Bad history makes false claims about firsts. Good history makes true claims about firsts. Great history, however, doesn’t primarily concern itself with firsts at all (though it may necessarily deal with them as part of the subject matter), but redirects us to ask deeper, more meaningful questions. Great history, like the work of Tom Haigh, Mark Priestley, and Crispin Rope, goes beyond the baseline of facts, the high-school textbook version, into a whole new realm of interpretation.—Computer History Museum—
…a particularly important, thorough, and balanced account, a major contribution to the history of early computing, and certainly required reading for any student of the subject.
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SIAM News—
[A] nuanced, engaging and thoroughly researched account of the early days of computers, the people who built and operated them, and their old and new applications…. [T]he creativity and intelligence of good historians writing books such as ENIAC in Action will keep us informed and entertained.
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Forbes—
Haigh et al. for the first time tell the whole story of the first computer (digital, electronic, programmable), supported by impressive research. Their book will no doubt become the standard reference for all things ENIAC.
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Joseph F. Grcar,
SIAM Review—
