{"product_id":"9780262553483","title":"README","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe essential role that the oldest literary technology—books—played in making computers popular and pervasive.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eREADME\u003c\/i\u003e, historian Patrick McCray argues that in order for computers to become ubiquitous, people first had to become interested in them, learn about them, and take the machines seriously. A powerful catalyst for this transformation was, ironically, one of the oldest information technologies we have: books. The author uses a carefully chosen selection of books, some iconic and others obscure, to describe this technological revolution as it unfolded in the half century after 1945. The book begins with a fundamental question: How does a new technology become well-known and widespread? McCray answers this by using books as a window into significant moments in the history of computing, books, publishing, and American culture.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eREADME\u003c\/i\u003e offers a literary history of computers and, more broadly, information technologies between World War II and the dot.com crash of the early twenty-first century. From the electronic brains and cybernetics craze of the 1940s to the birth of AI, the rise of the personal computer, and the Internet-driven financial frenzy of the 1990s, books have proven a durable and essential way for people to learn how to use and think about computers. By offering a readable half-century of bookish history, \u003ci\u003eREADME \u003c\/i\u003eexplains how computers became popular and pervasive.","brand":"W. Patrick Mccray","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback Trade paperback (US)","offer_id":47432503263444,"sku":"9780262553483","price":48.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1000\/9208\/files\/BNCImageAPI_4415f918-f7ca-4d70-807d-f7943ffe7f1e.jpg?v=1767991607","url":"https:\/\/penguinshop.ca\/products\/9780262553483","provider":"Penguin Shop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}