Chen

Except for the first dozen minutes that repeat what we all know about the computers of today, the rest of the book is a fascinating account of the background, the people, and the critical events in the early days of computing. I have never seen a more complete and comprehensive account of how the science, the technology, the engineering, the war effort, and most interestingly, the people came together to give birth to ENIAC. I learned for the first time the commercial efforts after the invention and before the dominance of IBM. Except for the beginning part, I find the content highly informative not only because of the detailed account of historical events but also because of the description of many of the early technical problems and solutions. As a college professor teaching computer science, I highly recommend this book for any one who is interested in learning the history and the basic elements of computing.