The Innovators: Micro Review
It was during my high school days when I crammed up on everything sounding like ENIAC, UNIVAC, Ada Lovelace, Charles Babbage, Bill Gates, etc. It was for a computer quiz organized by the state gov and I was representing my college. I got 2nd prize and was very disappointed with myself. Well, the innovators is a deep dive into the world of computer history as only Walter Isaacson can.
And for me, this was a treat because I did read on the topic a lot after that cramming about computer history and I am an avid enthusiast on the topic. In the book, Walter Isaacson delves into the key milestones of the evolution of computers starting from Ada to the WWW. The author covers the stories, the key players, and the key moments that led to the next step in evolution. As he has done with his other works (Steve Jobs, The Code Breaker, etc.), the author tells an engaging and in-depth tale and covers the key personalities like Lady Ada Lovelace, Eckert & Mauchly, Grace Hopper, Neumann, Turing, Shockley, Noyce, Kilby, Kay, Jobs, Gates and every other major personality who played a role in the evolution of Computers as we know it today. It's still not super comprehensive but trust me the author has a method to who and what he covered.
The stories are engaging, interesting, and eloquent and will one day become an authoritative read on the history of one of the most important ages of our lives — The Digital Age.
The beauty of his storytelling is the way he emphasizes the collaborative nature of individual achievements and how one discovery leads to another and one advancement builds on top of the previous ones. The story is rich in diversity in how we owe the current digital age to the works of individual hobbyists, academicians & defense scientists (among others) who have contributed in the last 100 or so years to get to where we are.
Another gem and a recommended read.
