Post by Thomas KoenigWhat are the must-read computer folklore books?
I haven't read all of these, and I'm not sure how many would be classified in a
superlative "must read" category, but here are fifty representative titles on
computer history and folklore to get you started:
The Man Who Knew Too Much: Alan Turing and the Invention of the Computer
-- David Leavitt
John Von Neumann: The Scientific Genius Who Pioneered the Modern Computer, Game
Theory, Nuclear Deterrence, and Much More
-- Norman Macrae
Eniac: The Triumph and Tragedies of the World's First Computer
-- Scott McCartney
From Dits to Bits: A Personal History of the Electronic Computer
-- Herman Lukoff
The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing
Personal
-- M. Mitchell Waldrop
As We May Think
-- Vannevar Bush (The Atlantic, January 1945)
A History of Modern Computing
-- Paul E. Ceruzzi
Crystal Fire: The Invention of the Transistor and the Birth of the Information
Age
-- M. Riordan and L. Hoddeson
Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer
-- Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine
The Soul of a New Machine
-- Tracy Kidder
Computing Castastrophes
-- Robert L. Glass
Software Runaways: Lessons Learned from Massive Software Project Failures
-- Robert L. Glass
Computing Calamities: Lessons Learned from Products, Projects, and Companies
that Failed
-- Robert L. Glass
Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle
Foreign Competition, and Still Can't Get a Date
-- Robert X. Cringely
Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure
-- Jerry Kaplan
The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story
-- Michael M. Lewis
The Silicon Boys: And Their Valley of Dreams
-- David A. Kaplan
What the Dormouse Said: How the 60's Counterculture Shaped the Personal
Computer Industry
-- John Markoff
Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins Of The Internet
-- Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon
The Nudist on the Late Shift and Other True Tales of Silicon Valley
-- Po Bronson
Think: A Biography of the Watsons and IBM
-- William Rodgers
Big Blues: The Unmaking of IBM
-- Paul Carroll
Broken Promises: An Unconventional View of What Went Wrong at IBM
-- Daniel Quinn Mills
Bill & Dave: How Hewlett and Packard Built the World's Greatest Company
-- Michael S. Malone
Fumbling the Future: How Xerox Invented, then Ignored, the First Personal
Computer
-- Douglas K. Smith and Robert C. Alexander
iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer,
Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It
-- Steve Wozniak (with Gina Smith)
Insanely Great: The Life and Times of Macintosh, the Computer That Changed
Everything
-- Steven Levy
Steve Jobs and the NeXT Big Thing
-- Randall E. Stross
The Second Coming of Steve Jobs
-- Alan Deutschman
iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business
-- Jeffrey S. Young and William L. Simon
AOL.COM
-- Kara Swisher
Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry -- and Made Himself the
Richest Man in America
-- Stephen Manes and Paul Andrews
The Microsoft Way: The Real Story of How the Company Outsmarts Its Competition
-- Randall E. Stross
Overdrive: Bill Gates and the Race to Control Cyberspace
-- James Wallace
Softwar: An Intimate Portrait of Larry Ellison and Oracle
-- Matthew Symonds
Speeding the Net: The Inside Story of Netscape and How It Challenged Microsoft
-- Joshua Quittner and Michelle Slatalla
The Perfect Store: Inside eBay
-- Adam Cohen
The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money,
Genius, and Betrayal
-- Ben Mezrich
The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and
Transformed Our Culture
-- John Battelle
In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives
-- Steven Levy
Computer Lib / Dream Machines
-- Ted Nelson
In the Beginning Was the Command Line
-- Neal Stephenson
The Network Revolution: Confessions of a Computer Scientist
-- Jacque Vallee
Silicon Snake Oil
-- Clifford Stoll
The Devouring Fungus: Tales of the Computer Age
-- Karla Jennings
Joystick Nation: How Videogames Ate Our Quarters, Won Our Hearts, and Rewired
Our Minds
-- J.C. Herz
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
-- Steven Levy
The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage
-- Clifford Stoll
The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier
-- Bruce Sterling
Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier
-- John Markoff (with Katie Hafner)
Masters of Destruction: The Gang That Ruled Cyberspace
-- Michelle Slatalla and Joshua Quittner