The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson tells the stories of the people most responsible for getting us to where we are in terms of technology. Each chapter focuses on a different innovation that made today’s world possible. It starts in the mid 1800’s when computers were just ideas and takes us to the present time. Click at the bottom of any page to get this very cool history book.

Walter Isaacson

• Walter is the CEO of the Aspen Institute, has been the chairman of CNN, and the managing editor of Time magazine. He is the author of Steve Jobs; Einstein: His Life and Universe; Benjamin Franklin: An American LIfe; and Kissinger: A Biography. He is also the coauthor of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made. He lives in Washington, DC.

Introduction

• The computer and the Internet are among the most important inventions of our era, but few people know who created them. These and other key inventions of the digital age were done collaboratively by many fascinating people who are featured in this book. The focus is on their characteristics and how they collaborated. When it comes to inventions, we tend to focus on individual genius rather than the teamwork that is almost always required. Walter also looks at the social and cultural forces that provided the atmosphere for key innovations. He notes happily that much creativity that gave us the digital age came from those who were able to connect the arts and sciences. It seems that the human-machine symbiosis that grew out of the connection between the personal computer and the Internet was largely given to us by people who stood at the intersection of the humanities and technology.

Share this: