Request: Books/articles about history of early computing (pre 1950)

[Karl-Ludwig Butte]

(09-20-2017 09:07 AM)EdS2 Wrote:  Babbage's book is a great read but tells you nothing about his computers. I think at that point in his life he was dealing with a bereavement.

Zuse wrote The Computer - My Life which isn't too expensive second hand. But for a history of computing, I'd recommend
Stan Augartner's Bit by Bit (lots of pictures, some mistakes)
Paul Cerruzi's History of Modern Computing (lots of words)

I much enjoyed Hollingdale and Tootil's Electronic Computers (1965) when I read it back in the mid-70s.

Also interesting for a wealth of technical detail
Bowden's Faster than Thought (1963) which is a collection of papers by pioneers including Turing.

There is a fantastic detailed technical description of Konrad Zuse's machines in this book. Unfortunately it is available in German only.

Best regards

Karl