Rating: 
Summary: Very simplistic but a good intro for the general reader
Review: In a style imitative of the two deservedly popular books LONGITUDE and FERMAT"S ENIGMA, Scott McCartney attempts to make the story of the world's first general purpose computer accessible to a wide, non-scientific audience. In trying to strike a balance between readability and completeness, he leans heavily toward the former, which will disappoint those looking for some real meat while possibly shortchanging even the casual reader, who might be misled into thinking that this is the whole story. On the other hand, casual readers aren't too likely to pick up anything much weightier on this topic, so maybe it's a good thing. McCartney adds little to the technical story of ENIAC's development. (For that, pick up the splendid THE COMPUTER FROM PASCAL TO VON NEUMANN, by Herman H. Goldstine.) Rather, his main contribution is added insight into the bickering, competition and lawsuits that characterized the birth of the computer industry. Somewhat reminiscent of the birth of television, the greatest commercial rewards went not to the originators but to those who followed and did it better. "Better" does not necessarily imply technical superiority, but has more to do with knowing one's way around the courts and the markets. Perhaps the greatest surprise to those knowledgeable in the history of computing is the author's contention that what we have come to know as "von Neumann architecture" was not invented by that eminent mathematician, but by the heroes of Eniac, Presper Eckert and John Mauchly. To learn that von Neumann may have usurped credit for the creativity of others is quite disturbing. (Goldstine's book takes the opposite view. Truth, as it usually is, is probably somewhere in the middle.)
Rating: 
Summary: A simple, yet elegant approach to tell the Eniac's story.
Review: A very easy read, that almost forces you to read the whole thing in one or two sittings. I've always been fascinated with early computing and this book satisfied my curiousity about the ENIAC. I've heard multiple accounts of who invented what, but after finishing this book I feel I know the whole story.
Rating:
Summary: How general purpose digital computing came to be!
Review: An old saying begins by saying that success has many fathers. There are many now who claim to have built digital general purpose computers before ENIAC and I am not qualified to adjudicate their claims. However from all the claims made from all kinds of sources, it appears that no one else is either. Because of the unimaginable effect digital computing has had on the world culture and economy there is just too much emotion, pride, and politics to let anyone's claim to priority stand unchallenged. Even the courts have tortured the facts to invalidate the ENIAC patent in order to avoid an IBM - Sperry monopoly. Those pesky ends justifying questionable means yet one more time. Some of the "computers" claiming priority to ENIAC were actually electro-mechanical calculators, specific purpose (rather than general purpose) devices, or analog rather than digital computing devices. This makes them not what ENIAC was. The British Colossus was indeed a digital computer. But it was used in top-secret code breaking and wasn't publicly known until 1970 and therefore didn't impact the course of development of computing. What does first mean in this case? I wish this book would be read by everyone - especially students. It tells several important stories. First, there is the almost forgotten story of ENIAC and the two men who designed and built her. They were John Mauchly and Pres Eckert. What they did in developing a general purpose digital computer in ENIAC and then EDVAC and finally with UNIVAC, changed the course of computing forever. The story of Mauchly and Eckert should be remembered no matter what the many others claiming to be the fathers of success might claim. The book also tells the tale how technology developed with paper tape, punch cards, magnetic tape, digital memory, calculating with gears versus vacuum tubes, and all that other early technical history that so many of us find fascinating. I mean, contemplating how 1,800 square feet of computing power with 17,000 tubes improved calculating speeds by over 300 times is just cool to contemplate. Now, the ENIAC's power is just a spec on a present day CPU made of silicon. Then there is the cautionary tale of how these men really had success slip away from them for a variety of reasons. There is much to learn here. Some of it was personal jealousy by people you will meet reading the book. Some of it was sheer politics including institutions like Penn and RCA that could have been at the forefront of computer science but didn't see the vision early enough. Some of it was a lack of business savvy on the part of Mauchly and Eckert. And sometimes the ball just bounces in funny ways that work against you. Life is funny that way. But history should work through all the facts and the story should draw good and proper lines from what was to what is. Just as others traveled to the Western Hemisphere before Columbus, but his voyages opened the age of exploration and just as others had cars before Ford, but it was he who put the world on wheels, it was Mauchly and Eckert who opened the age of digital computers through ENIAC and this is a great telling of the story. It is a very fast read and very worthwhile.
