The Computer from Pascal to Von Neumann
Author: Herman H H Goldstin
In 1942, Lt. Herman H. Goldstine, a former mathematics professor, was stationed at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. It was there that he assisted in the creation of the ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer. The ENIAC was operational in 1945, but plans for a new computer were already underway. The principal source of ideas for the new computer was John von Neumann, who became Goldstine's chief collaborator. Together they developed EDVAC, successor to ENIAC. After World War II, at the Institute for Advanced Study, they built what was to become the prototype of the present-day computer. Herman Goldstine writes as both historian and scientist in this first examination of the development of computing machinery, from the seventeenth century through the early 1950s. His personal involvement lends a special authenticity to his narrative, as he sprinkles anecdotes and stories liberally through his text.
New interesting book: Shopping or Ultimate Weight Solution
Crime Control As Industry: Towards Gulags, Western Style
Author: Nils Christi
This classic book argues that crime control, rather than crime itself, is the real danger for our future. Since the second edition prison populations, especially in the US and Russian have grown rapidly.
Booknews
Not crime itself, but crime control is the real danger for society, argues Christie (criminology, U. of Oslo). He documents the enormous growth in the number of prisoners in recent years, particularly in Russia and the US. But the fundamental problems, he says, are the unequal distribution of wealth and the lack of access to paid work. The 1993 first edition was published in English and as by Universitetsforlaget, Oslo; the second edition appeared in 1994. The third is radially revised to account for the accelerating proportion of people in prison, and contains new chapters on penal geography and the Russian case. It is not indexed. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Table of Contents:
ContentsPreface to the third edition
Chapter 1: Efficiency and decency
Chapter 2: The eye of God
Chapter 3: Penal Geography
Chapter 4: Why are there so few prisoners?
Chapter 5: Why are there so many prisoners?
Chapter 6: The Russian case
Chapter 7: USA: the Trend-setter
Chapter 8: Crime control as a product
Chapter 9: Conflicting values
Chapter 10: Modernity in decisions
Chapter 11: Justice done, or managed?
Chapter 12: Modernity and behavior control
Chapter 13: Crime control as culture
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