Oolite Bulletins

I'm a big fan of books that tell the story of how technology was developed.

As an example, I've bought many books that tell the tale of how home/personal computers were developed in the US: "Hackers" by Steven Levy, "The Dream Machine" by M. Mitchell Waldrop, "Accidental Empires" by Robert Cringely and "Fire in the Valley" by Freiburger and Swaine to name just four.

But I've never seen any equivalent that tells the story of the British home computer explosion of the early 1980s.

Any suggestions? Or have I just stumbled upon a writing project which might eat up a year or two of my life?

Four and a half hours - well, I suppose you have your reply

Good stumble. I look forward to reading it.

Mike

the only thing i could recommend is a magazine called "Retro gamer", but it is relatively new, but does have company profiles etc. but it isn't really a book, just small columns.
if this is spam, don't kill me spam assassins

MKG wrote:

Four and a half hours - well, I suppose you have your reply

Errm, yeah. I suppose I can take that as a "No JB, we haven't..."

MKG wrote:

Good stumble. I look forward to reading it.

Me too! But I'd love other Brits to read the story, if only to remind ourselves that this country used to be more than one big bankruptcy auction where French electricity suppliers, German water companies, American currency speculators and Chinese car manufacturers could hunt for bargains.

So I wouldn't just want the technology to be the star of the story; that would turn any text into (at best) a nostalgia-fest or (at worst) a microchip version of Top Trumps where machines are endlessly compared.

My favourite 'history of computer development' book is "Hackers" by Steven Levy. This book doesn't offer a comprehensive guide (the CBM64 isn't mentioned once!), it doesn't offer the geek readership a deeply technical insight into the computers that it does mention, nor is it a particularly well-balanced view of the people who are featured in the story.

But what sets it apart from the other more complete books, is that it unashamedly places 'human achievement' as star of the show. The subtitle of the book is "Heroes of the computer revolution" - and that's exactly how Levy portrays the young MIT undergrads who taught themselves how to program the DEC PDP-1, the members of the Homebrew Computer Club in Palo Alto and the teenage game authors working for Sierra OnLine. The result might be a bit 'rose-tinted' for some tastes, but I find that the book celebrates how empowered individuals became to learn, problem-solve, build and create. In this way, the book maintains an addictive feeling of optimism throughout.

So, yeah. An account of the British home computer revolution that highlighted ingenuity, perseverance, self-confidence and triumph... that's what I'd like to see.

0235 wrote:

the only thing i could recommend is a magazine called "Retro gamer", but it is relatively new, but does have company profiles etc. but it isn't really a book, just small columns.

Thanks 0235, I'll check that out...