The Computers that Made the World — out now!

Chances are good that you’re reading this post on something quite small. Even if your computer is big by today’s standards, it’s nothing compared to the first digital computers. The latest book from Raspberry Pi Press, Tim Danton’s The Computers that Made the World, tells the story of the birth of the technological world we now live in, all through the origins of twelve influential computers built between 1939 and 1950.

This book transports you back to a time when computers were not mass produced, but lovingly built by hand with electromechanical relays or thermionic valves (aka vacuum tubes). These were large computers, far bigger than a desktop computer. Most would occupy (and warm!) a room. Despite their size, and despite the fact that some of them would help win a war, they had a minuscule fraction of the power of modern computers: back then, a computer with one kilobyte of memory and the ability to process one or two thousand instructions per second was on the cutting edge. The processor in your mobile phone probably processes billions of instructions per second, and has a lot more than one kilobyte of main memory.

From human computers to digital computers

In 1940, a computer was someone who ploughed through gruelling calculations each day. A decade later, a computer was a buzzing machine that filled a room. This book tells the story of how our world was reshaped by such computers — and the geniuses who brought them into being, from Alan Turing to John von Neumann.

You’ll discover how these pioneers shortened World War II, and learn hidden truths that governments didn’t want you to know. But this isn’t just a story about how these computers came to be, or the fascinating people behind them: it’s a story about how a new world order, built on technology, sprang into being.

This book is a world tour through the modern history of computing, and it begins in 1939 with the first electronic digital computer, the Atanasoff-Berry computer (ABC). From there, the book moves on to the Berlin-born Zuse Z3 and the Bell Labs’ Complex Number Calculator, before we enter the World War II era with Colossus, Harvard Mark I, and then ENIAC, the first general-purpose digital computer.

A word from our author, Tim Danton

I couldn’t have navigated my way through the muddy history of pre- and postwar computers without the generous help of others. Take the story of Colossus, where Professor Jack Copeland — a world expert on British computing in World War II — guided me through the mine-filled labyrinth of half-truths and misunderstandings. Or Raúl Rojas, who has done so much to bring the story of Konrad Zuse and the Z3 out of Germany and into the wider world. While my name is on the cover, this book is a homage to the amazing work done by researchers and historians such as Jack and Raúl to uncover the truth behind these computers.

One final word. Although this is a book about computers, and the people behind them, by telling their stories it also shines a different light on World War II. What might have happened if the Nazis had better understood what Zuse had created? Or if Winston Churchill hadn’t been so forthright in his support for the codebreakers at Bletchley Park? How indebted should we all be to the Americans’ wartime push for computing power?

I hope The Computers that Made the World helps to answer at least some of these questions — as well as being a fascinating history of twelve world-shaping computers.

Get your copy today

The story of computing in World War II takes us through Germany, the UK, and the US, before covering the explosive post-war years when anything seemed possible.

Discover the fascinating stories behind the Manchester Baby, EDSAC, EDVAC, UNIVAC, Princeton IAS, and Alan Turing’s Pilot ACE and the birth of artificial intelligence. This new title is now available at our online store — and in the offline store — for £19.99. You can also find it on Amazon UK or Amazon US. In The Computers that Made the World, you’ll not only learn about the computers that shaped the world we live in, but what happened behind the scenes.

To coincide with the launch of our newest title, we’re also offering 50% off our book The Computers that made Britain when purchased together with The Computers that Made the World.

You’ll need to have both books in your shopping cart to benefit from this great offer, which ends on 17 August 2025; it’s available only while stocks last, so be quick if you want to be sure of adding both these fantastic titles to your summer reading stash!

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