The many illustrations (often old ads) are fascinating and often funny (1980s businessmen tripping off to work with massive "portable" computers), or reveal obscure aesthetic precedents (1983s Orb computer looks suspiciously like the first iMac).
The Guardian
An elegant history of the computers journey from its "initial form as a forbidding room-sized construction" to "an innocuous box sitting on top of an office desk." Atkinson describes all the important technological milestones stored memory, the first mouse, the development of touch screens but this is more art book than technical manual . . . Computer offers dozens of great photographs of and vintage advertisements for boxy old computers, and Atkinson analyzes these images as a means of exploring how our attitudes toward computers have changed over the years . . . an oddly fascinating history
The New Yorker
This is a gem of a book. Atkinson has written a highly readable yet authoritative survey of computing history and its connections to the larger cultural forces that often invisibly guide how technology emerges from and propagates through a society . . . what emerges from Computer is a fascinating story of the progress in computer product design, accompanied by rare and illuminating photographs that show the wide gamut of changing maker and user perceptions of what thisuniversal machine could be . . . I heartily recommend it.
Journal of Design History
Peppered with images and pithy analysis [Computer] offers a design history perspective on the material and visual in the social construction of computing . . . a lively and highly readable book with broad appeal and one that is a welcome addition to the historiography of computing.
Public Understanding of Science
Computer is an extraordinary historical account of the electronic computer. Atkinson takes the reader on a tortuous journey through the technological time line of these amazing machines, from the days of Colossus to the modern notebook computer . . . The author presents notable contributions from Turing, von Neumann, and Mauchly in great and wonderful detail . . . The book is imbued with priceless photographs of everything from the ICT 1301 to the quirky but beautiful iPad. It will be truly appreciated by all who have an interest in the history of our favorite machine. Highly recommended.
Choice
A fascinating account that deals with image as well as reality, science fiction as well as functionality. An impressive addition to Reaktions thought-provoking Objekt series.
The Historical Association