This book should hold much appeal for any computer scientist interested in gaining an in-depth appraisal of John yon Neumann and the Origins ofModern Computing von Neumann's role in the germination of their field. It William Aspray will also serve well as a reference to someone interested (MIT Press 1990, 376 pages, 40 illustrations, $35 .00) in the details surrounding a specific intellectual incident involving von Neumann . Indeed, a full one-third of the Rajeev Pandey book is comprised of accompanying notes, bibliography, Department of Computer Science and a list of von Neumann's writings . John von Neumann Oregon State University and the Origins ofModern Computing definitely belongs Corval lis, Oregon 97331-3202 in the computing section of every University library. In 1943, John von Neumann, while on war assignment in England, wrote back to Oswald Veblen at Princeton that he had developed an "an obscene interest in computation" and that he would be returning home "a better and impurer man ." This book presents a broad and detailed account of von Neumann's many different contributions to computing beginning in the 1940's . By that point in time, von Neumann was already well established in scientific circles, having made significant contributions to fields such as economics, mathematical physics and quantum mechanics, but these accomplishments were greatly overshadowed by his contributions to computer science . Aspray covers yon Neumann's life from birth in 1903, through his mathematical research career at Princeton, to his arrival on the computing scene in the 1940's in 25 brief pages. The rest of the text details yon Neumann's contributions to computing, This is not a biography, but a very detailed, scholarly examination of yon Neumann's immense influence in advancing the field of computer science . His roles in the design and construction of computer systems, developing scientific applications for computers, his revival of numerical analysis, and his seminal role in the creation of a theory of computing are all expounded upon eloquently and extensively, so much so that John yon Neumann's own daughter states that this book opened her eyes to the full significance of yon Neumann's contributions to computing . William Aspray does more than detail yon Neumann's intellectual exploits, he offers assessment and investigates the impact of every contribution . Every incident is examined thoroughly. For example, several pages of the text are devoted to the controversy between yon Neumann (and Goldstine) and the University of Pennsylvania engineers Eckert and Mauchley over the EDVAC report. The only fault that I can find with this excellent text is the fact that Stanislaw Ulam is always referred to as "Stan Ulam" (outside of the index), and never by his full name. This book is in the MIT Press History of Computing Series. William Aspray is the Director for the History of Electrical Engineering at IEEE . Books for Review The following books are published by MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass: Kenneth R. Manning (ed.) MIT: Shaping the Future 1991 Eric Raymond (ed.) The New_Hacker's Dictionary Michaed Benedikt (ed.) Cyberspace: First Steps 1991 1991 BOOK REVIEW : The following books are published by Meckler Publishing, Wesport , Connecticut: Patrick R. Dewey National Directory of Bulletin Board Systems 1992/91 Judith Paris Roth Essential Guide to Multifunction Optical Storage 1991 Karl Beiser EssentiaLGuide to dBase IV in Libraries 1991 Lorcan Dempsey LibrariesNetworks. and OSI 1992 Edition 1992 Les Lloyd Usiin Computer Networks on Camper 1991 Les Lloyd Usi aComputer Networks on Campus 2 1992 Harold C. Ogg and Marlene H. Ogg Optical Character Recoenition : A Librarian's Guide 1992 Computers & Society, Vol. 22, No. 1-4, October 1992

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