History of Computing Books

Book Synopsis#1 New York Times non-fiction bestseller #2 Sunday Times non-fiction bestsellerSHORTLISTED FOR THE FINANCIAL TIMES BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARDCHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY APPLE, AMAZON, THE TIMES AND FINANCIAL TIMESEpic feats. Epic failures. An epic story.Walter Isaacson charts Elon Musk’s journey from humble beginnings to one of the wealthiest people on the planet – but is Musk a genius or a jerk?   From the author of Steve Jobs and other bestselling biographies, this is the astonishingly intimate story of Elon Musk, the most fascinating and controversial innovator of our era – a rule-breaking visionary who helped to lead the world into the era of electric vehicles, private space exploration and artificial intelligence. Oh, and took over Twitter. When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was reguTrade Review‘Its portrait of the tech maverick is fascinating. . . a persuasive mixture of alarm and deep admiration' * Daily Telegraph *‘[Isaacson] has done something amazing with the Musk biography which is to write a 688-page quick read’ * Financial Times *‘Whatever you think of Mr Musk, he is a man worth understanding – which makes this a book worth reading’ * The Economist *‘A penetrating new biography’ * Daily Mail *‘A beat-by-beat book that follows the tycoon inside important rooms, as well as exploring obscure regions of his mind’ * The Times *‘A comprehensive, deeply reported chronicle of the world-shaping tech mogul’s life’ * Politico *‘An experienced biographer’s comprehensive study’ * Observer *‘He forms his own conclusions, which are mostly admirably balanced and mature. . . Isaacson, in his quest for a comprehensive audit of the Musk phenomenon, errs slightly on the side of the voyeur in these encounters, but I can’t blame him. It’s quite the spectacle’ * Independent *‘The book contains a series of illuminating anecdotes about Musk’ * Guardian *'Isaacson offers both an engaging chronicle of his subject’s busy life so far and some compelling answers’ * Wall Street Journal *‘The most complete profile of Musk yet’ * Time Magazine *'There’s not much middle ground on Musk – people love him or hate him – but Isaacson is best positioned to figure out what makes him tick’ * Los Angeles Times *‘The resulting book delves deep into the billionaire’s demons, including childhood bullies and a difficult father, and interrogates their relationship to his success’ * New York Times *‘Isaacson deftly handles complicated matters like the development of electric vehicles, rockets and artificial intelligence while also deeply exploring Musk’s background and family’ * AP News *‘This fast-paced biography. . . [is] a head-spinning tale about a vain, brilliant, sometimes cruel figure whose ambitions are actively shaping the future of human life' -- Ron Charles * CBS Sunday Morning *‘Everything you'd expect from a book on Musk. . . While the stories are fascinating and guaranteed to spark a mountain of coverage, founders and entrepreneurs will also unearth valuable lessons’ * Inc. *‘The book is bursting with stories. . . A deeply engrossing tale of a spectacular American innovator’ * New York Journal of Books *‘Walter Isaacson’s intimate account of a tech titan’ * TLS *‘this biography of Elon Musk is still fascinating. How could it not be? . . . He has spoken to practically everybody’ * Evening Standard *‘a highly readable portrait of a very unusual personality. . . It is a considerable achievement on Isaacson’s part to have persuaded this reviewer. . . to adopt a more sympathetic view of Musk and set aside much of the familiar media caricature of him.’ * Literary Review *‘Described by the FT as a “688-page quick read” for the TikTok generation, Isaacson’s biography of the South African entrepreneur races along at bone-rattling speed. That certainly makes for an entertaining exploration of Musk the celebrity’ * Financial Times, Technology *‘From its cover… to its size (nearly 700 pages), this account of the world’s highest profile technology entrepreneur shouts importance… Isaacson does a good job of illustrating the crazy genius of his multiple projects' * Financial Times, Business *‘[There are] few biographers who have had so much access to powerful people as Walter Isaacson. So his biography Elon Musk is a must-read. . . in my view, it is the details about his attitude towards artificial intelligence at Tesla, or his dealings with the Ukrainian government, which are most fascinating. Whatever you think of Musk, [this is] an illuminating book that forces us to confront a crucial question: are innovators always half-mad?’ -- Gillian Tett * Financial Times *‘This biography, written with his approval, follows him from his dweebish, unhappy childhood to Twitter trolling adulthood’ * The Times, Books of the Year *'Isaacson, a highly respected biographer, does an excellent job in tying him down. Musk cooperated in its writing, but it's no hagiography, delving into dark family secrets, exposing Musk's anti-social nature, his addiction to drama and risk, his tendency to, in the words of his ex-wife, go "king-crazy"' * Daily Mail, Biographies of the Year *

