[SIGCIS-Members] Request for biographies

[Brian Berg]

Wow, that's a wonderful addition to this discussion.  I wonder how often
the same has been true for the various multi-volume biographies of people
such as Winston Churchill.  Brian

On Sun, Sep 6, 2020 at 12:09 PM James Cortada <jcortada at umn.edu> wrote:

> I would like to pipe in also to advocate for biography.  I long ago came
> to the conclusion that the most difficult type  of history to do is
> probably biography, which is why I never attempted to do it.  So when
> someone writes a good biography I am in awe, especially since we
> need these.  Bio story: Dumas Malone the great biographer of Thomas
> Jefferson told me in the 1960s that it was his objective to write his multi
> volume bio while going through the same age as Jefferson, i.e., writing
> about Jefferson in his '60s when Malone was in his '60s.  Both lived into
> their '80s.  He did it this way, he said, so that he could relate to such
> issues as their stations in life, attitude toward their prior
> accomplishments and their responses to the aches and pains of old age.  I
> did not "get it" when he told this to me at my then age of 21; a half
> century later, I get it.  But to put a fine point on his experience, he
> began studying biography in his '20s.
>
> On Sun, Sep 6, 2020 at 1:53 PM Barbara B Walker <bbwalker at unr.edu> wrote:
>
>> Greetings, all,
>>
>>
>>
>> It’s been wonderful to see this outpouring of excitement about
>> biographies (and memoirs), reflecting their intrinsic fascination.
>> Biographies are sometimes dismissed as subjective, celebratory, irrelevant
>> to the broader structural issues of society, for example gender. But
>> especially in an age of upward mobility through education, expertise, and
>> innovation, good biographies are an extraordinary source of power for
>> individual motivation and self-understanding. Sometimes they are indeed
>> irritatingly celebratory, partly just because it is difficult for a
>> biographer to stick to the research, if not inspired by the subject.
>>
>>
>>
>> But biographies and memoirs are life-stories, and at their best uncover a
>> multitude of difficulties and solutions to the grand Tolstoyan question,
>> “kak zhit’,” or “how to live.” Difficulties overcome in intellectual
>> development, love, family, institutions, financial relations – or not
>> overcome – all are grist for readers of a biography to contemplate their
>> own lives, and to strategize for their own success and happiness. As I have
>> seen in reading/watching life-stories with my students, diverse and
>> upwardly mobile as they are at my state university, life-stories are among
>> the most profound tools for self-transformation. More publicly, it is
>> extraordinary how Ron Chernow’s wonderful, complex biography of Alexander
>> Hamilton, reimagined also by Miranda as a musical, has inspired a
>> generation.
>>
>>
>>
>> Dare I say that if left to men as a genre of scholarship, biographies
>> serve especially to empower men? (and, heh-heh, to preserve the
>> patriarchy!) Women too can learn from the lives of brilliant men, and do.
>> But women – and all in the vast range of human gender and ethnic diversity
>> -- historically face a variety of life-experiences not necessarily
>> experienced by men, and so their lives are a potential source for expanding
>> our understanding of “kak zhit’,” or how to live. And what it means to be
>> human.
>>
>>
>>
>> And just to contradict myself, let me add that one of the most inspiring
>> biographies I have read is James Hamilton’s *A Life of Discovery,
>> Michael Faraday, Giant of the Scientific Revolution.* Hamilton is an art
>> historian, so able to illuminate Faraday’s remarkable ability to visualize
>> the forces of nature, despite a poor education and a distinct weakness in
>> formal mathematics. Those of my students uncomfortable with math love that
>> part!
>>
>>
>>
>> Hope all are having a safe, refreshing weekend, Barbara
>>
>>
>>
>> *From: *Members <members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of
>> "Ceruzzi, Paul" <CeruzziP at si.edu>
>> *Date: *Saturday, September 5, 2020 at 4:58 PM
>> *To: *"members at lists.sigcis.org" <members at lists.sigcis.org>
>> *Subject: *Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Request for biographies
>>
>>
>>
>> Here are some autobiographies / memoirs:
>>
>>
>>
>> Paul Ceruzzi
>>
>>
>>
>> _________________________________
>>
>>
>>
>> Allen
>>
>> Paul
>>
>> Idea Man
>>
>> 2011
>>
>> Portfolio/Penguin
>>
>> Bartik
>>
>> Jean Jennings
>>
>> Pioneer Programmer: Jean Jennings Bartik and the Computer that changed
>> the world
>>
>> 2013
>>
>> Truman State University Press
>>
>> Beranek
>>
>> Leo
>>
>> Riding the Waves: a life in sound, science, and industry
>>
>> 2008
>>
>> MIT
>>
>> Berners-Lee
>>
>> Tim
>>
>> Weaving the Web
>>
>> 1999
>>
>> Harper
>>
>> Getting
>>
>> Ivan A.
>>
>> All in a Lifetime: Science in the defense of democracy
>>
>> 1989
>>
>> New York
>>
>> Grosch
>>
>> Herbert R.J.
>>
>> Computer: Bit slices from a life
>>
>> 1991
>>
>> Novato, CA
>>
>> Hardy
>>
>> G.H.
>>
>> A Mathematician's Apology
>>
>> 1976
>>
>> London
>>
>> House
>>
>> Charles H.
>>
>> Permission Denied: Odyssey of an Intrapreneur
>>
>> 2012
>>
>> Menlo Park, CA
>>
>> Lukoff
>>
>> Herman
>>
>> From Dits to Bits…: A personal history of the electronic computer
>>
>> 1979
>>
>> Portland, OR
>>
>> Mims
>>
>> Forrest M.
>>
>> Siliconnections: Coming of Age in the Electronic Era
>>
>> 1986
>>
>> New York
>>
>> Morse
>>
>> Philip M.
>>
>> In at the Beginnings: A Physicist's Life
>>
>> 1977
>>
>> Cambridge
>>
>> Ornstein
>>
>> Severo M.
>>
>> Computing in the Middle Ages: A View From the Trenches 1955-1983
>>
>> 2002
>>
>> Osborne
>>
>> Adam
>>
>> Hypergrowth: The Rise and Fall of Osborne Computer Corporation
>>
>> 1984
>>
>> Berkeley, CA
>>
>> Torvalds
>>
>> Linus
>>
>> Just For Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary
>>
>> 2001
>>
>> New York
>>
>> Ulam
>>
>> S.M.
>>
>> Adventures of a Mathematician
>>
>> 1976
>>
>> New York
>>
>> Watson
>>
>> Thomas J. Jr.
>>
>> Father, Son & Co.: My Life at IBM and Beyond
>>
>> 1991
>>
>> New York
>>
>> Wiener
>>
>> Norbert
>>
>> Ex-Prodigy: My Childhood and Youth
>>
>> 1966
>>
>> Cambridge
>>
>> Wiener
>>
>> Norbert
>>
>> I Am a Mathematician: The Later Life of a Prodigy
>>
>> 1973
>>
>> Cambridge
>>
>> Wilkes
>>
>> Maurice
>>
>> Memoirs of a Computer Pioneer
>>
>> 1985
>>
>> Cambridge
>>
>> Zuse
>>
>> Konrad
>>
>> Computer - My Life, the
>>
>> 1993
>>
>> Berlin
>>
>> [And two anthologies]
>>
>> Lee
>>
>> J.A.N.
>>
>> Computer Pioneers
>>
>> 1995
>>
>> Los Alamitos, CA
>>
>> Northrup
>>
>> Mary
>>
>> Collective Biographies: American Computer Pioneers
>>
>> 1998
>>
>> Springfield, NJ
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> *From:* Members <members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Marc
>> Weber <marc at webhistory.org>
>> *Sent:* Saturday, September 5, 2020 7:07 PM
>> *To:* Brian Berg <brianberg at gmail.com>
>> *Cc:* members at sigcis org <members at sigcis.org>
>> *Subject:* Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Request for biographies
>>
>>
>>
>> *External Email - Exercise Caution*
>>
>> It’s a wonderful book, and thank you to Severo for making it publicly
>> accessible!
>>
>> Severo also did an oral history
>> <https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.computerhistory.org%2Fcollections%2Fcatalog%2F102738018&data=01%7C01%7Cbbwalker%40unr.edu%7Cb2bbfe2c547949ab3f8608d851f79c1c%7C523b4bfc0ebd4c03b2b96f6a17fd31d8%7C1&sdata=s%2BHg8ecz8%2B6ofLg3%2BShRLUM4Mb5h2B0udeuCYIt1vzg%3D&reserved=0> with
>> us, as did Dave Walden and several of the other folks being mentioned in
>> this thread.
