How It Works…The Computer
November 14th, 2004Wonderful. Ladybird books from 1971 and 1979 explaining how computers work (via MoFi)
Although the technology is laughably primitive compared to that of the modern day (check out the “small digital computer designed for the businessman”), the general principles behind how the computers worked are pretty much the same ones we use today.
The book uses very sophisticated language and goes into some aspects like magnetic storage and binary arithmetic in almost mind-numbing detail (even at degree level, we wouldn’t have done some of this) - especially for a book by Ladybird. I’m not sure whether this is a sign we’ve dumbed down since the 1970s, or if the guy who wrote it was just really out of touch.