Eckert - Faster, Faster; books in general

[Noel Chiappa]

    > From: Brian Walenz

    > My (ex-library) copy is missing all of chapter 11, "What is there to
    > calculate?. (And the last page of the previous chapter). The pages
    > weren't ripped out, they were missing when it was bound.

Very odd. My copy is complete, so if you can't otherwise locate the missing
content, I could scan those page for you.

They cover: i) multiple simultanous linear equations with unknowns (the
problem the ABC was created for), ii) ordinary differential equations such as
ballistics calculations (ditto, the ENIAC), iii) partial differential
equations, such as fluid dynamics, although the example he uses is from
quantum mechanics.

    > Two, also ex-library, copies are listed on Amazon, and I hesitate to
    > get another copy with the same problem.

You could contact the seller and ask them to check, specifically.

    > There are others, of course, at outrageous prices. Or maybe I don't
    > realize the significance of '1st edition, not ex-library'.

Well, it say what it means: it's a first edition - some collectors prefer
them; and it doesn't have all the stickers, glued-in paperwork, internal
markings etc that one finds in a library copy. Collectors often find that
annoying - I tend to stay away from ex-library copies unless there's a huge
price difference.


    > Just to make any discussion a bit more interesting, what would you
    > suggest along similar lines? 

Oh, goodness, there's a long list.

I'll put up an annotated bibliography on the Computer History wiki.


    > From: Pontus Pihlgren

    > What are the titles of the IBM books that of which you speak?

They are:

    Charles J. Bashe, Lyle R. Johnson, John H. Palmer, Emerson W. Pugh,
	"IBM's Early Computers", MIT Press, Cambridge, 1986
    Emerson W. Pugh, Lyle R. Johnson, John H. Palmer, "IBM's 360 and
	Early 370 Systems", MIT Press, Cambridge, 1991

Both are excellent, as are:

    Emerson W. Pugh, "Memories That Shaped an Industry: Decisions Leading
	to IBM System/360", MIT Press, Cambridge, 1984
    Maurice V. Wilkes, "Memoirs of a Computer Pioneer",
	MIT Press, Cambridge, 1985

from the same series (the former covers the development of core memory from
the perspectiv of IBM).

	Noel