>>
>> Best, Marc
>>
>>
>>
>> Marc Weber
>> <https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.computerhistory.org%2Fstaff%2FMarc%2CWeber%2F&data=01%7C01%7Cbbwalker%40unr.edu%7Cb2bbfe2c547949ab3f8608d851f79c1c%7C523b4bfc0ebd4c03b2b96f6a17fd31d8%7C1&sdata=gIjYToEkCFzlFpwC7E%2Bdr%2BnAfXMqr6ukNDu6k%2FgXH6U%3D&reserved=0>
>>   |   marc at webhistory.org  |   +1 415 282 6868 | Zoom 901 292 1071
>>
>> Curatorial Director, Internet History Program
>>
>> Computer History Museum, 1401 N Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View CA 94043
>>
>> computerhistory.org/nethistory
>> <https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fcomputerhistory.org%2Fnethistory&data=01%7C01%7Cbbwalker%40unr.edu%7Cb2bbfe2c547949ab3f8608d851f79c1c%7C523b4bfc0ebd4c03b2b96f6a17fd31d8%7C1&sdata=cikY3EV9c0%2Foqter5j%2BFYPqYPI%2B%2BxaDCPKQ4rxIdZXI%3D&reserved=0>
>> |  Co-founder, Web History Center and Project
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sep 5, 2020, at 07:44, Brian Berg <brianberg at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks - this is some wonderful reading.  For example, the Bob Taylor
>> portion and the birth of the ARPANET and the ALTO computer nicely
>> complements other books such as Leslie Berlin's *Troublemakers*.
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks, Brian Berg
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Sep 5, 2020 at 3:28 AM David Walden <dave.walden.family at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Severo Ornstein's memoir "Computing in the Middle Ages -- A view from the
>> trenches, 1955-1983".
>>
>> Available publicly at the Computer History Museum.
>> https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102785079
>> <https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.computerhistory.org%2Fcollections%2Fcatalog%2F102785079&data=01%7C01%7Cbbwalker%40unr.edu%7Cb2bbfe2c547949ab3f8608d851f79c1c%7C523b4bfc0ebd4c03b2b96f6a17fd31d8%7C1&sdata=ZReuWMNKDE%2BuR0BhfbfzzhoOM8zl2WtO74%2BpMRjyArY%3D&reserved=0>
>>
>> His journey goes from Whirlwind to TX-2 to LINC to ARPANET to Durado to
>> Mockingbird.  At least look at the annotated Table of Contents and read the
>> Preface to see what you'd be missing to not read his well written story.
>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Marc Weber
>> <https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.computerhistory.org%2Fstaff%2FMarc%2CWeber%2F&data=01%7C01%7Cbbwalker%40unr.edu%7Cb2bbfe2c547949ab3f8608d851f79c1c%7C523b4bfc0ebd4c03b2b96f6a17fd31d8%7C1&sdata=gIjYToEkCFzlFpwC7E%2Bdr%2BnAfXMqr6ukNDu6k%2FgXH6U%3D&reserved=0>
>>   |   marc at webhistory.org  |   +1 415 282 6868
>>
>> Internet History Program Curatorial Director, Computer History Museum
>>
>>
>> 1401 N Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View CA 94043
>> computerhistory.org/nethistory
>> <https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fcomputerhistory.org%2Fnethistory&data=01%7C01%7Cbbwalker%40unr.edu%7Cb2bbfe2c547949ab3f8608d851f79c1c%7C523b4bfc0ebd4c03b2b96f6a17fd31d8%7C1&sdata=cikY3EV9c0%2Foqter5j%2BFYPqYPI%2B%2BxaDCPKQ4rxIdZXI%3D&reserved=0>
>>
>> Co-founder, Web History Center and Project, webhistory.org
>> <https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwebhistory.org%2F&data=01%7C01%7Cbbwalker%40unr.edu%7Cb2bbfe2c547949ab3f8608d851f79c1c%7C523b4bfc0ebd4c03b2b96f6a17fd31d8%7C1&sdata=a6zSanZydhYIDk47zHGm5Y435jZK7diyjC6EElKT2bk%3D&reserved=0>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> James W. Cortada
> Senior Research Fellow
> Charles Babbage Institute
> University of Minnesota
> jcortada at umn.edu
> 608-274-6382
> _______________________________________________
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