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Book SynopsisThe story of the man who instigated the work that led to the internet—and shifted our understanding of what computers could be. Behind every great revolution is a vision, and behind perhaps the greatest revolution of our time is the vision of J.C.R. Licklider. He did not design the first personal computers or write the software that ran on them, nor was he involved in the legendary early companies that brought them to the forefront of our everyday experience. He was instead a relentless visionary who saw the potential in the way that individuals could interact with computers and software. At a time when computers were a short step removed from mechanical data processors, Licklider was writing treatises on “human-computer symbiosis,” “computers as communication devices,” and a now not-so-unfamiliar “Intergalactic Network.” His ideas became so influential, his passion so contagious, that author M. Mitchell Waldrop calls him “computing’s Johnny Appleseed.” In a simultaneously compelling personal narrative and comprehensive historical exposition, Waldrop tells the story of the man who not only instigated the work that led to the internet, but also shifted our understanding of what computers were and could be. This Stripe Press edition also includes the original texts of Licklider’s three most influential writings: “Man-Computer Symbiosis” (1960), which outlines the vision that led to the personal computer revolution of the 1970s; his “Intergalactic Network” memo (1963), which outlines the vision that inspired the internet; and “The Computer as a Communication Device” (1968, coauthored with Robert Taylor), which amplifies his vision for what the network could become.Trade Review“When people ask me about Xerox Parc, I always tell them about J. C. R. Licklider "Lick" and how he formed the ARPA Information Processing Techniques Office in 1962 and started the great research funding for interactive computing and pervasive worldwide networks that has resulted in most of the technology we use today: both via the inventions of the eventually 16 or so ARPA projects at various universities and think tanks, and by creating the next generations of computing researchers, many of whom became the founders and mainstays of Xerox Parc. The top book I recommend to read about this large process that stretched over 20 years is The Dream Machine by M. Mitchell Waldrop. It is the most accurate, has the most detail, and has the best organization and writing. He is able to admirably catch many of the most important parts of both the history and the spirit of the many headed research and engineering processes that together created our interactive networked information world. ” —Alan Kay, computer scientist and A.M. Turing Award recipient “The Dream Machine works admirably as an exploration of the intellectual and political roots of the rise of modern computing. It's an ambitious and worthwhile addition to the history of science. ” —San Francisco Chronicle “ A masterpiece! A mesmerizing but balanced and comprehensive look at the making of the information revolution the people, the ideas, the tensions, and the hurdles. And on top of that, it is beautifully written. ” —John Seely Brown, former director of Xerox PARC, coauthor of The Social Life of Information “A sprawling history of the ideas, individuals, and groups of people that got us from punch cards to personal computers… comprehensive… impressive… [and] compelling.” —The New York Times Book Review “The story is fascinating, played out in almost 500 pages of engrossing politics, personalities, and passions. This is not a casual read—but for those who want the whole story, well told, it is a very good one.” —Wired “A sweeping history of personal computing, made vivid by rich detail.” —The St. Louis Post-Dispatch “A well-reported story about the overwhelming power of vision and tenacity.” —USA Today “An informative and engaging history.” —Library JournalTable of ContentsPrologue: Tracy’s dadChapter 1: Missouri boysChapter 2: The last transitionChapter 3: New kinds of peopleChapter 4: The freedom to make mistakesChapter 5: The tale of the fig tree and the waspChapter 6: The phenomena surrounding computersChapter 7: The intergalactic networkChapter 8: Living in the futureChapter 9: Lick’s kidsAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndexAddendum

