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@lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of "Ceruzzi, Paul" <CeruzziP@si.edu> Date: Saturday, September 5, 2020 at 4:58 PM To: "members@lists.sigcis.org" <members@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@lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Marc Weber <marc@webhistory.org> Sent: Saturday, September 5, 2020 7:07 PM To: Brian Berg <brianberg@gmail.com> Cc: members@sigcis org <members@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@webhistory.org<mailto:marc@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@gmail.com<mailto:brianberg@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@gmail.com<mailto:dave.walden.family@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. _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsigcis.org%2F&data=01%7C01%7Cbbwalker%40unr.edu%7Cb2bbfe2c547949ab3f8608d851f79c1c%7C523b4bfc0ebd4c03b2b96f6a17fd31d8%7C1&sdata=eVImHCn3lzgTsajBRNoyzyhoXkA5M9%2BG6ymhoO1v6lc%3D&reserved=0>, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. 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The list archives are at http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.sigcis.org%2Fpipermail%2Fmembers-sigcis.org%2F&data=01%7C01%7Cbbwalker%40unr.edu%7Cb2bbfe2c547949ab3f8608d851f79c1c%7C523b4bfc0ebd4c03b2b96f6a17fd31d8%7C1&sdata=fTzQeJgtnkuMFGew5r8rhjWqewB84%2F06wNvsQpdq8XE%3D&reserved=0> and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.sigcis.org%2Flistinfo.cgi%2Fmembers-sigcis.org&data=01%7C01%7Cbbwalker%40unr.edu%7Cb2bbfe2c547949ab3f8608d851f79c1c%7C523b4bfc0ebd4c03b2b96f6a17fd31d8%7C1&sdata=gVS3%2F808np%2FyBZeDWTe3AT5MW956iy6yK0NxqudkM0Y%3D&reserved=0> 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@webhistory.org<mailto:marc@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>