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.
Oldest comments (34)
I would add in The Art of Deception and The Code Book.
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? 😂
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.
I’ve only read Steven Levy’s “Hackers, Heroes...” book from your list. I love that book. The other ones sound interesting too!
Not a book, but Triumph of the Nerds is a pretty good (and cheesy) documentary for computer history
On the documentary front, the first pretty good one that comes to mind is:
I feel like there are a number of good docs in this space, nothing great comes to mind.
I'd sum it up as interesting technical content, lack of charismatic story telling.
That doesn’t surprise me. I liked the book, but weighed against his cult of personality, I’d pass.
I almost didn’t include it but I ultimately deemed it worthy.
Have you any thoughts on the rest of the list?
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.
''Dreaming in Code'' is a great walkthrough of a whole project from inspiration to initial delivery and has some nice sidetracks into the dot-com boom to boot.
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!