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Nooney’s book tracks the pivotal years of the shift toward personal computing, epitomized by the Apple II and sped along by consumer software. . . . [It] tells the story of how computers became irrevocably personal, but what’s most striking, revisiting the history of the Apple II, is how much less personalizable our machines have become.” * New Yorker *"Nooney makes the heartfelt case that the Apple II’s most compelling story 'isn’t found in the feat of its engineering,' or in the personalities of Wozniak and Jobs, 'or the way it set the stage for the company’s multibillion-dollar future.' Instead, it’s about all those brave and curious people, the users, who came 'Not to hack, but to play . . . Not to program, but to print… The story of personal computing in the United States is not about the evolution of hackers — it’s about the rise of everyday users.'" * The New Stack *"The Apple II Age is an enjoyable and educational history book from a writer who has no intention to worship at the feet of the people who built the early computer industry and no desire to repeat apocryphal stories of how computers entered our homes and lives. With original research that questions and clarifies popular, long-held assumptions and lore, Nooney has produced a realistic, factual examination that provides unique insight into the era of the Apple II." * Juiced.GS *“The Apple II Age is a joy to read and an extraordinary achievement in computer history. A rigorous thinker and a bright and witty writer, Nooney offers a compelling account of the initial attempts to make computers inviting to the public. The Apple II Age, like the old microcomputer itself, is bound to intrigue both experts and newcomers to the subject.” * Joanne McNeil, author of 'Lurking: How a Person Became a User' *“Nooney complicates and enriches the men-in-garages Silicon Valley mythology we all know by drawing together a rich cast of software visionaries whose creative and entrepreneurial talents gave life to the machine. A magisterial history and a gift to all curious technophiles.” * Claire L. Evans, author of 'Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet' *“A highly original and insightful book that makes an enormous contribution. Nooney demonstrates how software transformed microcomputing from an arcane hobby into a mass consumer product.” * Kevin Driscoll, author of 'The Modem World: A Prehistory of Social Media' *“In these pages I found the story of my own coming of age with an Apple II, but it is not a nostalgic or sentimental story about boys and their toys. Instead, the monochrome green glow of the CRT is rendered prismatic through Nooney’s rigorous scholarship, painstaking archival research, and always bracing and authentic prose.” * Matthew Kirschenbaum, author of 'Track Changes: A Literary History of Word Processing' *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1 Prehistories of the Personal 2 Cultivating the Apple II 3 Business: VisiCalc 4 Games: Mystery House 5 Utilities: Locksmith 6 Home: The Print Shop 7 Education: Snooper Troops Inconclusions Epilogue: On the Consignment Floor Acknowledgments A Note on Archives and Sources Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe hidden history of the pocket calculator—a device that ushered in modern mathematics, helped build the atomic bomb and went with us to the moon—and the mathematicians, designers and inventors who brought it to lifeTrade Review"The book provides a breezy mathematical history tour through the development of number systems, slide rules, mechanical calculators and microchips. " -- Jeffrey M. Perkel - Nature"Houston's sprightly history aims to give the calculator the recognition it deserves as a stepping stone to the digital era... He makes a convincing case, in sum, for the significance of the calculator. " -- The Economist"Houston's narrative is full of oddballs, many of them brilliant..." -- Alexander Nazaryan - The New York Times Book Review"Starting from the seemingly simple task of recounting the history of the pocket calculator, Keith Houston unfolds a complex and fascinating history of numeracy, the evolution of technology, and the human desire to push our capabilities ever further. Deep," -- Cal Newport, The New York Times bestselling author of Digital Minimalism and A World Without Email"Everywhere and nowhere at once’ is how Keith Houston describes the pocket calculator, a machine that is so intimately intertwined with human history that it is impossible to imagine our lives deprived of its influence. In Empire of the Sum, Houston takes us on a journey that spans centuries and reaches across the universe, always coming back to humanity’s craving for calculating machines in all their diverse forms. I dare you to reach the end of this book and not be irresistibly charmed by both the pocket calculator and Houston’s witty, gregarious prose." -- Natalia Holt, The New York Times bestselling author of Rise of the Rocket Girls"[An] enlightening history" -- Pablo Scheffer - The Times Literary Supplement

