Here are some histories of specific industries I've read recently and supremely enjoyed:
- The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger
- The Machine That Changed the World: The Story of Lean Production-- Toyota's Secret Weapon in the Global Car Wars That Is Now Revolutionizing World Industry
- Empires of the Sky: Zeppelins, Airplanes, and Two Men's Epic Duel to Rule the World
- Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America (of all of these not the most amazing but still interesting)
- The Arms of Krupp: The Rise and Fall of the Industrial Dynasty that Armed Germany at War
And then you can learn a lot by reading about the people who built the industries too. Here are a few I've been reading about recently that I recommend:
- Edison by Edmund Morris (Just read it backwards, you'll see.)
- Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow
- The People's Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century by Steven Watts
- Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal Gabler
I also got some interesting suggestions asking a similar question on Twitter a bit ago.
Have you looked for online courses? Here are a few of the books I'd go through around computers, but are you thinking more extensive history of "technology?" Like how we've grown from printing press as innovation?
+1 for "The Information".
i can here specifically to recommend this book. Such a great read, i would even venture are saying a must read for anybody even remotely interested in computer science.
The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage is one of my favorites.
It talks about how the telegraph brought near instantaneous communication and how that changed the world. He gives specific examples for finance, newspapers and even the law ("Can you approve a contract over the telegraph?")
What I found most interesting:
I read this book in the late 2000s/early 2010s and remember thinking "Wow! This is is EXACTLY what's happening now with newspapers. When was this written?" and seeing that the original copy came out in 1998!
+1 for The Victorian Internet. A fascinating book.
His descriptions of how the telegraph disrupted people's existing understanding of distance and time/simultaneity are very interesting.
People thinking that the physical telegraph form was transmitted, rather than just its content, and demanding to telegraph other physical objects.
Also the use of commercially published word-books to shorten and obfuscate long telegraph messages is reminiscent of data compression and cryptography today.
Check out Computer Wars by Ferguson for probably a better version of that.
The Ferguson book sent me down a lot of historical rabbit holes that didn't have wikipedia pages yet and I had to pull up things on like newspapers.com or archive.org to find out more information.
I just finished The Innovators by Walter Isaacson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innovators_(book)), definitely more on the pop side of things but found it interesting and introduced me to people and topics I was able to research further on my own.
Wow, "History of Technology" is a very wide subject...
Are you interested in early computers? The first portable watches in the 18th century? How textiles were painted in antiquity?
The main international organizations on this front are ICOHTEC https://www.icohtec.org/ in Europe and SHOT https://www.historyoftechnology.org/ in the US. They have regular conferences, multi-track multi-day events, which attract many presenters and participants.
Papers appear in Technology and Culture (published by SHOT); ICOHTEC also publishes ICON.
Besides these two large, international groups, there are national groups in many countries. And even more groups for specific areas of History of Technology, in either chronological or thematic focus.
I came here to second this book by Simon Winchester, "The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World". Winchester has written may attention-worthy books.
I recommend listening to/ reading Alan Kay's works, especially for a idiosyncratic history of computing. You don't get many facts as is, but sophisticated interpretations of various disciplines, how to combine them, with a strong focus on history of technology (and other important ideas).
https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/ has a lot of blogposts that go over low-tech solutions to problems that were otherwise lost to history. For example, solar panels in the 1910s, early industry that used rope to transport power over several kilometers, the original peat-powered industrial revolutions, etc. Extremely fascinating stuff that most history books I've seen tend to miss out on. And they've compiled their posts into books you can buy
I found Herbert Hoover's translation of De Re Metallica[1] to be fascinating. A compendium of the technology of the day for processing most metals.
I also found Longitude[2]: "The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time" to be an interesting account of the solving of the problem of nautical timekeeping.
I second the nomination of Simon Winchester's book "The Perfectionists"
"Technopoly" by Neil Postman focusses on how technologies influence cultures. Postman taught at NYU for decades. He was not anti-technology - he said we need technology like we need food - but he was critical. He believed we should be careful about the technologies we adopt and how we use them. "Technopoly" looks at the history of technology over thousands of years. It describes how societies can become monopolized by technology. It was published in 1992 but feels even more relevant today.
