Understanding the Digital World: What You Need to Know about Computers, the Internet, Privacy, and Security, Second Edition

For the past couple of years I've been co-teaching a course that draws both engineers and policy-minded students. For the policy-minded students, many of whom have little acquaintance with computers except as users, this book is excellent. The engineers may not learn much new technically, but this book can still broaden their perspective on the field. The first edition was very good and the second edition improves on it. Get the paperback.

This is a great book if you want to learn how computers and the Internet work. Mr. Kernighan explains the science behind computers in a way that's understandable and interesting. The book also covers important considerations regarding privacy, which other books completely skip.

I’ve read both the first and second editions of this book, the second edition is rewritten for the most part and is very current (2022).Highly recommend for someone who wants a high level introduction to computers and technology