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Stacks, ‘Pacs’, and User Hacks: A Handheld History of Personal Computing

Posted: Tue May 05, 2020 7:05 pm
by jonmoore
This makes for a good read, what with the 41x and 43s/c on the horizon.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/wh ... ore-reader

The Whipple Museum of the History of Science at Cambridge University here in the UK has a permanent collection of personal calculators which was kindly donated by Francis Hookham (who sadly died in March this year). The bulk of the collection is HP and the museum published a book last year detailing the whole of their collection (great read throughout) but it also includes a sizeable chapter on Hookam's HP calculator collection and the cultural changes that came about during those nascent days of personal computing when HP engineers were most definitely the thought leaders.

I know the story has been told a thousand times over in multiple internet hangouts but I think the history is particularly well researched and written (as you'd expect from an academic writer).

Apologies if you've seen it before (I did check to see if it was mentioned on the Museum forum, but couldn't find anything).

Here's the Museum blurb specific that adds extra detail and context.

Re: Stacks, ‘Pacs’, and User Hacks: A Handheld History of Personal Computing

Posted: Tue May 05, 2020 10:16 pm
by jonmoore
Forgot to add. The part I enjoyed most was the copious number of footnotes, perfect for a bookworm like me. And considering it's a Cambridge University Press book, the writing has plenty of personality (most definitely a rarity when it comes to typical academic writing!).

Re: Stacks, ‘Pacs’, and User Hacks: A Handheld History of Personal Computing

Posted: Tue May 05, 2020 11:01 pm
by H2X
Amusing, thanks for sharing! :-)