The Making of the Micro: A History of the Computer

by Christopher Riche Evans

A history of the computer from the abacus to today's sophisticated micro-computers focuses on the most influential people and technological developments

Genres: History

115 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Dr Christopher Riche Evans (29 May 1931 – 10 October 1979) was a British psychologist, computer scientist, and author.

Born in Aberdovey, he spent his childhood in Wales and was educated at Christ College, Brecon (1941–49). He spent two years in the RAF (1950–52),and worked as a science journalist and writer until 1957 when he began a B.A. course in Psychology at University College, London, graduating with honors in 1960.

After a summer fellowship at Duke University, where he first met his future American wife, Nancy Fullmer, he took up a Research Assistant post in the Physics Laboratory, University of Reading, working on eye movements under Professor R.W. Ditchburn. Upon receiving his PhD (the title of his thesis was “Pattern Perception and the Stabilised Retinal Image”), he went to the Division of Computer Science, National Physical Laboratory, Teddington in 1964, where he remained until his death of cancer in 1979. Survived by his wife and two children Christopher Samuel Evans and Victoria Evans-Theiler.

Reviews

[Lee Osborne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written in the late seventies and published in the early eighties, so it pre-dates virtually all the technologies we use every day, but it's still a fascinating and accessible introduction to how we got to where we are - or got part of the way there, at least.

The author was also a TV presenter, and hosted an ITV series made around the same time called The Mighty Micro. I just found an episode on YouTube and it was very interesting - he was clearly a very gifted communicator, but sadly he died just before this book was published, and the series aired. This is a great legacy to have left behind.

[Ben Klaasen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, published in 1980, is already a historical document, but it's no less interesting for that. At first glance "The Making of the Micro" seems like a slim book intended for the young adult market. In fact it provides a solid run-down of the history of computing from the earliest manual devices, via the visionary work of Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace in the nineteenth century, to the early electro-mechanical computers of the twentieth century and right up to the dawn of the personal computer revolution.

There are plenty of photos of seminal early machines, such as the fearsomely jury-rigged racks of the Manchester Mark I in its brick-lined basement and the spectacular, polished behemoth, the Harvard Mark I, which, built from eletro-mechanical relays, was a dinosaur from the moment it was finished. Even Bletchley Park's Collossus is included, even though at the time the book was written, information about the work of the wartime code-breakers was just beginning to come into the public domain.

The author, Chris Evans, vividly brings the excitement and the promise of the early personal computer era to life in the last essay - which was never intended to be the end of the book. What makes this book so poignant is that the author died (at the age of 48) before this book was completed and before the full impact of the computer had penetrated society. Evans was a visionary who understood the impact of the coming revolution - as a reader, swept along by his engaging prose, it's impossible not to regret that he didn't get to see so many of his predictions come to reality.

This is a book for the historian of computers in society; it's light on technical details (read "The First Computers - History and Architectures" for that) and frankly weak on elucidating what software is, but it's a solid review of the field for the general reader of the time. Recommended.

[Alain van Hoof · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice overview that end with some insights that predict what is happening now.