HOME COMPUTERS: A Simple and Informative Guide

by Scott Corbett ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 19, 1980

Though his title is Home Computers, Corbett shuns the hobbyists' games that clog similar titles and devotes much of this to an easy version of the usual computer introduction. There is the customary obeisance to Charles Babbage, an explanation of the binary number system, a look at programming, and so on--all bracketed by variously enthusiastic visions of the coming age of home computers. (Most American homes will have them within ten years, says Corbett.) His tone is breezy, and instead of bogging down in parts and terminology he tends toward human-interest stories--of his own fledgling experience, for example, or of computer criminals such as the teller who took care to embezzle only amounts covered by federal insurance. (His exposure of the biorhythm nonsense, though, might be too subtle for his audience.) The examples of computers' uses are down-to-earth, but mostly in the adult sphere--at home, they help with income tax records, household inventory, bank-account balancing, and so on--with just a chapter on kids' use for homework drill and such. Corbett does say that young people take to computers more easily than older people do--so maybe we're just too old to appreciate the need for an electronic recipe-finder and investment advisor.

Pub Date: June 19, 1980

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Atlantic/Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1980

Categories: NONFICTION