The Universal Machine: From the Dawn of Computing to Digital Consciousness

Any book on computing history that misses Zuse-- the 1938 inventor of Tron, the Matrix, The 13th Floor, Avatar... and many other world views that posit the universe running inside a big computer-- hasn't done it's homework.Although the two page (80-82) summary on Zuse isn't long, it is accurate and detailed. I mean, who else would try to build a 30,000 part computer in a barn in Nazi occupied Germany? Not many figured out the genius of this man, from computing to cellular automata, but Siemens obviously did (they bought him out before he passed on in 1995).Does anyone know how this fine book can be under $5 with free Prime shipping at nearly 400 packed pages? I know, I've got to be dreaming-- somebody unplug the link.Wow, even at text prices it's worth it, here, it's a steal! It is "Dover" priced yet contains CURRENT information-- the "history" goes back to the Middle Ages, but brings us right up to everything from dedicated embedded to universal multis and beyond. NOT a dry read-- fun, carries the reader along, and if you've got a few years behind you as I do, will elicit a smile at where we've been as well as where we're going. After all, there really was no web in 1985, so many people alive today saw nearly the entire evolution of the modern computer age!In that context, it's great to see the "seeds" going way back, as well as Tron and the Matrix. Zuse's first machine was perfect and correct, but didn't work because the milling and machining sciences were not developed enough for the precision required. (We know this because it WAS later built just to see, and worked!). Like the guy who wrote "I, Pencil" (no, not robot) to show that it takes thousands of brilliant technologies to make a pencil, we take a LOT for granted in what we see today in computing. This awesome book adds back the wonder.Highly recommended even as a plane trip or late night substitute for your favorite novelist. Some of the info really is eye opening, as in, "Did you know that..." with your friends on Facebook.Library Picks reviews only for the benefit of Amazon shoppers and has nothing to do with Amazon, the authors, manufacturers or publishers of the items we review. We always buy the items we review for the sake of objectivity, and although we search for gems, are not shy about trashing an item if it's a waste of time or money for Amazon shoppers. If the reviewer identifies herself, her job or her field, it is only as a point of reference to help you gauge the background and any biases.

Covers a lot of territory and helpful in that respect but the book lacks a coherent line and hence is patchy. Quite a lot of personal thoughts which perhaps should have had less exposure. Good to set record straight on Turing and UK invention of programmed computers though. It is worth reading as it is not expensive. Also avoids details of maths which tend to make such books hard for most people.

I admit upfront I have a bias. As a business software engineer who started using computers in 1970 as an engineering student I can't imagine writing a book about computers that omits Bell Laboratories, Unix, and C. The author seems to write for those fascinated by iPods and Facebook. He doesn't talk about NFS or Sun Microsystems, databases like Oracle or Sybase, Intelligent Database Machines like the Britton-Lee and their widespread use in communications networks. Just an upfront caution. This book is written for the end-user, the consumer, not the IT professional. Sorry, but I lost interest about halfway through the book when the author spent so much time talking about the lives of Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. I flipped through the rest of the pages about Facebook, Myspace, and Google.

I enjoyed this book covering the history of computers and their current significance and possible advances in the future but I was disappointed with its lack of technical detail like there was no description at all of Turning's proof that you can't determine whether any programs will stop. Also, how Turning proved that his machine was universal. The author probably felt these were not appropriate in a book for a general audience.

Good one!

What I really like about this book is that it covers the whole history of computing from Victorian times to the present day. I can't think of another book that does this so well. There are many individual books that cover parts of this story in depth - but do you really need to read 600 pages about Steve Jobs or a whole book just about Facebook! The author has done a great job taking each topic and highlighting the most important parts and writing individual chapters that capture a time and a place but without too much unnecessary detail. The books opens with a fascinating chapter about the first steampunk, Charles Babbage, and his failed attempts to build a mechanical computer. Much of this story was new to me and very interesting. A short chapter follows that has lots of fascinating details, not about computers, but early business machines that have influenced our computers and in several cases gave rise to modern companies like IBM. Chapter 4 is really the heart of the book telling the tragic story of the English genius Alan Turing. He invented the concept of the "universal machine," and the author doesn't avoid presenting some complex mathematical ideas here. However, he does so in a very approachable and easy to understand way and I found myself understanding what a Turing machine was for the first time and why this is the idea at the heart of the computer. Turing's work code breaking during WWII is described in detail, as his subsequent appalling treatment by the British after the war. I recently tried to read Turing's Cathedral by George Dyson, which in contrast to this book I found boring and very hard to read. This book covers some of the same material but in a much more entertaining and approachable way. Some years ago I tried to read Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges, which I'd heard was the definitive biography of Turing. But again, 600+ pages and far to much math for me. The Universal Machine told me more in one chapter than I got from struggling half way through Hodges book. The chapter about the first computers after WWII was fascinating as was the subsequent one on Silicon Valley in the 60s and early 70s. The author's enthusiasm for the subject really takes off here and I actually couldn't put the book down. The next chapters cover material I thought I was fairly familiar with, the birth of the PC, Apple, Microsoft, the world wide web, but I learnt heaps of new stuff. The biography of Apple's co-founder, Steve Wozniak, was very interesting. The recent issues with the Facebook IPO were brought well into context with some interesting accounts of some of the most influential dotcom companies and of the dotcom bubble. There's then a whole chapter dedicated to Steve Jobs and Apple, which was perhaps a little too long but then again people are really interested in him. Again I wasn't aware of some information and people who dis Jobs for being "just a salesman" should read the stuff about NeXT here. Clearly Jobs had a deep understanding of computing. I didn't expect a book about computer to have a chapter that opens with a description of the terrible unrest in Syria. The chapter about social media uses the Syrian uprising to illustrate how we can all become publishers and citizen journalists. However, this chapter also deals with issues of trust and dangerous phenomena called the filter bubble. There's a good biography of Facebook's Zuckerberg along with information about YouTube, twitter, blogging and Wikipedia. The next chapter on hacking was fascinating. Again very topically the Stuxnet worm opens the chapter but it then goes back to look at the history of hacking from phone phreakers and the early innocent days to the 80s & 90s and today's state sponsored cyber warfare. There's some scary stuff in this chapter. The last two chapters are all about the future and are a great strength of this book. The author is a professor of artificial intelligence (I did a background check) so he knows what he's talking about, but he doesn't just paint a rosy glowing picture of the future either. The book returns to talk about Alan Turing and his now famous Turing Test for machine intelligence, but it's also careful to be balanced. For example driverless cars may greatly reduce traffic casualties (I had no idea there were so many) but what about all the people who drive for a living - their jobs could be gone soon. Things like quantum computing are discussed (still not sure I understand that) and projects to reengineer the brain are used to illustrate that one day we might be able to fuse our minds with computers. I got the strong impression though that the author doesn't believe this will happen anytime soon.At the end of the book is an excellent section of further reading and a clever little piece that updates where each of the book's characters are now, since many are still living. I think you can tell that I really enjoyed this book. It's very informative, well written and very easy to read. I look at my computer now in a whole new light. 5 stars.

A most excellent book, much more than I expected, I am much more knowledgable now, extremely well written.