When Computing Got Personal

A History of the Desktop Computer

By: Matt Nicholson

Narrated by: Norman Gilligan

This is the story of how a handful of geeks and mavericks dragged the computer out of corporate back rooms and laboratories and into our living rooms and offices. It is a tale not only of extraordinary innovation and vision but also of cunning business deals, boardroom tantrums and acrimonious lawsuits.

Here you will find some of the most intelligent and eccentric people you could hope to meet, including wide-eyed hippies, subversive students, computer nerds, entrepreneurs, hackers, crackers and financial backers. Some lost out and some became millionaires, but all played a part in transforming our world.

©2014 Matt Nicholson (P)2015 Matt Nicholson

Critic reviews

"I have read numerous books on the history of personal computing and rate this one highly." (Tim Anderson, ITWriting)

"I enjoyed this book; it has obviously been extremely well researched, and is well written and takes a coherent route through the history." (Kay Ewbank, I Programmer)

"Matt Nicholson ... was in a position to observe all this first-hand." (Wendy M Grossman, ZDNet)

Great details on the history of personal computing

Even though I know a lot about the history of personal computing, I learned some new things in this book. I really enjoyed listening to it.

Good Book, Horrible Narrator.

The book was great. I learned a lot. however I could only listen to a chapter at a time because the narrator was so monotoned. the narrator caused me to get bored. I felt as if I was in a college class that I was forced to take.

Good material, distracting performance

Narrator had an over-fussy pronunciation style that I found distracting, and didn't appear to be following the meaning of what he was reading, resulting in odd word emphases and distracting pauses. very slow delivery too, though listening on 125% speed helped with that.

Fond memories.

A very good retelling of the creation of the personal computer. Some of the stories differed from other versions I've heard, but that's to be expected.

A fun trip down the halls of PC history.

What made the experience of listening to When Computing Got Personal the most enjoyable?

I enjoyed the stories of the early frontier days of the Personal Computer market.

What did you like best about this story?

Good coverage of the early and middle PC era.

What about Norman Gilligan’s performance did you like?

It was soothing to listen to, though some of the pronunciation of computer terms was incorrect.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I wouldn't say it was a particularly moving story, but an interesting one.

Any additional comments?

A fantastic listen.

Great Read-Fact filled.

This is a great listen. It is filled with A LOT of history and great info. if this topic is your passion and you love vintage Tech and vintage Tech history.....it will be awesome.

Great Book, Terrible Narrator

The book is well-worth reading; however, the narrator lacks style, intonation, and, overall, performs worse than Alexa or Google Assistant. Don't waste your money/credits. Buy the book.

Kinda a hodgepodge of material

This book is strange. Some original material but also some repurposed material from the pbs show “revenge of the nerds” some quotes wildly out of context and out of the blue. I enjoyed it non the less.

A bit dry but worth powering through for the gems

This is a very straightforward history of the first personal computers to present day, briefly touching on the industry giants (both individuals and organizations) that cultivated them.

Unlike "Where Wizards Stay Up Late" or "The Innovators", this book is largely absent of anecdotes and intrigue. instead, expect to read a series of years, facts, and names, as well as several computer specs.

Narration is monotonous but crisp. It may be the source material reflected in the reader, or a fact-based direction. I enjoy and am calmed by most British accents in narration, though some might find UK pronunciation jarring. Acronyms are pronounced as initialisms, i.e. "a. r. p. a." rather than "arpah" (ARPA).

Where the book shines is in its tidbits and trivia, where you briefly learn this or that nugget, like how the first Apple computers only had speakers to support the video game "Break Out".

It's worth the 11 hours or so for a general history but there are certainly more interesting listens.

Fairly interesting book... slow/droning narrator

I don't know what came first, but this book is almost identical to the content (interview quotations and all) of the documentary series "Rise of the Nerds."

If you don't have time, I'd save your money and just watch that 3 part series. It has actual clips of the figures portrayed in the book like Moore, Gates, the creator of VisiCalc and the Homebrew organizer guy who all are much more interesting to listen to than this book's narrator (who's about as dry as a popcorn fart, and not as fast).