The Universal Computer: The Road from Leibniz to Turing, Third Edition

The author and Turing had the same doctoral advisor, so I had to skim through the part when he tried to force explain Turing machines, still the best thing to read on the topic.

This is a very good exploration of some of the major ideas and personalities of modern computing. The focus is on theoretical ideas, so thinkers like Turing, von Neumann and Leibniz get prominence while Babbage, Bush and Eckert aren't really mentioned. There is a good discussion about the debate regarding who invented the modern stored program concept; while von Neumann played an important role, some think he has been given too much credit. One of the best aspects of the book is that provides a serious explanation of Turing machines, Gödel's theorems and other ideas, actually working out examples and demonstrating their utility instead of simply giving a high level overview. These sections aren't that easy to understand, but patience on the part of the reader can be rewarding and the reader may need to go through them a few times to get the gist. Occasional anecdotes about the lives of these computer pioneers enliven the narrative. A worthy book to read if you are interested in the abstract ideas behind modern computing.

Message on my Kindle e reader : not compatible with your device. I returned this e book.

The kindle version is terrible. Formulas are not rendered correctly and makes some passages really hard to follow. Avoid! (I'm attaching some examples)

Martin Davis. Student of Alonzo Church. You can't go wrong reading this book. An excellent introduction to the highlights.

Excellent quality, on-time delivery.