Product Description

A splendid, graphic history of the origin and development of the computer, this classic work is a timeless record of the most profound technological revolution in the history of humankind. The book's decade-by-decade format is highlighted with hundreds of illustrations, memorabilia and artifacts collected from around the world. Halftones and illustrations.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1296459 in Books
• Published on: 1990-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Review
A Computer Perspective is the first truly graphic history of the origin and development of the computer...This book will long remain a unique anthology of the great events that occur when dreamers and theorists can get together with engineers and inventors. (The Economist )

A Computer Perspective: Background to the Computer Age sets out to...[place] the digital computer in its historical context, taking 1950 as its terminal date. By then, the digital computer revolution had been fully inaugurated with the first generation of modern stored-program computers. The book casts a wide net as it presents, mainly with pictures and captions, the many contributory ideas and developments that provide the foundation and background for the computer age...This is a book full of interesting pictures and quotations. It brings out the technical, human and social aspects of the development of computers in an imaginative way. Who could resist a book containing such fascinating information?
--Antony Anderson (New Scientist )

The volume is a must for everyone interested in computer history and an important tool for anyone wanting to understand how the computer age started.
--Heinz Zemanek, Science of Computer Programming

[This] book set a standard for the history of computing.
--P. E. Ceruzzi (Computing Reviews )

Review
The volume is a must for everyone interested in computer history and an important tool for anyone wanting to understand how the computer age started.
--Heinz Zemanek, Science of Computer Programming

About the Author
I. Bernard Cohen, Victor S. Thomas Professor of the History of Science, Emeritus, at Harvard University, is one of the founders of the modern study of the history of science.

Customer Reviews

A complete guide to computer history.
Clear, but brief details on a vast array of the people, machines, and problems associated with the invention of the computer. It's a very picture intense book that makes learning the computer age interesting and somewhat exciting. This extensive collection of pictures ranges from the real news articles to the inventors actually working the machines. This book acts as a perfect quick-reference to the computer age.

Background to the Computer Age
So many books focus on the 60's as a start point with a brief synopsis of the beforehand but this visual essay lays out the territory from Babbage in the 1800's to SEAC in the 50's with the emphasis on a pictorial timeline and some factual points. Its an overview of the computers pre-history which ran alongside Charles and Ray Eames' IBM exhibition 'A Computer Perspective' - all important research for computer 'Nerdcorps' and historical browsers alike.