There have been a number of books that have attempted to describe the coming of the computer and the computer revolution that have been published in each of the last decades of the twentieth century and now into the twenty‐first century. Most scientists take the view that the “computer age” that is so often heralded as if it was some new phenomenon has only just started and that perhaps it is too soon to write its history in any definitive way. The two aspects of the beginnings of computers and their applications that interest cyberneticians and systemists the most are the technological advances and the sociological impact on people and society. This book is a collection of essays about what the author does define as the “computer age” and covers a period in its history of some half‐a‐century. It looks back to the mid‐1940s as the Second World War was coming to its end. This ignores the computers that were in evidence albeit in an experimental or prototype form during this war and which in such places as Bletchly Park provided essential information to those who were engaged in it. Maybe the sociological impact was so small because they existed only in secret locations.
What the author of this book does is to set computer development in context and he does this by expanding his earlier writings on the subject in both an interesting and informative way. The relationship between computing machines and their users makes a fascinating study. These essays make a worthwhile contribution to the way in which we attempt to gauge the reactions at this early stage of both computers on society and on the interaction between “man” and “machine”.
The whole point about this so‐called revolution was that the technological advances in the design and production of computer systems was so rapid that society had little time to appreciate what was happening. Indeed, it was the advent of the personal computer and the worldwide web that has had such a dramatic effect on humans and the society they inhabit. From its early days, the computer was a revolutionary machine and with the advances of today continues to be so. This book starts the thinking about human users of computing machines, society and, of course, the ever‐changing technology. It does this in a didactic manner and gives us a sense of what progress has been made and what challenges have been met and will be encountered.
It is enough to say that it provides us with a good insight to the nature of the computer and makes a very worth while read.
Many readers will recognise the work of the author who in this text has used his earlier offerings as the basis for a revised and well set out collection of essays.
