
Ask HN: Books on Computer History - e1ven
I've been starting a personal collection of stories about the history of the computer industry- I'd love any suggestions of books that other people enjoyed or that I might want to take a look at.<p>Which books have you enjoyed? Which ones are worth avoiding?<p>I've included a list of some of the ones that I've found, but I'd love any thoughts.<p>Revolution in The Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made<p>Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition, and Still Can't Get a Date<p>Making Silicon Valley: Innovation and the Growth of High Tech, 1930-1970<p>High Stakes, No Prisoners: A Winner's Tale of Greed and Glory in the Internet Wars<p>Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days
  Computing in the Middle Ages: A View From the Trenches 1955-1983<p>iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the   Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It<p>Digital Retro: The Evolution and Design of the Personal Computer<p>The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century's On-line Pioneers<p>Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins Of The Internet<p>What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry<p>The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing Personal<p>DEC Is Dead, Long Live DEC: The Lasting Legacy of Digital Equipment Corporation<p>Priming the Pump: How TRS-80 Enthusiasts Helped Spark the PC Revolution<p>Casting the Net: From ARPANET to INTERNET and Beyond<p>Fools Rush In: Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Unmaking of AOL Time Warner<p>The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company<p>Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer<p>Bell Labs: Life in the Crown Jewel
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ableal
This 1982 textbook by Siewiorek, Bell and Newell seems to be available in HTML
from Gordon Bell's pages at MS: [http://research.microsoft.com/en-
us/um/people/gbell/Computer...](http://research.microsoft.com/en-
us/um/people/gbell/Computer_Structures_Principles_and_Examples/index.htm)

If memory serves, the book illustrated concepts by examining implementations.
It's interesting to see how many bones have been moved from multi-ton
mainframes to single chips ...

P.S. At the very bottom of this page <http://research.microsoft.com/en-
us/um/people/gbell/Pubs.htm>, the book links include the above book and a
similarly titled 1971 book (apparently an earlier version), which may be of
historical interest. Page 280: core, drum and tape - Mel can't be far ...

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deutronium
One of my favorite non-fiction computer related books is 'Hackers - Heroes of
the Computer Revolution' <http://www.stevenlevy.com/index.php/other-
books/hackers>

Very nice list, a lot I haven't heard of.

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RobGR
Steven Levy is a good writer. I read pretty much anything he puts out. His
books "Crypto" and "Insanely Great" are good also, Crypto is the better one.

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michael_dorfman
You missed the absolute best of the genre: The Soul of a New Machine, by Tracy
Kidder. It's a single case study, but told in such loving detail as to be
Pulitzer-worthy.

Also, there's a lot of good primary source material in "Programmers At Work",
by Susan Lammers.

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e1ven
I don't know how I missed adding Soul of a New Machine. I've read it several
times, and it's a wonderful work.

I hadn't heard of "Programmers at Work" yet, but it looks like a great read- I
suspect in retrospect that it was the inspiration for the name of Jessica
Livingston's book. Thanks.

I've also just found <http://www.landsnail.com/apple/> which looks like it has
a great set both Apple-specific and general interest material.

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dantheman
Stan Veit's History of the Personal Computer [http://www.amazon.com/Stan-
Veits-History-Personal-Computer/d...](http://www.amazon.com/Stan-Veits-
History-Personal-Computer/dp/1566640237)

Accidental Empires [http://www.amazon.com/Accidental-Empires-Silicon-Millions-
Co...](http://www.amazon.com/Accidental-Empires-Silicon-Millions-
Competition/dp/0887308554)

Go To [http://www.amazon.com/Engineers-Scientists-Iconoclasts-
Progr...](http://www.amazon.com/Engineers-Scientists-Iconoclasts-Programmers-
Revolution/dp/0465042260/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247887841&sr=1-3)

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domodomo
On the Edge: the Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore
(<http://bit.ly/11KMaT> Amazon).

Commodore has been kind of ignored in computing history, but they were the
first company to sell 1 million units. This book has a lot of big characters
in it, including the ruthless, cigar chomping, Jack Tramiel.

I'm biased though, as I cut my teeth on a C64.

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RobGR
"The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier" by Bruce
Sterling, should really be on on the must-read list.

Another on I highly recommend is "The New Hacker's Dictionary" by Eric S.
Raymond.

Finally, although it is a bit far afield, probably every hacker should read
David Kahn's "The Codebreakers".

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dlevine
One of my favorites is "In Search Of Stupidity", by Merrill Chapman. It talks
about the marketing mistakes that ultimately killed a lot of top tech
companies.