Interesting fact: he wrote the book with pen and paper, without the help of a computer. He felt his writing was better that way. (Actually he wrote at least 20 books that way.)
Obviously computer-centered, but I strongly recommend "The Computing Universe" by Tony Hey and Gyuri Pápay.
While obviously touching Alan Turing's contribution, it doesn't just call it at day, but goes in detail on the history of networking, of memory, of the web, of "personal computers" companies, with tons of little asides on specific contributors, or projects.
Not sure if this is what you're interested in, but a friend recently recommended reading these two in tandem:
"The Image" by David Boorstin, and "Palo Alto" by Malcom Harris
Both offer views on the evolution of technology, but from authors with somewhat opposing viewpoints.
"The Image" is particularly interesting to read today, because it was written in 1962, with the advent of TV, and back then one of the core concerns was edited video and how it was becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate fact from fiction.
Interesting overlap with some of the concerns around LLMs
[+] [-] eatonphil|2 years ago|reply
- The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger
- The Machine That Changed the World: The Story of Lean Production-- Toyota's Secret Weapon in the Global Car Wars That Is Now Revolutionizing World Industry
- Empires of the Sky: Zeppelins, Airplanes, and Two Men's Epic Duel to Rule the World
- Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America (of all of these not the most amazing but still interesting)
- The Arms of Krupp: The Rise and Fall of the Industrial Dynasty that Armed Germany at War
And then you can learn a lot by reading about the people who built the industries too. Here are a few I've been reading about recently that I recommend:
- Edison by Edmund Morris (Just read it backwards, you'll see.)
- Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow
- The People's Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century by Steven Watts
- Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal Gabler
I also got some interesting suggestions asking a similar question on Twitter a bit ago.
https://twitter.com/eatonphil/status/1668625835350454273
[+] [-] TechnologyPast|2 years ago|reply
What do you think of the Novum Organum by Sir Francis Bacon, who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I?
https://libquotes.com/francis-bacon/quote/lbz2z1a
[+] [-] ughitsaaron|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] topherjaynes|2 years ago|reply
Soul of a New Machine is a great non-fiction but reads like a fiction account of trying to overtake the Vax by building one of the first 32-bit machines https://www.amazon.com/Soul-New-Machine-Tracy-Kidder/dp/0316...
A Biography of the Pixel https://www.amazon.com/Biography-Pixel-Leonardo-Alvy-Smith/d... great overview of the innovation and math that pushed graphics forwrard
The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood https://www.amazon.com/Information-History-Theory-Flood/dp/1... walks through information theory and how we got to the internet
Dealers of lightning: https://www.amazon.com/Dealers-of-Lightning-audiobook/dp/B00... how a lot of modenr computing grew out of Xerox
[+] [-] soulbadguy|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hhh|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] alexpotato|2 years ago|reply
It talks about how the telegraph brought near instantaneous communication and how that changed the world. He gives specific examples for finance, newspapers and even the law ("Can you approve a contract over the telegraph?")
What I found most interesting:
I read this book in the late 2000s/early 2010s and remember thinking "Wow! This is is EXACTLY what's happening now with newspapers. When was this written?" and seeing that the original copy came out in 1998!
[+] [-] andyjohnson0|2 years ago|reply
His descriptions of how the telegraph disrupted people's existing understanding of distance and time/simultaneity are very interesting.
People thinking that the physical telegraph form was transmitted, rather than just its content, and demanding to telegraph other physical objects.
Also the use of commercially published word-books to shorten and obfuscate long telegraph messages is reminiscent of data compression and cryptography today.
[+] [-] alexpotato|2 years ago|reply
> "Can you approve a contract over the telegraph?"
- Is a faxed copy of a signed contract legally binding?
- Is an email scan of a signed contract legally binding?
[+] [-] keiferski|2 years ago|reply
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technics_and_Civilization
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Myth_of_the_Machine
[+] [-] Zelphyr|2 years ago|reply
Where Wizards Stay Up Late - on the creation of the Internet
The Soul of a New Machine - On computing in the 70's and 80's
The Difference Between God and Larry Ellison - On the rise of Oracle (also has the best title)
Masters of Doom - A history of id Software
What The Dormouse Said - How the 60's counterculture influenced computing
The New New Thing - Follows Jim Clark around while he creates SGI, Netscape, etc...
