Check out “Fire in the Valley.” It’s a classic!
agreed, also see if you can find the made-for-tv movie adaptation of it "The Pirates Of Silicon Valley"
Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?
111–120 of 156 posts
Re: Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?
#112A People’s History of Computing in the United States - Joy Lisi Rankin Joy Rankin draws on detailed records to explore how users exchanged messages, programmed music and poems, fostered communities, and developed computer games like The Oregon Trail. These unsung pioneers helped shape our digital world, just as much as the inventors, garage hobbyists, and eccentric billionaires of Palo Alto.
Also read its counterpart "The Friendly Orange Glow"
Re: Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?
#113The Friendly Orange Glow : The Untold Story of the PLATO system and the dawn of cyberculture (2017) is a really interesting book about a system few people here would probably have heard of. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34373814-the-friendly-or... How the Internet Happened is very good. The podcast that was created while writing the book is also worth a listen. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38212134-how-t…
Also read the counterpart to friendly orange glow, "A People’s History of Computing in the United States"
Re: Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?
#114Curious that "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" by Eric S. Raymond hasn't been mentioned yet.
Also: Logicomix, about the development of modern logic up to Gödel.
Re: Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?
#115"The Road Ahead" by Bill Gates is an interesting look into what Bill envisioned for the Internet. It came with a CD-ROM full of videos of how devices would be used in schools and workplaces (I thonk law enforcement too if I remember correctly). The videos are much better than the book. "The Second Coming of Steve Jobs" was eye opening for me regarding the life of Jobs, his family life, and his business involvements.…
for the 'road ahead', I guess it's interesting to read both versions (the original edition and the 'Completely revised and up-to-date' that actually takes into account the Internet)
I only read the first one (I knew about the existence of the second). It's very funny how he waxes poetic in several chapters about the future "Information Highway" (not superhighway as some have said) and takes a lot of care to make sure we understand that the Internet is not it, but just a precursor.
Re: Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?
#116Lots of good recommendations in this thread. Here’s some more:
• Turner, Fred (2006) From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism
• Slatalla, Michelle & Quittner, Joshua (1995) Masters of Deception: The Gang That Ruled Cyberspace
• Schlender, Brent & Tetzeli, Rick (2015) Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader
• Isaacson, Walter (2011) Steve Jobs
This one might also be worth lookin in to:
Hertzfeld, Andy (2004) Revolution in the Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made
I haven’t read it in book form but AFAICT the contents of the book are also available over at https://www.folklore.org/
By the way, you might also want to have a look at this project someone published recently:
Meta book recommendations from Ask HN threads https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22693634
Re: Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?
#117"The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation" by Jon Gertner.
Re: Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?
#118Code: the hidden language of computer hardware and software, by Charles Petzold. It's a modern classic (2000). It's less technical and more about the history behind the idea/theories of coding itself. It also explains some basic principles of how computers work, at a high level. Very well written.
I also think it's a great book, but partly because it is technical. Charles is great at explaining how computers actually work with circuit diagrams from the ground up in a way that's articulate, clear, and engaging. I think I learned more from this book than I did in my CS architecture class. The historical context he puts it in helps with clarity since it's easier to understand when you know how each successive ste…
Curious why you labelled The Soul of a New Machine as fiction? It's a non-fiction book by Tracy Kidder and I highly recommend it. A really fantastic piece of work I think anyone in our industry should read, great insights into teams, burnout, our culture, managing, software development etc. There are online versions of it if you Google.
Re: Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
I also think it's a great book, but partly because it is technical. Charles is great at explaining how computers actually work with circuit diagrams from the ground up in a way that's articulate, clear, and engaging. I think I learned more from this book than I did in my CS architecture class. The historical context he puts it in helps with clarity since it's easier to understand when you know how each successive ste…
> The Soul of a New Machine There's a software-industry version of that book about the startup Ask Computer Software killing it in the MRP business software space with a product called MANMAN. Maybe somebody remembers the title? It's like reading a long version of one of Paul Graham's essays. Some of the things it covers: - Ask's actual relationships with customers. One of them interviews all other existing clients b…
I guess that book is https://www.amazon.com/Ceo-Building-Million-Company-Ground/d...?
Re: Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?
#120Haven't read them, but they are on my to-do-list: "Turing's Cathedral" https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/mar/25/turings-cathed... "The Innovators" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innovators_(book)
I thought Turing's Cathedral was pretty good but note that it's mostly about John von Neumann not Alan Turing.
Turing’s Cathedral but von Neumann was the Pope.