The Computer Book by Simson L Garfinkel

Part of Sterling’s extremely popular Milestones series, this illustrated exploration of computer science ranges from the ancient abacus to superintelligence and social media.

With 250 illustrated landmark inventions, publications, and events—encompassing everything from ancient record-keeping devices to the latest computing technologies—this highly topical addition to the Sterling Milestones series takes a chronological journey through the history and future of computer science. Two expert authors, with decades’ of experience working in computer research and innovation, explore topics including the Sumerian abacus, the first spam message, Morse code, cryptography, early computers, Isaac Asimov’s laws of robotics, UNIX and early programming languages, movies, video games, mainframes, minis and micros, hacking, virtual reality, and more.