Your audiobook is waiting…
The Man Who Invented the Computer
People who bought this also bought...
-
ENIAC
- The Triumphs and Tragedies of the World's First Computer
- By: Scott McCartney
- Narrated by: Adams Morgan
- Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 337
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 149
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 158
The world's first programmable computer was the legendary ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), built by John Mauchly and Presper Eckert. Based on original interviews with surviving participants and the first study of Mauchly and Eckert's personal papers, ENIAC is a dramatic human story and a vital contribution to the history of technology, and it restores to the two inventors the legacy they deserve.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating history...
- By Glenn on 12-16-02
-
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
- 25th Anniversary Edition
- By: Steven Levy
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 20 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,506
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,366
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,363
Steven Levy's classic book traces the exploits of the computer revolution's original hackers - those brilliant and eccentric nerds from the late 1950s through the early '80s who took risks, bent the rules, and pushed the world in a radical new direction. With updated material from noteworthy hackers such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Stallman, and Steve Wozniak, Hackers is a fascinating story that begins in early computer research labs and leads to the first home computers.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Brilliant work reflecting on a great passion!
- By tony9277 on 12-18-15
-
When Computing Got Personal
- A History of the Desktop Computer
- By: Matt Nicholson
- Narrated by: Norman Gilligan
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 91
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 81
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 81
This is the story of how a handful of geeks and mavericks dragged the computer out of corporate back rooms and laboratories and into our living rooms and offices. It is a tale not only of extraordinary innovation and vision but also of cunning business deals, boardroom tantrums and acrimonious lawsuits.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Good Book, Horrible Narrator.
- By Walker Dodson on 08-14-16
-
Computer Programming
- Learn Any Programming Language in 2 Hours
- By: Cooper Alvin
- Narrated by: William Bahl
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 88
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 87
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 87
Do you want to become a top-notch programmer in no time? Are you worried about the technical complexity? Enter the ultimate programming bundle and learn any programming language in two hours! You'll learn programming languages including Java, SQL, Python and more! Learning to write computer programs can be fun if you take the right approach and this shall be the objective of this audiobook. We attempt to provide you a simple, easy to follow and practically sound approach to computer programming.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A great help
- By Jeffrey on 06-19-19
-
A Most Elegant Equation
- Euler’s Formula and the Beauty of Mathematics
- By: David Stipp
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 119
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 109
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 108
Bertrand Russell wrote that mathematics can exalt "as surely as poetry". This is especially true of one equation: ei(pi) + 1 = 0, the brainchild of Leonhard Euler, the Mozart of mathematics. More than two centuries after Euler's death, it is still regarded as a conceptual diamond of unsurpassed beauty. Called Euler's identity, or God's equation, it includes just five numbers but represents an astonishing revelation of hidden connections.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Good treatment of the subject
- By Kindle Customer on 04-09-18
-
A People's History of Computing in the United States
- By: Joy Lisi Rankin
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 17
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 15
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 15
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, a diverse group of teachers and students working together on academic computing systems conducted many of the activities we now recognize as personal and social computing. Joy Rankin draws on detailed records to explore how users exchanged messages, programmed music and poems, fostered communities, and developed computer games like The Oregon Trail. These unsung pioneers helped shape our digital world, just as much as the inventors, garage hobbyists, and eccentric billionaires of Palo Alto.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Title is misleading
- By Nate on 04-23-19
-
ENIAC
- The Triumphs and Tragedies of the World's First Computer
- By: Scott McCartney
- Narrated by: Adams Morgan
- Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 337
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 149
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 158
The world's first programmable computer was the legendary ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), built by John Mauchly and Presper Eckert. Based on original interviews with surviving participants and the first study of Mauchly and Eckert's personal papers, ENIAC is a dramatic human story and a vital contribution to the history of technology, and it restores to the two inventors the legacy they deserve.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating history...
