WHO INVENTED THE COMPUTER?; The Legal Battle that Changed Computing History

Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2003. Boards in dust jacket. Light shelfwear. Very good. 8vo. 463pp., notes, biblio, index. Introduction by Douglas Hofstadter. In 1973, Federal District Judge Earl R. Larson issued a ruling in a patent case that was to have profound and long-lasting implications for the dawning computer revolution. Against all expectations, the judge ruled against Sperry Rand Corporation, thus opening the field for the innovations that made the digital age what it is today. But this is about more than a court case. From the foreword: "Typically, in the case of a revolutionary innovation that comes to pervade society, most of us have a knee-jerk reaction to the question 'Who invented it?' This book is about the hidden social pressures to create a 'mythic hero' figure for the discovery of the computer... The cast of characters in this story is filled with vivid and very real personalities. Some are oddballs, and some are squares; some are honest, some are dishonest, and some are opportunists floating halfway in between. It is a genuine drama, written with flair and a supreme attempt at objectivity..