Digital Retro by Gordon Laing

Digital Retro: The Evolution and Design of the Personal Computer
by Gordon Laing [004.09 Lai] 

This book provides short histories of various old computers and videogame systems from 1975 to 1988. There is a history and description for all of them with large photos. I was really fun to look and read through. Some I had heard about from family, one was the Apple computer I first remember using at school, I remember playing a few things NES, and the Sega Master System I’ve recently come to know is also included. One thing I learned is how Sega was named. The company originally made games for military units in Japan in the early 1950s and was called Service Games of Japan; later on the name was shorted to Sega. I also enjoyed reading about the ZX Spectrum, a micro-computer that was very common in Britain at the time, which had a lot of games in its library. The book really has more history to it than computer specs, so I think it’d appeal to people who used the computers or are interested in the history, not just techies. If you are interested in older computers, videogames and video game consoles that were before your time or not common in the part of world you are from, then I think you’d like this. Also it’s free of all the differing options you’d get online about which system is better. It’s definitely worth picking up for a trip down memory lane.

[You might also like the website Worldoflongplays.org which has a large selection of videos of someone playing entire games start to finish. They can be fun watch to get a feel for a game or game system that you never had the chance to play, or are considering getting.] [ official Gordon Laing web site ]

Recommended by Kristen A.
Gere Branch Library

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When Parents Text by Lauren Kaelin and Sophia Fraioli

When Parents Text: So Much Said...So Little Understood!
by Lauren Kaelin and Sophia Fraioli [eBook]

Mildly amusing book, tied in the the website set up by Kaelin and Fraioli, where they share dozens (no hundreds) of texts sent by cellphone by parents of today's tech-savvy generation. Some parents may be hip to the use of today's tecnology, and the established lingo of the texting generation. But not the one featured on this site or in this book. These short, punchy messages are organized in helpful categories, and are good for a few chuckles here and there. But I found reading an entire book of them in one or two sittings to be more than I could really take -- a little of this type of humor goes a long way, and a lot of this type of humor ends up being too much. -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library [ see Scott's Reviewer Profile ]

[ official When Parents Text web site ]

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Smartest Machine on Earth

Smartest Machine on Earth
[DVD 006.3 Sma]

Fascinating and fast-paced episode of NOVA, focusing on the development of Watson, the super-computer created by scientists at IBM, which competed on the TV quiz show Jeopardy in February 2011 against the top two human Jeopardy winners -- Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. NOVA does a great job of distilling the essential scientific elements down into something the average viewer can clearly understand. In this case, the focus is on how machine learning within a finite database of knowledge compares to human intuition and thinking processes. While on the surface, focusing years of effort and millions of dollars on creating a machine intelligence that can win at a quiz show seems somewhat foolhardy, but the things that scientists have learned about the development of true artificial intelligence may make it all worthwhile. My only complaint about this DVD is that I wish that they had included the Watson episode of Jeopardy as a bonus feature -- the snippets from the Jeopardy filming that are included throughout this NOVA episode makes me wish I could see the full Jeopardy episode as well! I love Ken Jenning's humorous little note in the Final Jeopardy round: "I for one welcome our new computer overlords". [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to visit the NOVA website or view the Jeopardy episode on YouTube.] -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library [Subscribe to Scott's monthly booklist newsletter It's All Geek to Me! - on the Books, Movies & More newsletter sign-up page].

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this episode of NOVA ] | [ official Smartest Machine on Earth page on the NOVA web site ]

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New Customer Review - We Are Anonymous

We Are Anonymous: Inside the Hacker World of LulzSec, Anonymous, and the Global Cyber Insurgency
by Parmy Olson [364.168 Ols]

A book about an internet entity as seemingly fast and complicated as Anonymous and 4chan seems like it would be impossible to research, but Parmy Olson does a very good job at coming off well informed. A interesting read on both the technical complexities of hacking as well as the even more hard to understand social uses of the internet and how normal people can be in some ways reprogrammed and de-synthesized. The book often feels like a thriller, focusing on a few individual hackers rather than anonymous as a whole. I highly recommend if you are curious about hackers, Anonymous, or even the effects of the internet on our society. -- review submitted by Wyatt P. - a customer of the Gere Branch Library

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Musical e-Motivation: Using Computer Technology to Motivate Students

