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On bbc.co.uk/ww2
The Difference Engine
William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, Spectra Books,
1999
ISBN: 055329461X
A fictional story in the so-called ’steampunk’ genre. What would the Victorian world have been like if Babbage had completed his mechanical computers? Two leading science fiction authors have invented a world where the information revolution came more than a century ago.
The Victorian Internet
Tom Standage, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1998,
ISBN: 0753807033
Before computers there was already a global telecommunications network based on the telegraph - one of the most important inventions of the 19th Century. The global telegraph network created a global economy where it was possible to send messages to loved ones, order the movement of troops, to buy or sell shares, purchase wheat or beef, or even ’wire’ money to a relative in a distant country. And as it grew, it created a new culture - that of technological experts, hackers, codebreakers and criminals.
A Computer Called LEO
Georgina Ferry, Harper Perennial, 2003
ISBN 1841151866
The Lyons company is most famous for cakes and ice creams; between the wars their tea shops were a common sight on the high street, but perhaps they should be most famous for building the World’s first office computer. Computers in the post-war era were largely designed for the needs of the military, not businesses; LEO was designed to automate a company employing tens of thousands of workers, making hundreds of products. This book not only discusses the invention of LEO, but also of the Colossus computers at Bletchley Park and the American ENIAC.
The Code Book: The Secret History of Codes and Code-breaking
Simon Singh, Fourth Estate, 2000,
ISBN 1857028899
The Colossus computers were designed for codebreaking. This is an extremely readable book discussing the history of cryptography from ancient times to the modern era. It is intended for a general audience and provides some insight into the mathematics underlying cryptography. Bletchley Park’s work on the Enigma machine is described in great detail as is Alan Turing’s contribution to codebreaking and the invention of the computer.
Crypto: Secrecy and Privacy in the New Code War
Steven Levy, Penguin Press Science, 2002
ISBN 0140244328
Secret codes are part of our everyday life. Perhaps without realising it, we use them almost every day. Whenever we make a mobile phone call, withdraw money from an ATM, buy something on the Internet, or play a DVD, we rely on the science of cryptography. This book is probably the best introduction to practical cryptography, discussing the principles of, and implementation of various forms of cryptography without belabouring the mathematical issues. The book remains relevant even though some of the technologies are now obsolete.
Weblinks:
LEO - an exhaustive and loving account of LEO, Lyon's Electronic Office
Alan Turing - Wikipedia biography of the man who helped crack the Enigma code - and inspired Apple Computer's logo
Retrobeep - the Bletchley Park-based computing history museum
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Content last updated: 01/02/2005
