Book details of 'Computer: A history of the information machine'

Title	Computer: A history of the information machine
Author(s)	Martin Campbell-Kelly, William Aspray
ISBN	0465029892
Language	English
Published	August 1996
Publisher	Basic Books

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The Virtual Bookcase Reviews of 'Computer: A history of the information machine':

Reviewer Koos van den Hout wrote:
There are enough books 'out there' about the history of the Internet, such as 'Casting the Net' or about modern computing. This book is different. In the first part, "Before the computer", it goes back to the original ancestors of the current computers like the ideas of Charles Babbage. In the second part, "Creating the computer", the original designs and the original function of the computer as a big calculator is given room. Projects like the Hollerith machine built for the US Census. The rise and fall of the mainframe computer and the special place of IBM in this part of computer history is described very well. Other books don't give "the computer as business tool" much of a chance, this book does. The third part "Innovation and expansion" goes into a lot of the special areas where computers have been used in the past including early research into aircraft simulation. The fourth part "Getting personal" tells about how the computer at home grew from a special hobby project to a normal appliance and also tells a bit about the growth of the Internet.
Reviewer Koos van den Hout wrote:
A good description of the history of the computer as we know it, including the early start, Babbage's machine, IBM and the Hollerith system
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