Musical e-Motivation: Using computer technology to motivate students
-- an article in the Nov/Dec 2010 issue of Clavier Companion
article by Jeremiah Johnson [Periodical Clavier]

This was the winning article from the 2010 Clavier Companion Collegiate Writing Contest. The article is condensed from my longer Master of Music: Piano Pedagogy thesis project at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. The article summarizes five different ways to use technology to motivate students in music: optimizing a challenge, absorbing the learner's attention, communicating clearly obtainable goals, promoting the autonomy of learners, and providing positive feedback. While the article pertains to music education, the ideals set forth certainly apply across a variety of disciplines. Ultimately, the article addresses technology's place in music education and disputes the claim that technology is a "distraction" to learning. -- recommended by Jeremiah J. - Bennett Martin Public Library


[ official Clavier Companion web site ]

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Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs
by Walter Isaacson [Biography Jobs]

A detailed and very interesting book even at 600 pages. It bogged down only for 40 pages or so when Jobs was being expelled from Apple, and Isaacson seemed to go on and on and on about how nasty Jobs could be - we'd already figured this out. This also turned out to be a fascinating history of the computer industry as well. Jobs seemed to be bipolar, slightly psychotic, and missing the social filter most of us have that prevents us from speaking EXACTLY what's on our mind and deliberately hurting people's feelings. Told mostly chronologically, this includes the requisite photos in the middle of the book, as I feel all good biographies should. It was made more poignant knowing Jobs died of cancer shortly before this book came out. Some of the events in this book I vaguely remember occurring, such as the "1984" Super Bowl commercial, so I went online to You Tube and got to giggle again during 13 "Hi, I'm a PC, and I'm a Mac" commercials, watched some of Jobs' product releases during the MacWorld conferences, and viewed the Jobs/Gates co-interview. It was interesting to visit these videos as a supplement to reading this book. One does not need to be a computer nerd to understand or enjoy this biography. [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Roone: Memoir by Roone Arledge.] -- recommended by Charlotte K. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[Also available in book-on-cd format.]

[ Publisher's official Steve Jobs book web site ] | [ Wikipedia page for Walter Isaacson ]

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iPod - The Missing Manual [2011 ed.]

iPod: The Missing Manual [2011 ed.]
by J.D. Biersdorfer with David Pogue [Music 786.76 Bie 2011]

If you consider yourself merely "competent" to use your iPod, I recommend this volume from the Missing Manuals publishers at O'Reilly. This 2011 edition covers the iPod Classic, the Shuffle, the Nano and the iPod Touch. You've probably got the "basics" down, and understand how to use the main controls of your iPod. This book will help you make the most effective use of your device's sub-menus, as well as showing you the best ways to use iTunes to manage your music and video collection. Includes handy sections on loading photos, using your iPod as a digital personal assistant, surfing the web with the iPod Touch, troubleshooting, and the vast array of peripheral devices available to make even more use of your iPod. With a huge digital music collection, I particularly appreciated a section on how to move your music to an external hard drive, without disrupting how the iTunes software recognizes where to find your collection. Recommended for those who already have some minimal iPod experience. [If you're into personal entertainment tech and/or computer software, but need help, I'd recommend the other volumes in the Missing Manuals series.] -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[ official Missing Manuals web site ]

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Staff Recommendation - Snow Crash

Snow Crash

by Neil Stephenson

One of the most influential books in recent science fiction. Stephenson has a brilliant grasp of what sociological/technological changes are only a short distance in our future, and what the impact of those changes is going to be on our world. This book is stylistically all over the place, but if you can get past the seeming chaos, you'll see that Stephenson very accurately predicted the worlds of social networking and deep databases on the world wide web, and he's dead on in predicting such increasingly popular virtual environments as Second Life. In addition to being an extremely prescient science fiction novel, it's also a rock 'em sock 'em adventure and high-tech espionage book, with liberal doses of multi-culturalism and religious exploration thrown in for good measure. Don't pick this book up if you're looking for a traditional linear reading experience. But if you want an excellent example of cutting edge, mind-blowing, high-tech scifi, you won't want to miss this one! -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library/Reference

[Also available in unabridged audiotape format.][ Wikipedia page for Snow Crash ] [ official Neal Stephenson web site ]

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