Rating:
Summary: How general purpose digital computing came to be!
Review: An old saying begins by saying that success has many fathers. There are many now who claim to have built digital general purpose computers before ENIAC and I am not qualified to adjudicate their claims. However from all the claims made from all kinds of sources, it appears that no one else is either. Because of the unimaginable effect digital computing has had on the world culture and economy there is just too much emotion, pride, and politics to let anyone's claim to priority stand unchallenged. Even the courts have tortured the facts to invalidate the ENIAC patent in order to avoid an IBM - Sperry monopoly. Those pesky ends justifying questionable means yet one more time. Some of the "computers" claiming priority to ENIAC were actually electro-mechanical calculators, specific purpose (rather than general purpose) devices, or analog rather than digital computing devices. This makes them not what ENIAC was. The British Colossus was indeed a digital computer. But it was used in top-secret code breaking and wasn't publicly known until 1970 and therefore didn't impact the course of development of computing. What does first mean in this case? I wish this book would be read by everyone - especially students. It tells several important stories. First, there is the almost forgotten story of ENIAC and the two men who designed and built her. They were John Mauchly and Pres Eckert. What they did in developing a general purpose digital computer in ENIAC and then EDVAC and finally with UNIVAC, changed the course of computing forever. The story of Mauchly and Eckert should be remembered no matter what the many others claiming to be the fathers of success might claim. The book also tells the tale how technology developed with paper tape, punch cards, magnetic tape, digital memory, calculating with gears versus vacuum tubes, and all that other early technical history that so many of us find fascinating. I mean, contemplating how 1,800 square feet of computing power with 17,000 tubes improved calculating speeds by over 300 times is just cool to contemplate. Now, the ENIAC's power is just a spec on a present day CPU made of silicon. Then there is the cautionary tale of how these men really had success slip away from them for a variety of reasons. There is much to learn here. Some of it was personal jealousy by people you will meet reading the book. Some of it was sheer politics including institutions like Penn and RCA that could have been at the forefront of computer science but didn't see the vision early enough. Some of it was a lack of business savvy on the part of Mauchly and Eckert. And sometimes the ball just bounces in funny ways that work against you. Life is funny that way. But history should work through all the facts and the story should draw good and proper lines from what was to what is. Just as others traveled to the Western Hemisphere before Columbus, but his voyages opened the age of exploration and just as others had cars before Ford, but it was he who put the world on wheels, it was Mauchly and Eckert who opened the age of digital computers through ENIAC and this is a great telling of the story. It is a very fast read and very worthwhile.
Rating:
Summary: not too long, really fabulous historical account
Review: Anybody who has taken an introductory computer science course has heard about how Mauchly and Eckert built ENIAC, the first electronic computer, which was originally intended to compute artillery shell trajectories during World War II. Here is the amazing story of the building of ENIAC, and how Mauchly and Eckert deserve far more credit for this triumph than the customary footnote they are usually given in computer science textbooks. After all, it was they who actually turned theory into real electrical wiring and vacuum tubes. This book questions whether John von Neumann deserves as much credit as he is sometimes given for being the "Father of the Modern Computer."
Rating: 
Summary: ENIAC was NOT the World's First Computer.
