What's the most interesting book on the history of the computer industry?

Asked by justin (179

) December 10th, 2006

Looking for a gift for my dad, who's interested in business and history. He can understand technical stuff, but it should be a fun read...

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8 Answers

i might recommend the

linde (10

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i might recommend "The Cuckoo's Egg" by Cliff Stoll. not actually a survery of computer history if that is what you're looking for -- but if you'd like a good history of an interesting story from the early days online, this is it and is certainly among the most interesting history books about computers.

linde (10

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Nerds 2.0.1 is supposed to be pretty good (it was a gift many years ago, but I never actually read it). Apparently, it was also made into an excellent PBS video. It's a little older, but that should be okay for history.

ben (9085

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I have two recommendations:

arnieb (26

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1- Hackers, I don't remember the author.

arnieb (26

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2- "Soul of a New Machine" by Tracy Kidder. Both are excellent and easy reads. Even though the Kidder book is somewhat dated, the description of bringing a complex computing machine into production is really excellent.

arnieb (26

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