DESC: This compelling retrospective traces the development of the computer from the first electronic binary machine, 1934's German Z1, through IBM's invention of the PC in the latter half of the 20th century. Each chapter traces a particular innovation, placing it in historical and social context and including biographies about the people responsible for that particular advance in technology. The first computer engineers, after all, were not focused on creating word processors or Universal Turing Machines--they simply wanted a faster and better way to manage basic calculations and practical problems involving day-to-day subjects like inventory and accounting. ELECTRONIC BRAINS works as an effective introduction to the mathematicians and philosophers who were responsible for the earliest iterations of the computers that are so commonplace today, as well as the social and commercial forces that created a need for them.