book (especially if that Sunday newspaper of yours comes in tabloid format). Otherwise, go for something more intelligent, like A. Hodges, Davies or Copeland.

Learn about computer history!
What? You have never heard of Alan Turing? You don't deserve tolive! Quick, buy this book (which [is inexpensive]) and learn everything about computer history before uncle Gabriel discover it and pull your ear lobes! This book shows the computer history, beginning from abacus and obviously focuses at Alan Turing and his most important inventions for computing history, the Colossus and the ENIAC. What? You have never heard of ENIAC? Promise to us: come back here in Hardware Secrets only after you have finished reading this book, ok?

Nice biography, but not technical enough
This book gives a short overview over the life of Alan Turing, though it does not go as deep into detail as Douglas Hofstaedter does - and that was just one article in his Metamagicum collection! But if you don't already have Hofstaedter on your bookshelf, you might as well buy this book.Read more

Subjects:  1. Computers    2. Computers - General Information    3. Environmental Science    4. General    5. History    6. Science    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Turing machines    9. Turing, Alan Mathison    10. Biography: general    11. England    12. Mathematical theory of computation    13. Mathematics for scientists & engineers    14. Science / General   

Reviews (5)

Profound Ideas
This brief "history" is more of a thought-provoking analysis of the idea of computing than a recital of the crucial events leading to what we currently think of as a modern computer.Though it does provide some fascinating historical tidbits not found elsewhere, the power of this work lies in its discussion of the underlying theory of computing.For example, Mr. Agar's initial take on Babbage, i.e. that in designing the analytical engine he was merely recreating a manufacturing center, with which he was intimately familiar, is just the first of many profound observations that seem to be tossed off without further comment.Portraying Bletchley Park as a computer itself with the various huts being distributed processors was also a sound analogy and would be a tremendously effective segue into a story about the Internet.The story of Mr. Zuse's machine is likewise a fine example of Mr. Agar's thesis that the increase in computing power merely reflects the increasing complexity of our world.He raises a brilliantly multi-faceted what came first--chicken or egg--argument.Did complexity give birth to the computer or vice-versa?However, I think his ideas go well beyond that premise--though the comments on modern bureaucracy and corporate management were rather cryptic, isn't it true that in the world of "google" we are all distributed processors in a gigantic Universal Machine?
A good primer for the topic at hand
I was really hoping for a more detailed time line of the events leading upto the ENIGMA and what eventually lead to the first commercial computers during the late 50s and mid 60s. The author spent a great deal of time detailing the mathematical advances and controversies that spurred the technological advances we see today. Overall the book was mildly interesting, but probably not for the average reader. On the other end of the spectrum it was too much of a primer for anyone with some historical knowledge of mathematics and its part in developing computers.

Eccentric history of the modern computer
This curious little book is a pleasant read for those with a knowledge of the history of computers -- heaven knows what others will make of it! It begins with a brief survey of Charles Babbage, which is generally accurate. Followed by some excellent information on Hollerith and the history of punched cards. Agar then covers Konrad Zuse in much more detail than I've seen elsewhere. (Zuse is one of those computer pioneers who was lost to history for a bit and now rediscovered. He built computers in his living room to help design Nazi airplanes.) There follows a whirlwind tour of early American efforts by Aiken, Atanasoff and Mauchly.Read more

Subjects:  1. 1912-1954    2. Electronic digital computers    3. General    4. History    5. Science    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Turing, Alan Mathison,    8. General Theory of Computing    9. Popular science   

Subjects:  1. Asia - China    2. China    3. Congresses    4. Economic conditions    5. History    6. History - General History    7. History: World    8. Information Technology    9. Internet    10. Politics and government    11. Asian studies    12. Hong Kong    13. Impact of computing & IT on society    14. International relations    15. Political Science / International Relations    16. Taiwan   

Editorial Review

This oversized, coffee-table volume is devoted to the industrial design of every product made at Apple Computer over the course of 20 years. Lavishly illustrated with over 400 large color photographs by photographer Rick English, the book transforms the plastic cases, LCD displays, and disk drives from old Apple IIcs, Lisas, Macs, PowerBooks, and Newtons (and a few technologies that never made it to the street) into objects of fine art. The book's attention to detail, even in the small peripherals, such as the stylus of the Newton--the ubiquitous round stick-on microphone that ships with the Mac--contributes to the technological identity of the Apple brand.Read more

Reviews (25)

Evolution of older Macs
While this book doesn't include anything made in the past several years, it does have detailed descriptions of how the older Macs came to be. It's a large book and full of photographs as well as detailed text explanations. I got mine in September 2001 and regularly study it from time to time. Every time I read it I learn something new.
apple! yay!
mmm... great book. a glaring problem with the book
This book offers a comprehensive look at Apple's design, to be sure - and it's a story worth telling. However, the presentation is fundamentally flawed in that it reads like propaganda from the Jobs machine. The fact of the matter is that Jobs had very little to do with design at Apple, or with anything else that Apple did well, for that matter. The myth of Jobs is a nothing more than a fraud - an incredibly successful fraud. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer - Apple/Macintosh    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    4. Computer Graphics - General    5. Computers    6. History    7. Infrastructure    8. Computer Bks - Apple / Macintosh    9. Graphic design   

