- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Granta Books; New edition edition (3 April 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1862078394
- ISBN-13: 978-1862078390
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 13 x 2.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 406,008 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| ||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"* 'Contains completely new information that will delight and thrill historians of IT...a surprise hit that will interest almost everyone' Focus Magazine * 'Well researched and a rattling good read, it is terrific value' New Scientist * 'Hally's researches took him all over the world for what is clearly not just a vitally important piece of scientific (and oral) history but a fascinating story in its own right' The Scotsman * 'It will be enjoyed by anyone interested in the dawn of the digital age' The Independent"
Focus Magazine
'Contains completely new information that will delight and thrill...a surprise hit that will interest almost everyone'
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
One winter evening in 1937 a professor from Iowa State College went for a drive along the open roads across the eastern half of the state into neighbouring Illinois. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
One winter evening in 1937 a professor from Iowa State College went for a drive along the open roads across the eastern half of the state into neighbouring Illinois. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is the exciting history of the birth of computing. When a new field of knowledge opens up new possibilities, anything can happen---water computers, tea shops at the cutting edge of technology and, as often happens with technology, parallel development in separate parts of the word; Britain, the U.S., the U.S.S.R. and (a suprise to me) Australia.
This account is full of suprises about the earliest electronic computing machines, with colourful accounts of the pioneers in the field do amazing things that no-one had previously even thought of. A golden age of innovation, both technically and commercially with visionary business executives seeing the potential for the new technology---for example, Lyon's tea shops.
It is a fascinating history, which Mike Hally appears to relish. He avoids technical details of these early computers, but blends in enough information to appreciate the difficulties faced by the engineers who were, effectively, inventing the modern world. He also tackles the more controversial subject of priority of invention, which still rages today, without passing judgements but sticking to the facts.
It is hard to know what it must have been like in those exciting times, but Mike Hally captures a flavour of it in the interviews with some of those involved with these early machines, and one wonders if such a revolutionary step could ever now be taken in quite the same way.
A book not just for the student of computing history, but an accessible history of pioneering, vision and invention.
This account is full of suprises about the earliest electronic computing machines, with colourful accounts of the pioneers in the field do amazing things that no-one had previously even thought of. A golden age of innovation, both technically and commercially with visionary business executives seeing the potential for the new technology---for example, Lyon's tea shops.
It is a fascinating history, which Mike Hally appears to relish. He avoids technical details of these early computers, but blends in enough information to appreciate the difficulties faced by the engineers who were, effectively, inventing the modern world. He also tackles the more controversial subject of priority of invention, which still rages today, without passing judgements but sticking to the facts.
It is hard to know what it must have been like in those exciting times, but Mike Hally captures a flavour of it in the interviews with some of those involved with these early machines, and one wonders if such a revolutionary step could ever now be taken in quite the same way.
A book not just for the student of computing history, but an accessible history of pioneering, vision and invention.
Format:Paperback
It often appears that events in history seem to depend on one person: "X" discovered "Y" or invented "Z". Closer investigation reveals that things are more a product of the time with much more collaboration and/or parallel development without any single person able to truly claim pre-eminence. More about evolution than revolution.
This history of the origins of modern computing illustrates the point admirably. It captures the international developments, the personalities and attitudes perfectly. As ever, not every decision was technology-led so, for example Australia abandoned its computer industry (who knew they had one?) in an assumption that its comparative advantage lay elsewhere and IBM's success appears to have resulted from some major entrepreneurial risk taking rather than because they had a business plan the bank manager liked.
It's not a heavy duty read and I'm not sure it needed the appendices on base arithmetic. The Soul of a New Machine and A Computer Called LEO are better reads but they focus on a single aspect. A missing chapter might have discussed the Transputer, another ARM and its close relationship to the BBC Model B. Both were British 'contenders' with the latter proving to be remarkably successful (both were novel, the former an evolutionary failure) in modern computing devices.
I was also unclear why Ada Lovelace required such careful character assasination. On the evidence she seems to have been a visionary. After that it's just hard work.
This history of the origins of modern computing illustrates the point admirably. It captures the international developments, the personalities and attitudes perfectly. As ever, not every decision was technology-led so, for example Australia abandoned its computer industry (who knew they had one?) in an assumption that its comparative advantage lay elsewhere and IBM's success appears to have resulted from some major entrepreneurial risk taking rather than because they had a business plan the bank manager liked.
It's not a heavy duty read and I'm not sure it needed the appendices on base arithmetic. The Soul of a New Machine and A Computer Called LEO are better reads but they focus on a single aspect. A missing chapter might have discussed the Transputer, another ARM and its close relationship to the BBC Model B. Both were British 'contenders' with the latter proving to be remarkably successful (both were novel, the former an evolutionary failure) in modern computing devices.
I was also unclear why Ada Lovelace required such careful character assasination. On the evidence she seems to have been a visionary. After that it's just hard work.
Format:Paperback
I bought this book from Mike Hally at the Vintage Computer Fair at Bletchley Park (sorry Amazon!). It's made the daily commute an enjoyable experience! I partly agree with a previous review; covering each country individually does make it feel a little disjointed but I don't think this detracted from the enjoyment. A great book covering not only the hardware but also the people and personalities behind the machines. Recommended.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
A Slim Volume
Electronic Brains by Mike Hally would have been best left as a series of Radio 4 programmes that might have provided some easy listening. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Robert Tait
Interesting but disjointed
Lots of good stories from the early days of computing but by dealing with a single country at a time it feels like a set of individual essays rather than a complete overall review
Published on 11 Sep 2009 by Robert Wallace
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
