Computers in society

by Donald H. Sanders

Written at a time when computer use was restricted to large organizations & few individuals had both the need & resources to acquire their own computers. This volume provides an introduction to the history & evolution of information processing, explain electronic data processing procedures, consider the social impact & explore future uses & implications of computers. 18 chapters in 4 parts. The parts 1/Information Processing in Background & Some Implications2/Orientation to Computers3/Computer Influence on a Changing Society4/Selected Computer Uses in SocietyIndexAppendices

458 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1973

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Upon graduation from seminary and return to Chicago, I had to find a job. My graduate degree in psychology being apparently worthless, I settled for being a child care worker with adolescent boys diagnosed as schizophrenic (most weren't) with the Jewish Children's Bureau. I liked the boys--well, all but one of them, but the pay was less than needed to pay back six student loans and there was no future in it. I looked for alternatives...

One alternative was computer programming. The step-father of two friends was an executive for some sort of computer firm and several of our friends were working there. Computers were of some interest, so I picked up this book, read it, went in for an aptitude examination.

I did well on the examination and was offered a job. But the kinds of questions that the exam had asked and the kinds of examples of programming that the book had given made a career in computer programming seem very, very dull. Thus I stayed in child care, but bought a first computer, a Commodore 64 with tape drive, a few months later.