Walter Isaacson’s new book might not be quite the monster hit that his 2011 Steve Jobs biography was, but The Innovators is definitely the 2014 tech book you’re most likely to spot someone reading on the bus. Having focused on one of tech's most singular visionaries, The Innovators turns its attention to teams of inventors and computer scientists, offering a look at just how far technology have come over the past century.
If The Innovators has a downside, it’s that it can be cursory in its discussions of specific people. Jobs got 500 pages of his own, but Vannevar Bush, Alan Turing, Doug Engelbart, Robert Noyce, Bill Gates, Tim Berners-Lee, Larry Page and others have to share less than that between them.
Still, if you’re looking for a tech book people will have read this winter, The Innovators should be high on your list.
Photo: Simon & Schuster
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
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5 responses to “8 great new tech books to make the winter months fly by”
I have to add some great books:
+ Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
+ Things a Little Bird Told Me: Confessions of the Creative Mind
Thank me later :)
I’ll definitely check them out. Thanks for the recommendations.
I added a couple of books to my wishlist at audible, but sadly I am unable to get The Formula on audible outside of the US. :(
Really? Which country are you based in? I live in the UK, and it’s available here.
Weird. I went directly via audible and it says I can get it. I followed the link to Amazon before and told me that I couldn’t get it. But now it does!
Sorry for that. I have been with audible for years and the 1 thing that really annoys me is that I can’t buy all books. I can’t even put them into my wish list and I sometimes jump the gun alittle when I can’t get a book
Thanks. Now in my wish list.