Features

• Illustrated

Reviews (1)

A must-read for philosophers and computer scientists
This book is really worth reading. It contains a collection of articles by top-class philosophers somehow related to this new branch of Philosophy, coined as Philosophy of Computing and Information.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer science    2. History & Surveys - General    3. History & Surveys - Modern    4. Information Technology    5. Philosophy    6. Reference    7. Social Aspects    8. Social Aspects - General    9. Computers / Computer Science    10. General Theory of Computing    11. INFORMATION SCIENCE    12. PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE   

Features

• Facsimile

Reviews (1)

Unorganized Book
Examples are cluttered, confusing, and book is not very organized.Book could use more simple examples similar to homework problems.More in-depth explanation of ideas. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computers - Languages / Programming    2. History & Theory - General    3. Political Science    4. Politics/International Relations    5. Programming - Algorithms    6. Computers / Programming / Algorithms   

Reviews (4)

Great book!
A well written book that managed to hold my attention. Good, understandable technical explanations and fascinating tales of organizational intrigue. Important lessons for anyone taking part in complex development projects. The acchievements described are quite mindboggling. As I have been personally involved in naval command and control development, and am a naval technology freak, I found this book extremely interesting. Answers to Today's Questions
When Computers Went To Sea is an outstanding book because it takes us back almost 60 years (October, 1944) to define the problem to be solved and traces how this definition evolved to the threats our nation and our world face today.There's an important story here for all of us as we think about current questions like the 7/11/01, Page 1, Wall Street Journal article on Risk Assessment - Plans for a Small Ship Pose Big Questions for the U.S. Navy. True Story of Technology Development & Deployment Well Told
Today's high bandwidth technologists have nothing over the NTDS architects who masterminded the solution to the very complex engineering problemspresented by warfare: real time data acquisition and weapons assignment. (The penalty for error is death of comrades in battle.)Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers    3. General    4. History - Military / War    5. Military - Naval    6. Computers / General    7. General Theory of Computing    8. History    9. Naval forces & warfare    10. USA   

Subjects:  1. Anthropology - General    2. Archaeology / Anthropology    3. Computer Books: Internet General    4. Computers    5. Discrimination & Racism    6. History & Theory - General    7. Internet - General    8. Political Theory    9. Public Policy - Social Policy    10. Cultural studies    11. Science / General   

Subjects:  1. APL (Computer program language    2. APL (Computer program language)    3. Computer Books: Languages    4. Computer Books: Operating Systems    5. Computer programs    6. Computers    7. History & Philosophy    8. Mathematics    9. Mathematics (General)    10. Programming Languages - General    11. Study and teaching   

Reviews (1)

Nice summary of a huge field
So short a time. Seems like yesterday when Jobs and Wozniak kicked off Apple Computer in 1977. Or, just two years earlier, when Gates and Allen started Microsoft in New Mexico, before moving it to Seattle. The field has come so far. Now larger than mainframes. And Microsoft and Intel having larger market caps than IBM, who gave them the crucial original contracts for the IBM PC in the early 80s.Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - General Information    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computers    4. Computers - General Information    5. Hardware - Personal Computers - General    6. Computers / Personal Computers & Microcomputers / General    7. Electronics & Communications Engineering    8. History    9. Microcomputers    10. Social & Legal Aspects of Computing   

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Science    3. Computers    4. Computers - General Information    5. History    6. Social Aspects    7. Social Aspects - General    8. Technology    9. Computers / Social Aspects / General    10. Impact of computing & IT on society    11. Popular culture   

Subjects:  1. Golf    2. Golf - General    3. History    4. Reference    5. Sports    6. Sports & Recreation    7. COMPUTERS - PC REPAIR/A+ TRD PB    8. Reference works    9. Sports & Recreation / Golf   

Reviews (2)

History and clarity,not hype
You can see why the author was able to solve so many of the earliest computing problems:he can distill huge amounts of mind-numbing technical detail into a crisp, memorable point.Sure, he has the right credentials to write this professional autobiography: he helped build and design the first "personal" computer (in the early sixties!), the first ARPANET nodes, the first true multiprocessor, worked at Xerox PARC, and so on.And he covers history, technology, and personalities with a clear, self-effacing style. Computing's Early Days
This is a charmingly written book, filled with interesting tales and providing a real "feel" for those wonderfully chaotic times. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Science    3. Computers    4. Computers - General Information    5. History    6. General Theory of Computing   