Review: Author Scott McCartney claims ENIAC is the first working general-purpose computer ever built. Surely John Mauchly wasn't as devastated as Victor Atanasoff of Iowa State University, who with Clifford Berry, began demonstrating "the first working general-purpose computer ever built" in 1939. ENIAC was activated at the University of Pennsylvania seven years later, in 1946. The Iowa State University web pages contain more information about the landmark Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC), including the following related to ENIAC: "In 1963, the ABC became the subject of intense litigation. A court case (Honeywell Inc. vs. Sperry Rand Corp. et. al., 1973) overturned the patent on ENIAC, an early computer developed by John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert. Ultimately, a federal judge ruled that not only was the ABC first, but that the inventors of the ENIAC borrowed many of ABC's design ideas such as using electronics to store numbers as sequences of ones and zeros, and using logical "and/or" switches to do arithmetic. In recognition of his pioneering work in computing, Atanasoff was given the National Medal of Technology in 1990 by President George Bush." In a remarkable twist of irony, ENIAC co-developer Presper Eckert is quoted as saying, "many inventors didn't receive proper credit until events were digested with wisdom of time."
Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully written book on the origin of computers
Review: ENIAC is a wonderfully written book on the origin of the modern computer. As computers become a bigger part of our lives, the history of the computer becomes more important. It will become like studing ancient Greek and Roman philosophies to understand the origin of modern western democracies. But studing history too close to the events colors the "history" with too many personal biasis. The story of the computer is no different. It has been fifty years since the development of the computer, and it is about time that someone with no personal motivation in the story relate the origins of the computer. It would seem that the authors of most of the previous books on the subject had a personal interest in the subject which makes their accounts suspect. Although there may be some technical "errors" in the book, I have seen far more errors in many books that claim to be written by an "expert," and I believe that Scott McCartney can be forgiven for any technical errors since this is not a technical book. The issue is: Are the facts substancially correct? When I look inside my computer, I do not see a rolling drum with capacitors mounted on it. The only thing that I see moving is the fan to keep it cool (a problem to ENIAC also). Nowhere on my computer do I need to "jot" down intermediate results to feed back into the computer. And finally, if I programmed the proper codes into memory that said: IF 2<3 THEN self-destruct, I know what would happen. Perhaps people in Iowa have computers that work differently than mine. I have read several books on John von Neuman. He was a brilliant man whom I admire greatly. He had many great insights, but the development of the computer was not one of them. Clearly he was not free of serious short commings. Finally, anyone who has dealt with our legal system must realize that our justice system is neither blind nor always just. It is about punishment! If Sperry Rand had acted fairly and honestly, the out come might have been different. There might not have been a law suit. Once lawyers are involved, all is fair game: win at any cost! Perception becomes more important than truth. Sperry Rand was punished. Eckert and Mauchly were deprived of their patent on a technicallity. It happens every day in our legal system. After reading the book, I think that Mr. McCartney's facts seem to be well documented, and the facts support his contention. I think that I know who invented, perhaps developed would be a better description, the modern computer. This is a must read book. See what you think!
Rating:
Summary: Exciting; as riveting as the best fiction.
Review: Eniac is exciting; as riveting as the best fiction. What this book shines at is telling the story of people. I felt I really knew the players, felt the politics swirling, and the ache of frustration Mauchle and Eckert must have felt by the time I finished. The author found many rare photographs I've never seen in print before. My mind is changed about the history of the first computer. After checking the author's facts against what I thought I knew, I discovered that, as Will Rogers said, "It's not what we don't know that gets us in trouble, it's what we do know that 'taint so." McCartney's book is an important work of scholarship, not yet another candy-coated trip down core memory lane. Bottom line: Eniac is a book worth reading and worth owning. Read it, visit a library and use the excellent bibliography to check the author's conclusions.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting account of computer beginnings
Review: Enjoyable if not terribly well-written volume on the oft-forgotten origins of the computer. I think the book would have been stronger had it been more technical, more about historical origins (e.g., Babbage, etc.) & less about the business gossip surrounding these two fellows. Not that that was uninteresting, it just didn't leave me with anything at the endo
Rating:
Summary: Huh? The first computer was by Zuse, of course.
Review: Even the title is misleading. Every computer scientist knows that Konrad Zuse built the first working programmable computers between 1935 and 1941. ENIAC came 5 years later and actually was still decimal - not binary like the machines of Zuse and MARK I (1944) and all modern machines. The Colossus computer of Turing and colleagues also predates ENIAC, although it was not programmable like the Zuse machines. I really find it impossible to recommend this book.
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