IBM's Early Computers

This is primarily a technical history of IBM's early computers. It begins with the successors to Herman Hollerith's tabulating machine -- punched card accounting machines -- and ends with the announcement of the IBM/360 series. But in addition to a relatively detailed description of some of the engineering behind IBM's early computers, it also provides a view of how that engineering was affected by the politics of a large corporation and the needs of its customers. The authors are all long-time staff of IBM and participants in this early history. To their credit (and IBM's), they show both the muddle and the genius involved: how IBM wound up both at the head of the pack and with a set of incompatible products by 1960. The technologies involved are all 50 years or more out of date. However, if you plan to spend time working as an engineer or manager in a technical firm, then reading this book carefully, along with the works of Frederick Brooks, Samuel Florman, Robert Lucky, and Henry Petroski, might offer as good an education as many MBA programs. (See our Amapedia article for details on publication history, author background, and content notes.)