Kjellquist Blog

Review

Rating: Unrated

Jane Smiley has written a facinating account of the early history of computer developments. While she has focused on the story of John Atansoff, the whole history of these early inventors, particularly in US, is interwoven. She does an excellent job of portraying the various personalities for each of them are real “characters”.
This book does well in answering the question, who invented the computer? While most students are aware the ancient Babbage computing engine and the most war ENIAC, the real answer to this question is not a simple one. Nearly simultaneous developments, both theoretical and practical, were underway in Iowa (John Atanasoff), England (Alan Turing), and Germany (Konrad Zuse). Then, as Jane explains so well, all of these efforts were over come by the events of World War II.
In the US, John Atanasoff’s efforts were side tracked by is assignment to other research efforts. World War II also brings John von Neumann and the John Mauchly/ J. Presper Eckhart (ENIAC) team to the forefront. In England, Alan Turing becomes a principal in the use of computers at Bletchley Park to break the Enigma code. Also, in England, we see the more advanced Colossus computer developed by Thomas Flowers (though less well known) to break the more complex Tunny used by German high command. Finally, in Germany, Konrad Zuse is overcoming war time shortages, bureaucratic indifference, and finally Allied bombing raids to continue his developments.
In summary, Jane Smiley has succeeded in clarifying some the most important events of the computer’s early history and its colorful characters.