- By Glenn on 12-16-02
-
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
- 25th Anniversary Edition
- By: Steven Levy
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 20 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,506
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,366
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,363
Steven Levy's classic book traces the exploits of the computer revolution's original hackers - those brilliant and eccentric nerds from the late 1950s through the early '80s who took risks, bent the rules, and pushed the world in a radical new direction. With updated material from noteworthy hackers such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Stallman, and Steve Wozniak, Hackers is a fascinating story that begins in early computer research labs and leads to the first home computers.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Brilliant work reflecting on a great passion!
- By tony9277 on 12-18-15
-
When Computing Got Personal
- A History of the Desktop Computer
- By: Matt Nicholson
- Narrated by: Norman Gilligan
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 91
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 81
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 81
This is the story of how a handful of geeks and mavericks dragged the computer out of corporate back rooms and laboratories and into our living rooms and offices. It is a tale not only of extraordinary innovation and vision but also of cunning business deals, boardroom tantrums and acrimonious lawsuits.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Good Book, Horrible Narrator.
- By Walker Dodson on 08-14-16
-
Computer Programming
- Learn Any Programming Language in 2 Hours
- By: Cooper Alvin
- Narrated by: William Bahl
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 88
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 87
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 87
Do you want to become a top-notch programmer in no time? Are you worried about the technical complexity? Enter the ultimate programming bundle and learn any programming language in two hours! You'll learn programming languages including Java, SQL, Python and more! Learning to write computer programs can be fun if you take the right approach and this shall be the objective of this audiobook. We attempt to provide you a simple, easy to follow and practically sound approach to computer programming.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A great help
- By Jeffrey on 06-19-19
-
A Most Elegant Equation
- Euler’s Formula and the Beauty of Mathematics
- By: David Stipp
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 119
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 109
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 108
Bertrand Russell wrote that mathematics can exalt "as surely as poetry". This is especially true of one equation: ei(pi) + 1 = 0, the brainchild of Leonhard Euler, the Mozart of mathematics. More than two centuries after Euler's death, it is still regarded as a conceptual diamond of unsurpassed beauty. Called Euler's identity, or God's equation, it includes just five numbers but represents an astonishing revelation of hidden connections.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Good treatment of the subject
- By Kindle Customer on 04-09-18
-
A People's History of Computing in the United States
- By: Joy Lisi Rankin
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 17
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 15
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 15
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, a diverse group of teachers and students working together on academic computing systems conducted many of the activities we now recognize as personal and social computing. Joy Rankin draws on detailed records to explore how users exchanged messages, programmed music and poems, fostered communities, and developed computer games like The Oregon Trail. These unsung pioneers helped shape our digital world, just as much as the inventors, garage hobbyists, and eccentric billionaires of Palo Alto.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Title is misleading
- By Nate on 04-23-19
-
The Second Age of Computer Science
- From Algol Genes to Neural Nets
- By: Subrata Dasgupta
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1
Author Subrata Dasgupta named the two decades from 1970 to 1990 as the second age of computer science to distinguish it from the preceding genesis of the science and the age of the Internet/World Wide Web that followed. This book describes the evolution of computer science in this second age in the form of seven overlapping, intermingling, parallel histories that unfold concurrently in the course of the two decades.
