How did computers take over the world? This is the story behind how the PC, iPod, smartphone and almost every aspect of modern life came into being. In 1945 a small group of brilliant engineers and mathematicians gathered at the Institute fo Advanced Study in Princeton, determined to build a computer that would make Alan Turing's theory of a universal machine reality. Led by the polymath émigré John von Neumann, they created the numerical framework that underpins almost all modern computing - and ensured that the world would never be the same again. (Backcover text)

Author

George Dyson (born 1953 Ithaca, New York) is an American non-fiction author and historian of technology whose publications broadly cover the evolution of technology in relation to the physical environment and the direction of society.  He has written on a wide range of topics, including the history of computing, the development of algorithms and intelligence, communication systems, space exploration, and the design of water craft. Lecturing widely at academic institutions, corporations, and tech conferences, Dyson gives a historical context to the evolution of technology in modern society and provides thought-provoking ideas on the directions in which technology and the Internet might develop.

George Dyson, Wikipedia (en)