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Book SynopsisBefore Palm Pilots and iPods, PCs and laptops, the term computer referred to the people who did scientific calculations by hand. These workers were neither calculating geniuses nor idiot savants but knowledgeable people who, in other circumstances, might have become scientists in their own right. When Computers Were Human represents the first in-depth account of this little-known, 200-year epoch in the history of science and technology. Beginning with the story of his own grandmother, who was trained as a human computer, David Alan Grier provides a poignant introduction to the wider world of women and men who did the hard computational labor of science. His grandmother''s casual remark, I wish I''d used my calculus, hinted at a career deferred and an education forgotten, a secret life unappreciated; like many highly educated women of her generation, she studied to become a human computer because nothing else would offer her a place in the scientific world.Trade ReviewWinner of the 2006 Book Award in Computers/Internet, Independent Publisher Book Awards "David Alan Grier's recovery of the wonderfully rich story of human computers ... ask[s] why human computers were made to disappear in the first place... It is notoriously difficult to recover details of the lives of ordinary people... But Grier triumphantly achieves his aim when discussing the twentieth-century human computer, as many are alive to tell their tales."--Jon Agar, Nature "Prior to the advent of programmable data-processing electronic devices in the mid-20th century, the word computer was commonly used to describe a person hired to crank out stupefyingly tedious calculations... Human computers have ... been largely forgotten, and David Alan Grier ... is intent on restoring them to their rightful place in history."--Ann Finkbeiner, Discover "When Computers Were Human is a detailed and fascinating look at a world I had not even known existed."--James Fallows, National Correspondent, Atlantic Monthly "The strength of this book is its breadth of research and its human touch... [A] well written, informative and enjoyable work."--Amy Shell-Gellasch, MAA Reviews "Overall, this book provides a wonderful survey of human computing from 1682 onward... I recommend this book to all historians of computing, both professional and amateur."--Jonathan P. Bowen, IEEE Annals of the History of ComputingTable of ContentsIntroduction: A Grandmother's Secret Life 1 Part I: Astronomy and the Division of Labor 1682-1880 9 Chapter One: The First Anticipated Return: Halley's Comet 1758 11 Chapter Two: The Children of Adam Smith 26 Chapter Three: The Celestial Factory: Halley's Comet 1835 46 Chapter Four: The American Prime Meridian 55 Chapter Five: A Carpet for the Computing Room 72 Part II: Mass Production and New Fields of Science 1880-1930 89 Chapter Six: Looking Forward, Looking Backward: Machinery 1893 91 Chapter Seven: Darwin's Cousins 102 Chapter Eight: Breaking from the Ellipse: Halley's Comet 1910 119 Chapter Nine: Captains of Academe 126 Chapter Ten: War Production 145 Chapter Eleven: Fruits of the Conflict: Machinery 1922 159 Part III: Professional Computers and an Independent Discipline 1930-1964 175 Chapter Twelve: The Best of Bad Times 177 Chapter Thirteen: Scientific Relief 198 Chapter Fourteen: Tools of the Trade: Machinery 1937 220 Chapter Fifteen: Professional Ambition 233 Chapter Sixteen: The Midtown New York Glide Bomb Club 256 Chapter Seventeen: The Victor's Share 276 Chapter Eighteen: I Alone Am Left to Tell Thee 298 Epilogue: Final Passage: Halley's Comet 1986 318 Acknowledgments 323 Appendix: Recurring Characters, Institutions, and Concepts 325 Notes 333 Research Notes and Bibliography 373 Index 401 Illustration Credits 412

