Computing - (MIT Press Essential Knowledge) by Paul E Ceruzzi (Paperback)
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<p/><br></br><p><b> About the Book </b></p></br></br>A compact and accessible history, from punch cards and calculators to UNIVAC and ENIAC, the personal computer, Silicon Valley, and the Internet.<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br><b>A compact and accessible history, from punch cards and calculators to UNIVAC and ENIAC, the personal computer, Silicon Valley, and the Internet.</b><p>The history of computing could be told as the story of hardware and software, or the story of the Internet, or the story of "smart" hand-held devices, with subplots involving IBM, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, and Twitter. In this concise and accessible account of the invention and development of digital technology, computer historian Paul Ceruzzi offers a broader and more useful perspective. He identifies four major threads that run throughout all of computing's technological development: digitization--the coding of information, computation, and control in binary form, ones and zeros; the convergence of multiple streams of techniques, devices, and machines, yielding more than the sum of their parts; the steady advance of electronic technology, as characterized famously by "Moore's Law"; and the human-machine interface.</p><p>Ceruzzi guides us through computing history, telling how a Bell Labs mathematician coined the word "digital" in 1942 (to describe a high-speed method of calculating used in anti-aircraft devices), and recounting the development of the punch card (for use in the 1890 U.S. Census). He describes the ENIAC, built for scientific and military applications; the UNIVAC, the first general purpose computer; and ARPANET, the Internet's precursor. Ceruzzi's account traces the world-changing evolution of the computer from a room-size ensemble of machinery to a "minicomputer" to a desktop computer to a pocket-sized smart phone. He describes the development of the silicon chip, which could store ever-increasing amounts of data and enabled ever-decreasing device size. He visits that hotbed of innovation, Silicon Valley, and brings the story up to the present with the Internet, the World Wide Web, and social networking.</p><p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br>It's a delightful small book, very nicely produced and with illustrations, perfect for a journey or to slip in a pocket for commuting. It's also, in 150 pages, a super overview of the history of this utterly transformational technology...--<b>Diane Coyle</b>, <i>The Enlightened Economist</i>--<br><p>For those interested in the fundamentals of computer history, <i>Computing: A Concise History</i> navigates a complex world with in-depth, authoritative coverage in terms accessible to the non-expert.</p>--<b>John F. Barber</b>, <i>Leonardo Reviews</i>--<br><p/><br></br><p><b> About the Author </b></p></br></br>Paul E. Ceruzzi is Curator at the National Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian Institution. He is the author of <i>Computing: A Concise History, </i> <i>A History of Modern Computing, </i> and I<i>nternet Alley: High Technology in Tysons Corner, 1945-2005</i>, all published by the MIT Press, and other books.
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