ENIAC

The Triumphs and Tragedies of the World's First Computer

By: Scott McCartney

Narrated by: Adams Morgan

For all his genius, John von Neumann was not, as he is generally credited, the true father of the modern computer. That honor belongs to the two men - John Mauchly and Presper Eckert - who built the world's first programmable computer, the legendary ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer). Mauchly and Eckert, who met in 1941, developed a revolutionary vision: to make electricity "think." Funded by the U.S. Army, the team they led constructed a behemoth - weighing 30 tons with 18,000 vacuum tubes and miles of wiring - that blazed a trail to the next generation of computers that quickly followed, and in the process ignited a controversy over ownership that exists to this day. After their groundbreaking achievement, Mauchly and Eckert were shadowed by personal tragedies and professional setbacks as their accomplishment was laid claim to by others. They formed the world's first computer company, the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, but were quickly outdistanced by IBM.

Based on original interviews with surviving participants and the first study of Mauchly and Eckert's personal papers, ENIAC is a dramatic human story and a vital contribution to the history of technology, and it restores to the two inventors the legacy they deserve.

©1999 by Scott McCartney (P)1999 by Blackstone Audiobooks

Thank you for Computer History books

i love Computer History Field, and audiobook version help me to analyze history, i enjoy this quality audible

Enthralling

This was an excellent audiobook. As other reviewers have stated, it starts off slow, but really picks up after an hour or two. It gets so interesting once you get past the beginning that it's hard to stop listening. I really enjoyed learning about others opinions of John Von Neumann, I had no idea he was suck a controversial figure among the early computer scientists.

For the non-technical historian

This book contains a lot of testimony about early pioneers in the computer industry. The patent battle details and the resulting lawsuits were unfortunate for all parties involved. This is not a technical book that a computer engineer or computer programmer could relate too. This is more a book for a non-technical historian. Phrases like “stored program”, “general purpose computer” and “programmable computer” were distinctions between some of the early computers. This is not a book comparing specifications and technologies of the first computers. This is more a book about the lives of two guys that worked on some of the first computers.

Story Good - Narration and recording horrible, "F"

What made the experience of listening to ENIAC the most enjoyable?

Facts of history

Were the concepts of this book easy to follow, or were they too technical?

Yes simple for technical people and well explained analogies for most laymen

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator voice sounded very similar to the voice of the car KITT in Knight Rider TV show by actor William Daniels. However, Adam Morgan is NOT good choice for narrating.
First, this an American author, writing a story about American history but they use a British? voice. His accent botches simple words and names. Example Albert sounds like 'ollburt'. It's quite annoying, and second pronouncing words (sometime several in a single sentence), he trails off and you can't understand what they hell he is supposed to be saying. Example the word 'endeavor' sounds like 'ENdev...'. He starts out normal and then the volume of his voice drops to near zero within a single word. How can anyone understand this ?
How did this get past the recording stage.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, these historical books are good for listening while driving.

Any additional comments?

Definitely will check for this narrator before buying new books.

computing history is made here!

This book is on the history of the world's first "real" computer, ENIAC. It portrays in
fascinating ways the times, circumstamce, and the peope involved in this veritable arithmetic monster. i still can hardly believe they eventually accomplished what they did. but not only that, successor computers populated academia, govenment and business for many decades to come. it also tells a little bit about the patent law suit with a rival company and related intellectual property issues whihc is a timely topic.
it's a fascinating, interesting, deep book that every computer lover should read.

Insights on the development of the digital compute

What did you love best about ENIAC?

Getting a better understanding of Prosper and Eckert

What other book might you compare ENIAC to and why?

Turing's Cathedral is also a history of the early days of digital computing, from a different perspective. Also very interesting.

Poor Narration

The story on itself was very good. Unfortunately the narrator has a bad habit of dropping the ends of words to the point where I was rewinding every few
minutes to try and make out what he said. For instance “Philadelphia” becomes “Philadel..(whisper whisper)”. Very annoying.

Focuses too much on the drama

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

The chapters on the actual conception of, and building of Eniac, were excellent, and well worth the time reading.

The long sections on the legal fights, and especially the arguments about who gets credit for inventing computers, was much less worthwhile.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The most interesting part of this book was the history of the creation of Eniac, and the associated early history of computing.

The least interesting part, especially true in the 2nd half of the book, was all the personal drama of the legal battles, and battles over who should be credited as the inventor of computers.

Rather than the later I would have preferred much more information about Univac, and more of the early history of mainframe computers.

Informativ, could be read better

Ends of sentences seam to go missing sometimes. Content itself is informative and interesting to listen. Overall liked it.

ENIAC Review

My opinion is that the book was well written in that the story line was consistent. The progression of developments was fairly easy to follow. The author did provide personal information regarding the main characters which provided the mind set of the main characters. Without giving anything away this book is a classic example of life not being fair.