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"David Craddock's deep dive into the origins behind some of the most important Apple II games will keep you riveted as you learn the wondrous stories of how these games came to be and how the industry started." -- John Romero, co-founder of id Software, co-designer of Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake"Thanks to this excellent and thoroughly researched book, we can relive the genesis of several seminal [Apple II] games and fully appreciate the legacy this revolutionary machine had. As aptly said by Craddock in the Introduction, whatever we can think of today, 'The Apple II already did it.'" -- Dr. Roberto Dillon, Author of The Golden Age of Video Games"By going straight to the source, Craddock has shed new light on such iconic titles as Zork, The Oregon Trail, and Wizardry. Break Out is a must-own for anyone interested in the history of computers and computer games." -- Brett Weiss, author of The 100 Greatest Console Video Games: 1977-1987Break Out covers a deeply important era in game creation, marketing, and distribution that is often overlooked by even the most avid historians. Everyone who loves video games should devour this one cover-to-cover. -- Patrick Scott Patterson, video game advocate

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Book SynopsisA rollicking, character-driven narrative by bestselling author Ben Mezrich, Breaking Twitter pulls back the curtain on the biggest business story of our time.Trade ReviewUproarious . . . stimulating enough to keep even an unmedicated narcoleptic awake -- Washington Times on The Accidental Billionaires

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Book SynopsisProject Gutenberg is lauded as one of the earliest digitisation initiatives, a mythology that Michael Hart, its founder perpetuated through to his death in 2011. In this Element, the author re-examines the extant historical evidence to challenge some of Hart's bolder claims.Table of Contents1. Introduction; 2. Mythological Origins; 3. Ideology; 4. Technological Platforms; 5. Platform Governance; 6. Digital Publishing Collective; 7. Anti-Platform: Project Gutenberg's Lasting Influence; Cast of Characters; Timeline.

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Book SynopsisA celebration of the women who furthered computer technology, from the nineteenth century to the present day.Trade Review'This volume will provide a valuable reference tool and starting point for those who wish to further expand their knowledge of these women who played such a vital role in the development of computers that have changed the way we live.' -- All About History Magazine, December 2023'In his latest book he covers the vital role that women have played in the history of computing and, as author of 30 books, one of his other titles is Women of Science.' -- Family Tree Magazine, March 2024

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Book SynopsisCutting-edge historians explore ideas, communities, and technologies around modern computing to explore how computers mediate social relations. Computers have been framed both as a mirror for the human mind and as an irreducible other that humanness is defined against, depending on different historical definitions of humanness. They can serve both liberation and control because some people's freedom has historically been predicated on controlling others. Historians of computing return again and again to these contradictions, as they often reveal deeper structures. Using twin frameworks of abstraction and embodiment, a reformulation of the old mind-body dichotomy, this anthology examines how social relations are enacted in and through computing. The authors examining Abstraction revisit central concepts in computing, including algorithm, program, clone, and risk. In doing so, they demonstrate how the meanings of these terms reflect power relations and social identities. The section Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction. Thinking with ComputersPart I. AbstractionsChapter 1. Waiting for Midnight: Risk Perception and the Millennium BugChapter 2. Centrists against the Center: The Jeffersonian Politics of a Decentralized InternetChapter 3. Beyond the Pale: The Blackbird Web Browser's Critical ReceptionChapter 4. Scientology Online: Copyright Infringement and the Legal Construction of the InternetChapter 5. Patenting Automation of Race and Ethnicity Classifications: Protecting Neutral Technology or Disparate Treatment by Proxy?Chapter 6. "Difficult Things Are Difficult to Describe": The Role of Formal Semantics in European Computer Science, 1960–1980Chapter 7. What's in a Name? Origins, Transpositions, and Transformations of the Triptych Algorithm–Code–ProgramChapter 8. The Lurking ProblemChapter 9. The Help Desk: Changing Images of Product Support in Personal Computing, 1975–1990Chapter 10. Power to the Clones: Hardware and Software Bricolage on the PeripheryPart II: EmbodimentsChapter 11. Indigenous Circuits: Navajo Women and the Racialization of Early Electronic ManufactureChapter 12. Inventing the Black Computer ProfessionalChapter 13. The Baby and the Black Box: A History of Software, Sexism, and the Sound BarrierChapter 14. Computing Nanyang: Information Technology in a Developing Singapore, 1965–1985Chapter 15. Engineering the Lay Mind: Lev Landa's Algo-Heuristic Theory and Artificial IntelligenceChapter 16. The Measure of Meaning: Automatic Speech Recognition and the Human-Computer ImaginationChapter 17. Broken Mirrors: Surveillance in Oakland as Both Reflection and Refraction of California's Carceral StateChapter 18. Punk Culture and the Rise of the Hacker EthicChapter 19. The Computer as Prosthesis? Embodiment, Augmentation, and DisabilityChapter 20. "Have Any Remedies for Tired Eyes?": Computer Pain as Computer HistoryAfterword. Beyond Abstractions and EmbodimentsContributorsIndex

