This is not an exhaustive list, but these are a few code history books I really like. These are books that focus a bit more on technical characters, as opposed to business leaders, and they're all good reads. Some are better than others, but I really liked all of these for different reasons.
Some are more distant history, and a couple are more contemporary accounts.
The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution
Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture
Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web
Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World’s Most Wanted Hacker
Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt
If I had to pick, I would recommend The Innovators as the first to read from the list because it covers a lot of ground, and Isaacson is a great writer. However, I'd say these can be read in any order. I'll edit this list if I think of any I missed. Feel free to add any more goodies to the comments.
Top comments (34)
I haven't read many history books but what I found most interesting was
Code by Charles Petzold.
Petzold goes to the very beginning of how communications started, and go very low level and moves to the modern programming languages.
⚠️Be warned. It gets very Electrical Engineering heavy.
I literally had to skim through about 1/4 of the book as I couldn't understand many electric circuits.
I love this book. In it you will find the birth of code and computing presented and explained in one of most basic terms possible. It does get a bit hairy towards the end as the system grows and new switches are introduced. Anyhow, it is an excellent book. I'm glad to have found someone mentioning it.
I felt hesitant to mention this book because at some point it has nothing to do with code. But the communication part and how the author directs the flow of information is beautiful.
It's only very early coding-related (ie. Enigma machines during WWII, which I know is a stretch haha), but I really enjoyed The Woman Who Smashed Codes. If you found The Imitation Game interesting, this is probably a good one to add to your reading list!
harpercollins.com/9780062430489/th...
Great recommendation!
Adding to the list: Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary. An hilarious story of how Linux was created, and of course a view inside Linus' mind.
Really worth it!
I've had Masters of Doom on my to read list for a while now but haven't found the time just yet. Two books that I seem to go back to time and time again are:
I personally loved Masters of Doom, can't recommend it enough. Entertaining, insightful and concise, it flowed so well from chapter to chapter that I couldn't put it down. It was an inspiring and yet cautionary tale of ambition and hubris. Definitely pick it up when you get a chance.
Have you read it yet? 😂
My favorite is still Dreaming in Code by Scott Rosenberg, which details how Mitch Kapor (Founder of Lotus Development Corporation and first Mozilla Foundation chairman) tried to lead a team in creating revolutionary software...and how everything went wrong.
Oh cool!! I can't believe I'd never heard of this one. You rock Jason.
Alan Turing: The Enigma is super interesting and full of Turing awesomeness, but it's super long and I don't think I even finished it. Books like that didn't make the list. These were all satisfying reads from start to finish.
Number 1 on my to-read list is Pioneer Programmer: Jean Jennings Bartik and the Computer that Changed the World. Jennings' story is told in The Innovators but I haven't gotten around the reading her own book. I am certain it's awesome though.
The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone was pretty good, but a bit too broad-focused for this list. It also dragged on a bit.
Any time I read or write a post like this.
@ben - one recommendation for you - because these are great.
Have you taken a look at What the Dormouse Said?
One of my favourites!
Looks great, adding to my list!
Not too long ago i read Racing the Beam, about the development of the Atari VCS. It blows my mind, the stories of programming against such constrained hardware in ye olden times of computing
Yeah, Jobs book rocked. I also really liked Franklin. I read half of Einstein and lost interest but I have a good feeling about the Kissenger book. Isaacson really is the quintessential author of that type of character's bio.