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A random collection of recommendations for friends, updated sometimes.

The Art of Research: A History
Vi Hart
This elegantly captures the feeling of research groups.
The Idea Factory
Jon Gertner
A history of Bell Labs.
Pattern Recognition
William Gibson
Sci-fi set in the present day.
Architecture of the CM-5
Danny Hillis
A parallel computer.
An Interview with Bill Coughran
Kevin Scott
Computer architecture, Bell Labs, Google.
What the Dormouse Said
John Markoff
Sixties counterculture, computing, Engelbart.
Whole Earth
John Markoff
A biography of Stewart Brand. See also: the documentary.
Whole Earth Index
Stewart Brand, others
Counterculture magazine.
Dynamicland
Bret Victor
Computing in the real world. See also: the archive.
Museum of Jurassic Technology
David Wilson
A modern cabinet of curiosities in Los Angeles.
The Dream Machine
M. Mitchell Waldrop
Early computing.
Dealers of Lightning
Michael A. Hiltzik
A history of Xerox PARC.
You and Your Research
Richard Hamming
A classic talk on how to do significant research.
Halt and Catch Fire
Christopher Cantwell, Christopher C. Rogers
A drama about the early days of personal computing.
A Mind at Play
Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman
A biography of Claude Shannon.