What are some broad "a history of" style books on computing, hacking, companies, etc.

Sheiko37 · March 2016

I never got a degree in computing or information technology and have always had a lot of holes in my broad computing knowledge which I want to go back and learn about. I'm looking for semi-technical books, but not necessarily anything that directly leads to certifications, this is just for my own benefit.

Computers (hardware)
Telecommunication (networking)
Internet
Programming
Companies like Apple, Microsoft, Sun, Oracle
Linux
Hacking

What are some good books that cover these topics, or just essential books about computing or information security.

TheFORCE · March 2016

Start with Robert Noyce and the Rise of Silicon Valley - My opinion, the reason everything IT that exists today is because of this genius. The documentary includes some other very famous engineers and their history.

Then watch BBS: The Documentary - This is the original "on-line" "Internet" community.

Watch the documentary about the 414s: The Original teenage hackers. of how simple it was back in the days.

Watch on Netflix the documentary show "American Genius" it has a good re-cap of the how Apple and Microsoft started and the collaboration they had in their early days.

Watch on Netflix lost tapes of Steve Jobs.

I've watched all these documentaries by the way, it's worth spending the time on them. Some can be watched on Youtube and others on Netflix. There's others but don't remember all of them.

Sheiko37 · March 2016

Going to check out all of those.

beantownmp · March 2016

I think this book is EXACTLY what you're looking for:

The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution: Walter Isaacson: 9781476708690: Amazon.com: Books

Was a great read (or listen since i did the audiobook)

veritas_libertas · March 2016

This great as a history of Internet:

https://www.amazon.com/Where-Wizards-Stay-Up-Late/dp/0684832674/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458304873&sr=8-1&keywords=internet+history

Phreakers:

https://www.amazon.com/Exploding-Phone-Phil-Lapsley/dp/0802122280/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1458304958&sr=8-13&keywords=hacking+the+bell

Kevin Mitnick:

https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Wires-Adventures-Worlds-Wanted/dp/0316037729/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458305026&sr=8-1&keywords=kevin+mitnick

kohr-ah · March 2016

Ghost in the wire was a fantastic book. It proves that humans are more exploitable than anything.

This is a book of stories but I enjoyed it a lot. The reason being is there is stories before computing was the main form of hacking. Exploiting toll lines, vacuum tubes, all kinds of ways: The best of 2600 : a hacker odyssey
http://www.amazon.com/Best-2600-Hacker-Odyssey/dp/0470294191/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458319554&sr=8-1&keywords=the+best+of+2600+a+hacker+odyssey

Bokeh · March 2016

A little bit older, but "The Cuckoo's Egg" is about tracking a spy through the maze of computer espionage.

volume · March 2016

I've read Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution by Steven Levy about a dozen times since I was a teenager - although I haven't read this new edition.

From the Amazon review:
Levy follows members of an MIT model railroad club--a group of brilliant budding electrical engineers and computer innovators--from the late 1950s to the mid-1980s. These eccentric characters used the term "hack" to describe a clever way of improving the electronic system that ran their massive railroad. The book traces the history of hackers, from finagling access to clunky computer-card-punching machines to uncovering the inner secrets of what would become the Internet. This story of brilliant, eccentric, flawed, and often funny people devoted to their dream of a better world will appeal to a wide audience.

wastedtime · March 2016

I always found the RFCs very good for that, especially meeting dictations. You want to know what they were thinking and saying as they created the internet; it is all there. It may be a bit dry for a constant read though. Here is a good early RFC https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc82.txt. I especially like how it ended though, Van Zoeren said, "If we don't decide it, somebody else will decide it the bad way". I second Bokeh's recommendation; one of the few computer books that was a page turner all the way through the book and it is almost entirely fact.

What are some broad "a history of" style books on computing, hacking, companies, etc.

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