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Book SynopsisA leading voice in technology studies shares a collection of essential essays on the preservation of software and history of games. Since the early 2000s, Henry Lowood has led or had a key role in numerous initiatives devoted to the preservation and documentation of virtual worlds, digital games, and interactive simulations, establishing himself as a major scholar in the field of game studies. His voluminous writings have tackled subject matter spanning the history of game design and development, military simulation, table-top games, machinima, e-sports, wargaming, and historical software archives and collection development. Replayed consolidates Lowood's far-flung and significant publications on these subjects into a single volume.

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Book SynopsisThe true, unvarnished history of the town at the heart of Silicon Valley.Palo Alto is nice. The weather is temperate, the people are educated, rich, healthy, enterprising. Remnants of a hippie counterculture have synthesized with high technology and big finance to produce the spiritually and materially ambitious heart of Silicon Valley, whose products are changing how we do everything from driving around to eating food. It is also a haunted toxic waste dump built on stolen Indian burial grounds, and an integral part of the capitalist world system. In Palo Alto, the first comprehensive, global history of Silicon Valley, Malcolm Harris examines how and why Northern California evolved in the particular, consequential way it did, tracing the ideologies, technologies, and policies that have been engineered there over the course of 150 years of Anglo settler colonialism, from IQ tests to the "tragedy of the commons," racial genetics, and "broken windows" theory. The Internet and computers, too. It's a story about how a small American suburb became a powerful engine for economic growth and war, and how it came to lead the world into a surprisingly disastrous 21st century.Palo Alto is an urgent and visionary history of the way we live now, one that ends with a clear-eyed, radical proposition for how we might begin to change course.Trade ReviewHarris's earlier book Kids These Days was a broad cultural history of millennials, zeroing in on the unfair economic stereotypes that have dogged the generation. Now, he tells an ambitious story of Silicon Valley, showing how its specific culture and history allowed it to become the site of both breathtaking technological advancement and capitalist exploitation. * Joumana Khatib, NEW YORK TIMES *Unsparing... Its narrative has the intoxifying capitalist rush of The Lehman Trilogy... Uneasily compelling * The Spectator *Cathartic and illuminating... readers will leave this book gifted with a trove of information, a lurch in their stomach, and a sense of foreboding about the future * Irish Independent *

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Book SynopsisThe enduring story of Thomas Watson Jr.-a figure more important to the creation of the modern world than Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, and MorganNearly fifty years into IBM's existence, Thomas Watson Jr. undertook the biggest gamble in business history when he "bet the farm" on the creation of the IBM System/360, the world's first fully integrated and compatible mainframe computer. As CEO, Watson drove a revolution no other company-then or now-would dare, laying the foundation for the digital age that has transformed every society, corporation, and government.The story of Watson being "present at the creation" of the digital age is intertwined with near-Shakespearean personal drama. While he put IBM and its employees at risk, Watson also carried out a family-shattering battle over the future of the company with his brother Dick. This titanic struggle between brothers led to Dick's death and almost killed Watson Jr. himself.Though he was eventually touted by Fortune magazine as "the greatest capitalist who ever lived," Watson's directionless, playboy early years made him an unlikely candidate for corporate titan. How he pulled his life together and, despite personal demons, paved the way for what became a global industry is an epic tale full of drama, inspiration, and valuable lessons in leadership, risk-taking, and social responsibility.