-
The Man Who Knew Too Much
- Alan Turing and the Invention of the Computer
- By: David Leavitt
- Narrated by: Paul Michael Garcia
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 27
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 24
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 25
To solve one of the great mathematical problems of his day, Alan Turing proposed an imaginary computer. Then, attempting to break a Nazi code during World War II, he successfully designed and built one, thus ensuring the Allied victory. Turing became a champion of artificial intelligence, but his work was cut short. As an openly gay man at a time when homosexuality was illegal in England, he was convicted and forced to undergo a humiliating "treatment" that may have led to his suicide.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
First Audible Book I Returned
- By Rush D. Austin on 07-17-14
-
Fire in the Valley
- The Birth and Death of the Personal Computer
- By: Michael Swaine, Paul Freiberger
- Narrated by: Don Azevedo
- Length: 15 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 53
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 48
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 48
In the 1970s, while their contemporaries were protesting the computer as a tool of dehumanization and oppression, a motley collection of college dropouts, hippies, and electronics fanatics were engaged in something much more subversive. Obsessed with the idea of getting computer power into their own hands, they launched from their garages a hobbyist movement that grew into an industry, and ultimately a social and technological revolution.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Covers history that most others do not
- By R. Stearns on 01-13-19
-
The Art of Invisibility
- The World's Most Famous Hacker Teaches You How to Be Safe in the Age of Big Brother and Big Data
- By: Kevin Mitnick
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,466
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,134
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,133
Like it or not, your every move is being watched and analyzed. Consumers' identities are being stolen, and a person's every step is being tracked and stored. What once might have been dismissed as paranoia is now a hard truth, and privacy is a luxury few can afford or understand. In this explosive yet practical book, Kevin Mitnick illustrates what is happening without your knowledge - and he teaches you "the art of invisibility".
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Limited value for the average person
- By James C on 10-14-17
-
Capitalism in America
- A History
- By: Alan Greenspan, Adrian Wooldridge
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 16 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 463
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 405
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 404
From the legendary former Fed Chairman and the acclaimed Economist writer and historian, the full, epic story of America's evolution from a small patchwork of threadbare colonies to the most powerful engine of wealth and innovation the world has ever seen.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Easy to understand yet compelling
- By Tracy Schultz on 04-10-19
-
The Pioneers
- The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,601
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,446
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,434
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough rediscovers an important and dramatic chapter in the American story - the settling of the Northwest Territory by dauntless pioneers who overcame incredible hardships to build a community based on ideals that would come to define our country.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Ancestors Were Some of These Pioneers
- By Zack on 05-08-19
-
iWoz
- How I Invented the Personal Computer and Had Fun Along the Way
- By: Steve Wozniak, Gina Smith
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 3,413
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 2,331
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 2,358
Before cell phones that fit in the palm of your hand and slim laptops that fit snugly into briefcases, computers were like strange, alien vending machines. They had cryptic switches, punch cards, and pages of encoded output. But in 1975, a young engineering wizard named Steve Wozniak had an idea: What if you combined computer circuitry with a regular typewriter keyboard and a video screen?
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Not Another Apple History!
- By Daniel Dennis on 04-08-08
-
The Greater Journey
- Americans in Paris
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 16 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 2,593
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,126
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,127
The Greater Journey is the enthralling, inspiring—and until now, untold—story of the adventurous American artists, writers, doctors, politicians, architects, and others of high aspiration who set off for Paris in the years between 1830 and 1900, ambitious to excel in their work.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
McCullough takes it to the next level
- By gregory m loyd on 07-12-11
-
The Science of Information: From Language to Black Holes
- By: Benjamin Schumacher, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Benjamin Schumacher
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 222
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 200
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 198
The Science of Information: From Language to Black Holes covers the exciting concepts, history, and applications of information theory in 24 challenging and eye-opening half-hour lectures taught by Professor Benjamin Schumacher of Kenyon College. A prominent physicist and award-winning educator at one of the nation’s top liberal arts colleges, Professor Schumacher is also a pioneer in the field of quantum information, which is the latest exciting development in this dynamic scientific field.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Almost perfect. Broad scope with good depth.
