Handmade Network»Forums
Oliver Marsh
193 posts / 1 project
Olster1.github.io
non-fiction books
Edited by Oliver Marsh on Reason: Initial post
I have been reading 'the innovators' by walter isaacson and it's pretty good overview of computing. I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for non-fiction computing books? I find I learn best from history type books, but any type would be great. The black books about doom etc. look like good resources as well, but haven't read them.
309 posts / 1 project
None
non-fiction books
OliverMarsh
I have been reading 'the innovators' by walter isaacson and it's pretty good overview of computing. I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for non-fiction computing books? I find I learn best from history type books, but any type would be great. The black books about doom etc. look like good resources as well, but haven't read them.


One of my favorites that I've recently read is "A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age".

--
George
70 posts
Professional programmer, working in the video games industry since 2012
non-fiction books
I read the Black Book about Wolfenstein 3D - not the Doom one yet - , and it goes pretty in depth as to how the team managed to fit a game in the computers of that time, with all the quirks and hardware constraints and exotisms that make writing "handmade" software today feel like a breeze.
16 posts
Based in Japan. Building a fully featured music production system with a twist.
non-fiction books
Edited by Kapsy on
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution is a must read:
https://www.amazon.com/Hackers-He...n-Anniversary-ebook/dp/B003PDMKIY

Not strictly computing, but Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker is very entertaining:
https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Wire...coding=UTF8&qid=1556685569&sr=1-1

But How Do It Know? - The Basic Principles of Computers for Everyone is a good intro to CPU basics:
https://www.amazon.com/But-How-Kn...=1556685814&s=digital-text&sr=1-1

The Art of Multiprocessor Programming:
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Multip...tipro%2Cdigital-text%2C276&sr=1-3

For project management, there's Skunk Works:
https://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Work...=1556686130&s=digital-text&sr=1-2

And The Mythical Man Month:
https://www.amazon.com/Mythical-M...ical+%2Cdigital-text%2C331&sr=1-1

Personally I don't tend to seek out hardcore technical info via books, unless it's pretty fundamental (math, graphics, dsp fundamentals etc).

Some good recommendations here too:
http://fabiensanglard.net/algorithms_and_datastructures/index.php
http://fabiensanglard.net/books_recommendations/index.php