Reviews (10)

superbly researched and quite interesting
Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman have put an immense effort into writing an exhaustive review of Norbert Wiener, one of the great geniuses of the last century.Wiener spoke an ungodly number of languages, got his PhD from Harvard at the age of 19, made immense contributions to mathematics, biology, computer sciences, medicine, political thought - even in McCarthy's heyday he had no qualms about speaking his mind -, etc, etc.
I was there as Prof. Weiner's Student
When I first saw the title "Dark Heroof ...." I had to chuckle with the image it engendered of Norbert, dressed in a floppy Batman constume, goutee,thick glassed over his mask which of course hid his identy waddling down the corridors of Building 2, fighting crime in Tauberian Theorems.
A Forgotten Inventor & His Contributions.
This biography is about the author of the 1948 CYBERNETICS.He was called "the father of the information age" and yet these authors call him the "dark hero who has fallen through the cracks."Norbert Wiener, born in 1895, was a child prodigy who entered college in 1906 and earned his PhD from Harvard seven years later (it took my smart son ten years to get his from University of Chicago!)In 1919 he became a teacher at MIT in Cambridge, Massachuettes but, after two years he left for Cambridge, England, on a graduate fellowship.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Cybernetics    5. Educators    6. History    7. Mathematics (General)    8. Scientists - General    9. 20th century    10. Biography: general    11. Computing and Information Technology    12. Cybernetics & systems theory    13. History of science    14. USA   

Subjects:  1. 21st century    2. Anthropology - Cultural    3. Computer network resources    4. Islam    5. Islam - General    6. Islamic Studies    7. Middle East - General    8. Panislamism    9. Social Science    10. Sociology    11. Sociology of Religion    12. Ummah (Islam)    13. Islamic countries    14. Social Science / Islamic Studies    15. Vincent J. Cornell; David Gilmartin; Charles Kurzman; Muhammad Qasim Zaman; Judith Ernst; Tayba Sharif Samya; Samia Serageldin; Jamilla Karim; Carl Ernst; Quintan Wiktorowicz; Gary Bunt; Jon Anderson; Taieb Belghazi; Samy Alim; Mecca; Medina; Arabia; Senegal; Indonesia; Prophet Muhammad; Islam; umma; Morocco; Ibn Battuta     16. World history   

Reviews (2)

If you don't want a book, get the PDF version!
This text was published by Prentice-Hall, Inc., in 1984. some information
wish some one provide the publication details of this boo ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Digital computer simulation    2. Electronic digital computers    3. Evaluation    4. Questions & Answers    5. Queuing theory    6. Reference    7. Systems Engineering    8. History of ideas, intellectual history   

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Science    3. Computers    4. Computers - General Information    5. General    6. Handbooks, manuals, etc    7. History    8. Information Technology    9. Mathematics and Science    10. Technology / General   

Reviews (2)

Eureka!A truly pioneering work.
Computational philosophy of science will define twenty-first philosophy of science, and it has already started.This book by Herbert Simon,Nobel laureate and one of the founders of artificial intelligence, describes several computerized discovery systems created under Simon's direction at Carnegie-Melon University in the 1980's.
A must reading for all who work with computers
A book which opens a new direction in mankind'soutlook towards itself. Talks about how the ultimate quality,namely the creativity, which distinguishes humans from all the animals, is not unique. Should be compulsory reading for all students of computers, if not everybody. Hundred years form now, scientistswill call this the first book ever published. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cognitive Psychology    2. Computer Bks - Other Applications    3. Computers - Other Applications    4. Creative ability in science    5. History    6. Methodology    7. Microscopes & Microscopy    8. Miscellaneous Software    9. Philosophy    10. Psychology    11. Science    12. Cognition & cognitive psychology    13. Philosophy of mind    14. Psychology & Psychiatry / Cognitive Psychology   

Reviews (11)

Great observations, but fails to answer main question: SO?
"Oversold and Underused" uses the author's apparently great array of resources to compile a comprehensive study on one of the newest, most popular educational fads: computers. Are they really underused?
The book contains a lot of good information, including surveys, and observations.I do however, have some questions.If computers are so underused, how come everybody is always trying to get more lab time because the computer labs are booked up? Every school should read
Oversold and underused is a great read (informative and precise) for any school personel who are interested in learning more about what is happening or may happen with your technology money. Larry Cuban has provided great research that backs up his statements of how computers and technology are being underused in today's educational setting. If you think that the new technology revolution is going to reinvent our educational system, I suggest that you spend a few hours reading this book first. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer-assisted instruction    2. Computers & Technology    3. Education    4. Education / Teaching    5. Educational technology    6. Elementary    7. Evaluation    8. History    9. United States    10. Computer-aided learning (CAL)    11. Education / Elementary    12. Philosophy of education    13. USA   

Subjects:  1. Academic-industrial collaboration    2. Computers & Technology    3. Economic aspects    4. Education / Teaching    5. Education, Higher    6. Higher    7. History    8. Military    9. Military - General    10. Research    11. United States    12. Universities and colleges    13. History / United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877)