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Book SynopsisA fascinating exploration of theuncrackable codes and secret cyphers that helped win wars, spark revolutions and change the faces of nations.There have been secret codes since before the Old Testament, and there were secret codes in the Old Testament, too. Almost as soon as writing was invented, so too were the devious means to hide messages and keep them under the wraps of secrecy. In The Hidden History of Code Breaking, Sinclair McKay explores these uncrackable codes, secret cyphers and hidden messages from across time to tell a new history of a secret world. From the temples of Ancient Greece to the court of Elizabeth I; from antique manuscripts whose codes might hold prophecies of doom to the modern realm of quantum mechanics, we will see how a few concealed words could help to win wars, spark revolutions and even change the faces of great nations. Here is the complete guide to the hidden world of codebreaking, with opportunities for you to see if you could have cracked some of the trickiest puzzles and lip-chewing codes ever created.

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Book SynopsisAnalog computing is one of the main pillars of Unconventional Computing. Almost forgotten for decades, we now see an ever-increasing interest in electronic analog computing because it offers a path to high-performance and highly energy-efficient computing. These characteristics are of great importance in a world where vast amounts of electric energy are consumed by today’s computer systems. Analog computing can deliver efficient solutions to many computing problems, ranging from general purpose analog computation to specialised systems like analog artificial neural networks. The book “Analog Computing” has established itself over the past decade as the standard textbook on the subject and has been substantially extended in this second edition, which includes more than 300 additional bibliographical entries, and has been expanded in many areas to include much greater detail. These enhancements will confirm this book’s status as the leading work in the field. It covers the history of analog computing from the Antikythera Mechanism to recent electronic analog computers and uses a wide variety of worked examples to provide a comprehensive introduction to programming analog computers. It also describes hybrid computers, digital differential analysers, the simulation of analog computers, stochastic computers, and provides a comprehensive treatment of classic and current analog computer applications. The last chapter looks into the promising future of analog computing.

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Book SynopsisWhen Sir Tim Berners-Lee first proposed the foundations of the World Wide Web at CERN in 1989, his manager called it "vague, but exciting." How things have changed since then! Twenty-six years later, Berners-Lee won the ACM Turing Award "for inventing the World Wide Web, the first Web browser, and the fundamental protocols and algorithms allowing the Web to scale." This book is a compilation of articles on the original ideas of a true visionary and the subsequent research and development work he has led, helping to realize the Web's full potential. It is intended for readers interested in the Web's original technical development, how it has changed over time, and the social impacts of the Web as steered by Berners-Lee since the very beginning.The book covers Berners-Lee's development of the key protocols, naming schemes, and markup languages that led to his "world wide web" program and ultimately to the Web as we know it today. His early efforts were refined as Web technology spread around the world, and he was further guided by the work of the World Wide Web Consortium, which he founded and still directs. He was instrumental in the conceptualization and realization of the Semantic Web, a field that is gaining momentum in the age of big data and knowledge graphs; was a driving force for the field of Web Science, a new and growing research area dedicated to the study of both the engineering and the impacts of the Web; and he continues to innovate through his research work at MIT on open and decentralized information. Berners-Lee is also known for his contributions to keeping the Web open and ubiquitous via his work with the World Wide Web Foundation, the UK's Open Data Institute and his recent call for a crowdsourced magna carta for the Web. This book will help the reader to understand how Sir Tim's invention of the World Wide Web has revolutionized not just Computer Science, but global society itself.

