Isaacson's sketch has been deleted from medium.com, but this appears to be a copy:<p><a href="http://kielarowski.net/2013/12/20/the-culture-that-gave-birth-to-the-personal-computer/" rel="nofollow">http://kielarowski.net/2013/12/20/the-culture-that-gave-birt...</a><p>I hope Isaacson doesn't overlook J.C.R. Licklider's contributions. M. Mitchell Waldrop wrote an excellent book about that called <i>The Dream Machine</i>; here's a review:<p><a href="http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/9.10/streetcred.html?pg=2" rel="nofollow">http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/9.10/streetcred.html?...</a>
Paul E. Ceruzzi's A History of Modern Computing does a good job of filling in the story, as Bricklin wishes here that someone would do. It is especially good on the 1950's, 60's, and 70's, and the origins and legacy of DEC (Digital) and other companies and people that loomed large at the time, and were influential in creating our present world, but are not so well remembered nowadays.
On a tangent - if you didn't like the Isaacson biography (it's pretty ... lacking ... isn't it?) and you haven't read the stuff on <a href="http://www.folklore.org" rel="nofollow">http://www.folklore.org</a> or the book <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_in_The_Valley" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_in_The_Valley</a> - go do it, it's intelligently written first hand anecdotes from the beginning of the 80s at Apple.<p>Let's read up on history - Dan Bricklin certainly has wet my appetite for a book on Digital (even as a Unix guy ;) as well as the origins of VisiCalc and "spreadsheet" programs respectively (IMHO the closest tools non-programmers have to achieve programmer like powers and problem solving satisfaction).