Favourite science history book of the 20th century?
I like the anecdotes and interesting lives of 20th century mathematicians/computer scientist, suggest me please your favourite history book about them.
Turing's cathedral, on the invention and development of the earliest digital computers just before, during, and after WWII. Lots of excellent detail, descriptions of the personalities and relationships of many interesting people, like von Neumann.
The Faber Book of Science (Carey)
Asimov’s New Guide to Science (Asimov)
The Great Influenza (Barry)
Richard Hamming's "The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn" is an insider's (Manhattan Project, Bell Labs) view of how computer science as we know it developed.
The Maniac, by Benjamin Labatut. It’s a fictionalised biography of John von Nuemann and the birth of artificial intelligence. Amazing , surreal and unique
The Dream Machine by M. Mitchell Waldrop