[+] [-] kristopolous|2 years ago|reply
The Ferguson book sent me down a lot of historical rabbit holes that didn't have wikipedia pages yet and I had to pull up things on like newspapers.com or archive.org to find out more information.
No shade on Cringley though, it's a fine book.
[+] [-] marklar423|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] themadmedic|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zvr|2 years ago|reply
Are you interested in early computers? The first portable watches in the 18th century? How textiles were painted in antiquity?
The main international organizations on this front are ICOHTEC https://www.icohtec.org/ in Europe and SHOT https://www.historyoftechnology.org/ in the US. They have regular conferences, multi-track multi-day events, which attract many presenters and participants. Papers appear in Technology and Culture (published by SHOT); ICOHTEC also publishes ICON.
Besides these two large, international groups, there are national groups in many countries. And even more groups for specific areas of History of Technology, in either chronological or thematic focus.
[+] [-] cptaj|2 years ago|reply
https://www.amazon.com/Perfectionists-Precision-Engineers-Cr...
[+] [-] rookderby|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] atomicnature|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dpeck|2 years ago|reply
Not a book, but the old Connections series is really wonderful for broad overviews along a narrow band. I wish there were more things that took a similar approach - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_(British_TV_series...
[+] [-] jschveibinz|2 years ago|reply
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Idea_Factory
[+] [-] kristopolous|2 years ago|reply
* Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries A Study of Early Modern Physics (1979) https://archive.org/details/electricityin17t0000heil
* Early electrical communication (1964) https://archive.org/details/earlyelectricalc0000marl
* Bibliographical history Of Electricity And Magnetism (1922) https://archive.org/details/bibliographicalh033138mbp/page/n...
^ This is still one of the best.
* Electric Science Its History, Phenomena, and Applications (1853) https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Lks1AAAAMAAJ
* The History and Present State of Electricity (1769) https://archive.org/details/historyandprese00priegoog
[+] [-] NotSuspicious|2 years ago|reply
https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/offline-reading/
https://www.lulu.com/search?contributor=Kris+De+Decker&page=...
[+] [-] max_|2 years ago|reply
2. The Nature of Technology by Brian Arthur
3. (Not a book but documentary) Connections by James Burk
4. Books by James Burk [0]
[0]: https://www.thriftbooks.com/a/james--burke/215445/
[+] [-] conz|2 years ago|reply
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/722412.The_Dream_Machine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackers:_Heroes_of_the_Compute...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12625589-turing-s-cathed...
https://openlibrary.org/books/OL27198205M/Fire_in_the_valley
[+] [-] MetallicCloud|2 years ago|reply
https://www.amazon.com/Turings-Cathedral-Origins-Digital-Uni...
[+] [-] mikewarot|2 years ago|reply
I also found Longitude[2]: "The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time" to be an interesting account of the solving of the problem of nautical timekeeping.
I second the nomination of Simon Winchester's book "The Perfectionists"
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_re_metallica
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_(book)
[+] [-] ggroberg|2 years ago|reply
Interesting fact: he wrote the book with pen and paper, without the help of a computer. He felt his writing was better that way. (Actually he wrote at least 20 books that way.)
[+] [-] mablopoule|2 years ago|reply
While obviously touching Alan Turing's contribution, it doesn't just call it at day, but goes in detail on the history of networking, of memory, of the web, of "personal computers" companies, with tons of little asides on specific contributors, or projects.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/computing-universe/2542...
[+] [-] HamptonFounders|2 years ago|reply
"The Image" by David Boorstin, and "Palo Alto" by Malcom Harris
Both offer views on the evolution of technology, but from authors with somewhat opposing viewpoints.
"The Image" is particularly interesting to read today, because it was written in 1962, with the advent of TV, and back then one of the core concerns was edited video and how it was becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate fact from fiction.
Interesting overlap with some of the concerns around LLMs