BKBLDIBM.RVW 950515 %A Emerson W. Pugh %C 55 Hayward Street, Cambridge, MA 02142-1399 %D 1995 %G 0-262-16147-8 %I The MIT Press %O U$29.95 curtin@mit.edu %P 405 %T "Building IBM" "Building IBM", Emerson W. Pugh, 1995, 0-262-16147-8, U$29.95 IBM, International Business Machines Corporation, is certainly a significant presence in the development of the modern computer industry. A study of the growth of IBM is therefore of definite interest. Pugh's book gives an overview of the milestones and manpower that have contributed to IBM. Originally begun as internal documentation and history, the book benefits from the understanding of an IBM insider and access to IBM archival materials. These strengths, however, are also liabilities. The sweeping coverage affords very little background to major decisions, or analysis of outcomes. Watson Senior's choice to continue building (and warehousing) machinery into the Depression could have been catastrophic if not for the Social Security Act, and the increased need for those machines. There are open, though terse, admissions of policies based on political rather than business or technical reasons, but the general representation tends to pass quickly over events not flattering to the company or its major personnel. The portrayal of the early development of computing could almost convince one that IBM *did* invent the computer. Still, this book does present much information that is usually carefully covered behind the blue facade. A good read and an interesting addition to any computer history library. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1995 BKBLDIBM.RVW 950515 ============== Vancouver ROBERTS@decus.ca | "I finally realized why Windows is truly Institute for Robert_Slade@sfu.ca | multitasking. I find myself keeping some Research into rslade@sfu.ca | secondary task (like ... mail) handy so I User rslade@cyberstore.ca| can make good use of the time I spend Security Canada V7K 2G6 | waiting for Windows." -Steve Edelson