16 Apr
2004
16 Apr
'04
7:48 p.m.
On Sat, 17 Apr 2004 00:11:01 -0400
"Brian Mahoney" <brianmahoney(a)look.ca> wrote:
----- Original Message -----
I have "Corey Ford's Guide to Thimking Machines" (spelling correct, people
used to love jokes about mis-spellings of IBM's 'Think' motto) from 1961. A
presentation copy from IBM. It's called 'A Handbook for the Home
Cybernetician' on a frontleaf page. It's got tons of those wonderful cartoons
from the 1950's that feature big room-sized boxes with doo-dads and controls all over
them and a befuddled human or two. What 'the common man' thought a computer was
at the time.
Also in the 'front matter' of the book : "Corey Ford wishes to express his
thanks to IBM 704, IBM 705, IBM 7070, IBM 7090, and IBM RAMAC, without whom this book
could not have been written"
The preface is titled "A Computer in Every Home" which was intended as a
ridiculously funny thing at the time, only fit for a joke book.
I wish I'd saved more of Dad's books from the old days of IBM. He also had a
complete set of Datamation magazine going back to the beginning, that was thrown away in
the mid 80's.
So, anyone else like to expose any other
collecting and/or strange
behavior of their own? ...
Best, David Greelish, classiccomputing.com
You mean other than girlfriends, ex-wives and bad debts?
Sure. California Raisins, hardcover sports books (a couple from the 40s
about the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Yankees),
old sports equipment and Mario/super Mario stuff.
Besides computer hardware/software/manuals, I also collect books about
computers. Here's a shot at another thread. My oldest is from
1962, The Thinking Machine by John Pfeiffer published by Popular Science
Living Library Program (with jacket in near mint condition.)
Shots of MIT's Lincoln Lab, Ascension Island antimissile defense system,
etc. There was a TV show by the same name and the TXo computer would write
scripts for Westerns, according to the book.
Next oldest is 1965 , 'The Computer Age and Its Potential for Management' by
Gilbert Burck and the Editors of Fortune. The one I have is the 7th
printing, believe it or not and, again, has the original dust jacket and is
in near-mint condition.
I find these books fascinating since they are not manuals. They were meant
to explain and introduce computers to the lay person. Pretty cool stuff, to
me anyway.
Lastly, I collect school textbooks about computers. Generally these are high
school Computer Science kinds of texts, full of high-res pics of all the
computers you guys talk about. Add to this the plain-English explanations of
how the various pieces interacted and you can see how I got hooked. My
background is motion picture technology and communication arts not
computers.
Who's got older books?