- By James S. on 01-02-19
-
A Mind at Play
- How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age
- By: Rob Goodman, Jimmy Soni
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 348
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 306
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 305
Claude Shannon was a tinkerer, a playful wunderkind, a groundbreaking polymath, and a digital pioneer whose insights made the Information Age possible. He constructed fire-breathing trumpets and customized unicycles, outfoxed Vegas casinos, and built juggling robots, but he also wrote the seminal text of the Digital Revolution. That work allowed scientists to measure and manipulate information as objectively as any physical object. His work gave mathematicians and engineers the tools to bring that world to pass.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
I wanted more information about Information Theory
- By Bonny on 05-08-18
-
The Friendly Orange Glow
- The Untold Story of the PLATO System and the Dawn of Cyberculture
- By: Brian Dear
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 21 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 57
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 53
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 53
At a time when Steve Jobs was only a teenager and Mark Zuckerberg wasn't even born, a group of visionary engineers and designers - some of them only high school students - in the late 1960s and 1970s created a computer system called PLATO, which was not only years but light-years ahead in experimenting with how people would learn, engage, communicate, and play through connected computers.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Memory lane for the cyberist.
- By Robert C. Hickcox on 08-08-18
-
Alan Turing: The Enigma
- By: Andrew Hodges
- Narrated by: Gordon Griffin
- Length: 30 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,654
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,485
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,493
It’s only a slight exaggeration to say that the British mathematician Alan Turing (1912-1954) saved the Allies from the Nazis, invented the computer and artificial intelligence, and anticipated gay liberation by decades--all before his suicide at age forty-one. This classic biography of the founder of computer science, reissued on the centenary of his birth with a substantial new preface by the author, is the definitive account of an extraordinary mind and life.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Fantastic Biography For The Patient Listener
- By Sara on 02-22-15
Publisher's Summary
From one of our most acclaimed novelists, a David-and-Goliath biography for the digital age.
One night in the late 1930s, in a bar on the Illinois-Iowa border, John Vincent Atanasoff, a professor of physics at Iowa State University, after a frustrating day performing tedious mathematical calculations in his lab, hit on the idea that the binary number system and electronic switches, combined with an array of capacitors on a moving drum to serve as memory, could yield a computing machine that would make his life and the lives of other similarly burdened scientists easier. Then he went back and built the machine. It worked. The whole world changed.
Why don’t we know the name of John Atanasoff as well as we know those of Alan Turing and John von Neumann? Because he never patented the device, and because the developers of the far-better-known ENIAC almost certainly stole critical ideas from him. But in 1973 a court declared that the patent on that Sperry Rand device was invalid, opening the intellectual property gates to the computer revolution.
Jane Smiley tells the quintessentially American story of the child of immigrants John Atanasoff with technical clarity and narrative drive, making the race to develop digital computing as gripping as a real-life techno-thriller.
More from the same
What members say
Average Customer Ratings
Overall
-
4.5 out of 5 stars
-
5 Stars24
-
4 Stars14
-
3 Stars10
-
2 Stars0
-
1 Stars0
Performance
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
5 Stars15
-
4 Stars12
-
3 Stars8
-
2 Stars0
-
1 Stars0
Story
-
4.5 out of 5 stars
-
5 Stars20
-
4 Stars9
-
3 Stars6
-
2 Stars1
-
1 Stars0
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story2 out of 5 stars
- valim
- 08-06-12
Half Atanasoff biography, half biograph of others
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
Overall, I enjoyed the book but the focus was more on the era and the cast of characters involved and less about Atanasoff than I had expected. Still very interesting and, I think, worth while.
What was most disappointing about Jane Smiley???s story?
I was hoping for more information about the actual process of invention undertaken by Atanasoff and Berry and perhaps some technical detail. The book was completely non-technical. A LOT of time was spent on biographies of the other people involved in the birth of the computer, which was interesting, just not what I expected in this book.
What else would you have wanted to know about Jane Smiley???s life?
I didn't and don't want to know anything about Jane Smiley's life. It wasn't her biography. I would have enjoyed a bit more about Atanasoff''s professional life during the time he spent at Iowa State College (now University). The period in which he was actually creating his invention is, perhaps, the least well covered period of his life.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Jose Manel Bernal
- Puebla, Pue, Mexico
- 03-09-11
Thank you for Computer History books
Im glad to buy audible computer history books, i hope audible offer more about this computer field, with the better quality voice and the best choice books