Digitized: The Science of Computers and How It Shapes Our World - Hardcover

Bentley, Peter J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 019969379X ISBN 13: 9780199693795

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2012

Synopsis

There's a hidden science that affects every part of your life, a science so powerful that you would be hard-pressed to find a single human being on the planet unaffected by its achievements. It is the science behind computers, the machines which drive the supply and creation of power, food, medicine, money, communication, entertainment, and most goods our stores. It has transformed societies with the Internet, the digitization of information, mobile phone networks, and GPS technologies.

Written in friendly and approachable language, Digitized provides a window onto the mysterious field from which all computer technology originates, making the theory and practice of computation understandable to the general reader. This popular science book explains how and why computers were invented, how they work, and what will happen in the future. Written by a leading computer scientist, Peter J. Bentley, it tells this fascinating story using the voices of pioneers and leading experts interviewed for the book, in effect throwing open the doors of the most cutting-edge computer laboratories. Bentley explores how this young discipline grew from the early work by pioneers such as Turing, through its growth spurts in the Internet, its difficult adolescent stage where the promises of AI were never achieved and dot-com bubble burst, to its current stage as a semi-mature field, capable of remarkable achievements.

Packed with real-world examples, Digitized is the only book to explain the origins and key advances in all areas of computing: theory, hardware, software, Internet, user interfaces, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence. If you have an interest in computers--whether you work with them, use them for fun, or are being taught about them in school--this book will provide an entertaining introduction to the science that's changing the world.

About this title

About the Author

Peter J. Bentley has been called a creative maverick computer scientist. He is an Honorary Reader at the Department of Computer Science, University College London, Collaborating Professor at the Korean Advanced Institute for Science and Technology, a contributing editor for Wired UK, a consultant, and a freelance writer. He is author of the number one bestselling iPhone app iStethoscope Pro and of the popular science books Digital Biology, The Book of Numbers, and The Undercover Scientist. Bentley is a regular contributor to television and radio.

Review

An entertaining and informative popular science study of computer science. * New York Journal of Books * Anyone looking for a neat illustration of how technology has infiltrated our everyday lives need look no further than the first few pages of Digitized * Engineering and Technology Magazine * Computer science has become so pervasive in modern life that it can seem invisible or be taken for granted; Bentley succeeds in bringing this hidden world to light. * Library Journal * A richly interesting survey of computer science * Steven Poole, The Guardian * I have always thought that no book deserved 10 out of 10, but for this one I make an exception. * BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT *

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 019969379X
• ISBN 13: 9780199693795
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320