Fantastic book<p>What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry - <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/725789.What_the_Dormouse_Said" rel="nofollow">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/725789.What_the_Dormouse...</a><p>Troublemakers: Silicon Valley's Coming of Age - <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34467030-troublemakers" rel="nofollow">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34467030-troublemakers</a><p>A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age - <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32919530-a-mind-at-play" rel="nofollow">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32919530-a-mind-at-play</a>
Off the top of my head:<p>Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Soul_of_a_New_Machine" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Soul_of_a_New_Machine</a><p>Dealers of Lightening - <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/1101290" rel="nofollow">https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/1101290</a><p>Cult of the Dead Cow - <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/42283862" rel="nofollow">https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/42283862</a><p>The Cuckoo's Egg - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cuckoo%27s_Egg_(book)" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cuckoo%27s_Egg_(book)</a>
<i>Turing's Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe</i> by George Dyson. The brilliance of John von Neumann is on full display, not least his brilliance in gathering amazingly talented people for one of the most ambitious projects ever--the creation of a stored-program computer--and creating the kind of community and sense of purpose that scarcely exists in our current world of commercialized technology.
<i>The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing Personal</i> is a great read. The recent Stripe Press reissue [1] includes some of J.C.R. Licklider's writings at the end, a nice bonus.<p>[1] <a href="https://press.stripe.com/the-dream-machine" rel="nofollow">https://press.stripe.com/the-dream-machine</a>
Not yet covered by others:<p>The Code Book, by Simon Singh [History of Cryptography]
The Idea Factory, by John Gertner [Bell Labs]
The Information, by James Gleick [Shannon and Information Theory. I haven't read the mentioned A Mind at Play on the same subject]
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jargon_File" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jargon_File</a><p>pretty sure you can find it online in 7 bit ASCII format
1. <i>Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution</i> - Steven Levy[1]<p>2. <i>Inventing the Future</i> - Albert Cory[2][3]<p>3. <i>Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier</i> - John Markoff and Katie Hafner[4][5]<p>4. <i>Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker</i> - Kevin Mitnick[6]<p>5. Not a book, but definitely consider watching "Halt & Catch Fire"[7] if you haven't seen it yet. It's an amazing show that deals with, loosely speaking, "the history of the computer industry".<p>6. <i>Exploding the Phone: The Untold Story of the Teenagers and Outlaws Who Hacked Ma Bell</i> - Phil Lapsley[8]<p>[1]: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackers:_Heroes_of_the_Computer_Revolution" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackers:_Heroes_of_the_Compute...</a><p>[2]: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Inventing-Future-Albert-Cory/dp/1736298615" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Inventing-Future-Albert-Cory/dp/17362...</a><p>[3]: Note that AlbertCory is an HN'er! <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28059246">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28059246</a><p>[4]: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cyberpunk-Outlaws-Hackers-Computer-Frontier/dp/0671683225" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Cyberpunk-Outlaws-Hackers-Computer-Fr...</a><p>[5]: Yes, I'm aware there are substantial question marks concerning the veracity of some of the information in this book, especially as it pertains to Mitnick. Nonetheless, I believe it's worth reading, but also suggest reading other books about Mitnick, including his autobiography, to get the other perspective<p>[6]: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Wires-Adventures-Worlds-Wanted/dp/0316037729/" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Wires-Adventures-Worlds-Wanted/...</a><p>[7]: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halt_and_Catch_Fire_(TV_series)" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halt_and_Catch_Fire_(TV_series...</a><p>[8]: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Exploding-Phone-Phil-Lapsley/dp/0802122280" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Exploding-Phone-Phil-Lapsley/dp/08021...</a>
"Fire In The Valley" Paul Freiberger & Michael Swaine - McGraw Hill
"Forbes Greatest Technology Stories" Jeffrey Young - John Wiley & Sons
Also recommend "Dealers of Lightening" and "The Cuckoo's Egg"