Empire of the Sum
The Rise and Reign of the Pocket Calculator

A fascinating book on the history of counting and the rise (and fall) of the pocket calculator. The author starts with a history of humans counting and remembering counted values using various parts of their body. This leads to various ways, like notches on sticks or imprints on materials, as a way......more

(Note: I received an advanced reader copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley) Empire of the Sum will I suspect will appeal most to people who remember the 1970s and 1980s which were when the pocket calculator and its close relative, the digital watch, came from nowhere to become a must-have accessory......more

The first 2/3 of this book were super fun! I had no idea how many mechanical calculating devices were made, and how recently they were still state of the art. Last third was interesting, but in more of a “business wars” sense. Commoditization has consequences.......more

This is somewhere between 3 and 4 stars for me. I liked the first half, which basically covers the history of math and pre-modern counting methods, much better than the second half, which covers the corporate race to produce better electronic calculators post-WWII and could be somewhat dry. I do thi......more

(Audiobook - 25) Sometimes you just want to know everything about calculators. Good history, author calls out the bias towards men getting women’s credit......more