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Title: ENIAC: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the World's First Computer by Scott McCartney ISBN: 0-8027-1348-3 Publisher: Walker & Company Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.73 (41 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: not too long, really fabulous historical account
Comment: Anybody who has taken an introductory computer science course has heard about how Mauchly and Eckert built ENIAC, the first electronic computer, which was originally intended to compute artillery shell trajectories during World War II. Here is the amazing story of the building of ENIAC, and how Mauchly and Eckert deserve far more credit for this triumph than the customary footnote they are usually given in computer science textbooks. After all, it was they who actually turned theory into real electrical wiring and vacuum tubes. This book questions whether John von Neumann deserves as much credit as he is sometimes given for being the "Father of the Modern Computer."
Rating: 5
Summary: Human drama behind technology
Comment: The problem with most books on technology is that they tend to dwell on facts, figures, and data that lose average readers competely. ENIAC is not that type of book. Because he is an accomplished writer, well able to weave human emotion into the tale, Scott McCartney relates a story that anyone--whether technically proficient or not--can appreciate. The only other book that can come close is Tracy Kidder's Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Soul of a New Machine."
Those who argue technical details are missing the point. McCartney does understand the complexities of computer design, but he is making the information accessible to those of us who don't have advanced degrees in computer science. ENIAC is a not a textbook; it's targeted for the masses. And McCartney does a great job of making the nearly incomprehensible facts seem, if fleetingly, logical to the vast sea of laymen out here.
For the contentious person who said that journalists shouldn't write books like this, I counter with this: Would you rather read a human drama written by a scientist or by a professional writer? I ask this with complete respect given for the capabilities of scientists (my husband is a PhD in computer science). Scientists specialize in research and development; writers specialize in making words come alive. And that's what McCartney does; he makes the story robust and engaging.
If this book accomplishes anything, it will set the record straight about the accomplishments of Mauchly and Eckert, two men who were pushed aside by big egos and big money. Even if acclaim comes too late, it is still honor given for honor due.
Rating: 1
Summary: Unfortunately based on incorrect information
Comment: This book, as well as the many tales of the ENIAC, are factually incorrect. This was even proven by a federal judge in the state of Minnesota.
On October 19, 1973, US Federal Judge Earl R. Larson signed his decision following a lengthy court trial which declared the ENIAC patent of Mauchly and Eckert invalid and named Atanasoff the inventor of the electronic digital computer -- the Atanasoff-Berry Computer or the ABC.
Mr. McCartney does a great job of ignoring the facts that were proven in the case,and instead believes the hearsay, and tarnished depositions that were later recanted.
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Title: The Universal History of Computing: From the Abacus to the Quantum Computer by Georges Ifrah, Georges Ifrah ISBN: 0471441473 Publisher: Wiley Pub. Date: 15 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: A History of Modern Computing : Second Edition (History of Computing) by Paul E. Ceruzzi ISBN: 0262532034 Publisher: The MIT Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Computer: A History of the Information Machine (The Sloan Technology Series) by Martin Campbell-Kelly, William Aspray ISBN: 0465029906 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Pub. Date: 01 May, 1997 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: The Computer from Pascal to von Neumann by Herman H. Goldstine ISBN: 0691023670 Publisher: Princeton University Press Pub. Date: 01 October, 1980 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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Title: Crystal Fire: The Invention of the Transistor and the Birth of the Information Age (Sloan Technology Series) by Michael Riordan, Lillian Hoddeson ISBN: 0393318516 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: 01 December, 1998 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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