{"product_id":"readme-a-bookish-history-of-computing-from-electronic-brains-to-everything-machines-9780262553483","title":"Readme: A Bookish History of Computing from Electronic Brains to Everything Machines","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe essential role that the oldest literary technology--books--played in making computers popular and pervasive.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eREADME\u003c\/i\u003e, historian Patrick McCray argues that in order for computers to become ubiquitous, people first had to become interested in them, learn about them, and take the machines seriously. A powerful catalyst for this transformation was, ironically, one of the oldest information technologies we have: books. The author uses a carefully chosen selection of books, some iconic and others obscure, to describe this technological revolution as it unfolded in the half century after 1945. The book begins with a fundamental question: How does a new technology become well-known and widespread? McCray answers this by using books as a window into significant moments in the history of computing, books, publishing, and American culture. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eREADME\u003c\/i\u003e offers a literary history of computers and, more broadly, information technologies between World War II and the dot.com crash of the early twenty-first century. From the electronic brains and cybernetics craze of the 1940s to the birth of AI, the rise of the personal computer, and the Internet-driven financial frenzy of the 1990s, books have proven a durable and essential way for people to learn how to use and think about computers. By offering a readable half-century of bookish history, \u003ci\u003eREADME \u003c\/i\u003eexplains how computers became popular and pervasive.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eW. Patrick McCray is Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Originally trained as a scientist, he is the author or editor of eight books. He is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Physical Society (APS).\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51811642179858,"sku":"9780262553483","price":38.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_cdda4c44-49e1-4761-85ac-aa4a8e55374a.jpg?v=1766487265","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/readme-a-bookish-history-of-computing-from-electronic-brains-to-everything-machines-9780262553483","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}