The Computer Industry/Computer History

CampbellKelly, Martin, and Aspray, William. Computer: A History of the Information Machine. New York: Basic Books, 1996. Outstanding.

Caroll, Paul. Big Blues: The Unmaking of IBM. New York: Crown Publishers, 1993. Focuses on IBM's struggle with Microsoft. Contains good information, but the analysis is weak. For a more thoughtful interpretation, see Ferguson and Morris' Computer Wars.

Cringely, Robert X. Accidental Empires. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1992. An insightful history of the microcomputer industry from Infoworld's gossip columnist. Unfortunately, does not include photos of Pammy.

Ferguson, Charles H. and Morris, Charles R. Computer Wars. New York: Random House, 1993. Simply brilliant, both on the IBM-Microsoft struggle and on the nature of the computer business. Still important despite its age.

Hafner, Katie and Lyon, Matthew. Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet. New York: Touchstone Press, 1996. Solid and readable.

Jackson, Tim. Inside Intel. New York:Dutton, 1997. Valuable insights on Intel's business strategy.

Malone, Michael S. Infinite Loop: How the World's Most Insanely Great Computer Company Went Insane.New York: Doubleday, 1999. Fascinating history of Apple Computer.

Negroponte, Nicholas. Being Digital. New York: Random House, 1995. Interesting stuff from the head of MIT's famed Media Lab.

Pugh, Emerson W. Building IBM: Shaping an Industry and its Technology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995. A more scholarly analysis of IBM's troubles at the end of the '80s.

Shurkin, Joel. Engines of the Mind: The Evolution of the Computer from Mainframes to Microprocessors. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 1996. Focuses on the early periods of calculation and computation. Well done.