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Book SynopsisWhen Sir Tim Berners-Lee first proposed the foundations of the World Wide Web at CERN in 1989, his manager called it "vague, but exciting." How things have changed since then! Twenty-six years later, Berners-Lee won the ACM Turing Award "for inventing the World Wide Web, the first Web browser, and the fundamental protocols and algorithms allowing the Web to scale." This book is a compilation of articles on the original ideas of a true visionary and the subsequent research and development work he has led, helping to realize the Web's full potential. It is intended for readers interested in the Web's original technical development, how it has changed over time, and the social impacts of the Web as steered by Berners-Lee since the very beginning.The book covers Berners-Lee's development of the key protocols, naming schemes, and markup languages that led to his "world wide web" program and ultimately to the Web as we know it today. His early efforts were refined as Web technology spread around the world, and he was further guided by the work of the World Wide Web Consortium, which he founded and still directs. He was instrumental in the conceptualization and realization of the Semantic Web, a field that is gaining momentum in the age of big data and knowledge graphs; was a driving force for the field of Web Science, a new and growing research area dedicated to the study of both the engineering and the impacts of the Web; and he continues to innovate through his research work at MIT on open and decentralized information. Berners-Lee is also known for his contributions to keeping the Web open and ubiquitous via his work with the World Wide Web Foundation, the UK's Open Data Institute and his recent call for a crowdsourced magna carta for the Web. This book will help the reader to understand how Sir Tim's invention of the World Wide Web has revolutionized not just Computer Science, but global society itself.

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Book SynopsisThis book provides a comprehensive study of the many ways to interact with computers and computerized devices. An "interaction technique" starts when the user performs an action that causes an electronic device to respond, and includes the direct feedback from the device to the user. Examples include physical buttons and switches, on-screen menus and scrollbars operated by a mouse, touchscreen widgets, gestures such as flick-to-scroll, text entry on computers and touchscreens, interactions with conversational agents such as Apple Siri, Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and Microsoft Cortana, and adaptations of all of these for people with disabilities.Beginning with a history of the invention and development of interaction techniques, the author goes on to describe the various approaches in use today, continuing with a discussion of the state-of-the-art research that is driving the development of novel approaches for the future. The book features summaries of interviews with some of the original inventors of interaction techniques, including David Canfield Smith (the desktop and icons), Larry Tesler (copy/paste), Ted Selker (IBM TrackPoint), Loren Brichter (Pull-to-Refresh), and many others. The author also describes how to use, model, implement, and evaluate new interaction techniques.Pick, Click, Flick! is written for anyone interested in interaction techniques, including computer scientists and designers working on human-computer interaction, as well as implementers and consumers who want to understand and get the most out of their digital devices.

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Book SynopsisThis book provides a comprehensive study of the many ways to interact with computers and computerized devices. An "interaction technique" starts when the user performs an action that causes an electronic device to respond, and includes the direct feedback from the device to the user. Examples include physical buttons and switches, on-screen menus and scrollbars operated by a mouse, touchscreen widgets, gestures such as flick-to-scroll, text entry on computers and touchscreens, interactions with conversational agents such as Apple Siri, Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and Microsoft Cortana, and adaptations of all of these for people with disabilities.Beginning with a history of the invention and development of interaction techniques, the author goes on to describe the various approaches in use today, continuing with a discussion of the state-of-the-art research that is driving the development of novel approaches for the future. The book features summaries of interviews with some of the original inventors of interaction techniques, including David Canfield Smith (the desktop and icons), Larry Tesler (copy/paste), Ted Selker (IBM TrackPoint), Loren Brichter (Pull-to-Refresh), and many others. The author also describes how to use, model, implement, and evaluate new interaction techniques.Pick, Click, Flick! is written for anyone interested in interaction techniques, including computer scientists and designers working on human-computer interaction, as well as implementers and consumers who want to understand and get the most out of their digital devices.

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