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by kratom_sandwich 2273 days ago
Haven'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)

4 comments

Turing's Cathedral is fantastic. The most enjoyable computer science history book I've read. Highly recommended.
I'm still working thru "The Innovators"! and so far it has been a delight. One of the main points of the book was the importance of teamwork. It's a great take on the idea that in the shadow of great figures, like Steve Jobs and IBM, lie hundreds of lesser known innovators.
+1 for Turing's Cathedral. As mentioned, it's a lot about von Neumann. Slightly dense writing style but does a great job of explaining some of the key intellectual breakthroughs behind development of the computer. It's most about the 1940s-50s but it sets the historical context well (both contemporary and going back to Gottfried Leibnitz).
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.