3.11.2014
Page number: 560
Publication date: October 2014
Translated in Bulgarian: it's coming soon
Walter Issacson is probably the most popular biographer at the moment. The biography of Steve Jobs was a huge success (more here). That's why I was very excited for his new book The innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution which tells the story of the digital era - the creation of the computer and the Internet. I ordered it the day it came out.
The innovators is definitely a book that everyone needs in his or her library. I learned a lot from it. The only thing that I don't like about The innovators is that there are a lot of characters in this book and sometimes it can be confusing for the reader.
I was quite pleased to read that the first programmers were women. A lot of the innovations happen during the World War II when all men had to serve their countries. The scientists themselves encouraged women to participate in the projects. Today as you know the situation is very different and most of the programmers are men. The book even begins with the story of a woman - Lord Byron's daughter Ava Lovelace.
Walter Issacson deals with the question of artificial intelligance in his book and whether computers can replace humans some day. Most of the innovations are products of collaboration between people.
A lot of the characters in The innovators are famous people like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Larry Page. For others I've never heard before. You can even read about John Atanasoff in this book. I was surprised that there wasn't much about the social networks. There was absolutely nothing about Mark Zuckerberg. It is a difficult job to collect so much information in a single book. I definitely recommend The innovators! You can learn a lot from it and it can be a nice Christmas gift for someone.
