A History of Modern Computing

Paul E. Ceruzzi's history runs from the first electronic digital computer to the arrival of the World Wide Web and is built around four turning points: the computer's change in the late 1940s from scientific instrument to commercial product, late-1960s small systems, the first personal computers of the 1970s, and networking's spread after 1985. Alongside that chronology he follows threads such as internal design, economic trends and the Cold War, IBM as both player and target for upstarts, and software's rise to a central role. The focus stays on the United States and on commercially sold systems, not on uses such as artificial intelligence.

Joan Boixados of everydayCheck recommended it to readers who truly care about computers and history, saying it shows how many people worked hard so that the world could end up trading emojis online.