[stevenbedrick]

In addition to the great books listed here, a few more that might be of interest:

- Turing’s Cathedral, by George Dyson

- Black Software, by Charlton McIlwain

- Programmed Inequality, by Mar Hicks

The Dyson book is a rigorous and deep historical dive into the philosophical and practical origins of digital computing, and is really great.

The other two are equally great and deep but cover computing history through different lenses. The Hicks book in particular may be of interest for you, as its emphasis is on the history of computing in the UK. They’re less directly about how computers “work”, as such, and more about how computers and society have interacted with one another in interesting and non-obvious ways, and how those interactions have impacted the ways in which technologies have developed.

[rg111]

I read some of the pages of Turing's Cathedral, and it read like an elaborate ad for Princeton. It also felt like a Princeton history.

Whilr it is interesting, and I might finish it later, it is not something I was looking for or have time now.

I also learned some cool things, like, Einstein forbade the use of the word "god" in a wall engraving becauae people might think that he believed in god.

[hogehoge51]

I got to the end of Turing’s cathedral, but it wasn’t an easy ride. I didn’t pick up the Princeton Ad vibe, but it was definitely all over the place and not focussed on the core story that I was interested in, which was von Neumann’s machine.

I did learn a lot from the book, so in that regard I’d recommend it. But as a ok it’s nowhere near “Soul of a new machine”.