I’m working on a “book” in my spare time. I put book in quotes there, because I don’t know that it’ll actually get to the level of being published on dead trees. Due to the subject matter, it would make more sense to publish it online (or perhaps, via something like iBooks) in any case.
It’s intended to be an introduction to Computer Science for non-nerds (and/or younger folk), which I’m sure is well-covered ground, but the unique direction I’m planning on taking is to start “at the bottom” with the most basic principles and work my way up.
This is based on conversations I’ve had with family and friends over the last few decades, at family gatherings, at parties, and on road trips. I get the impression that a lot of folks think that there’s this mysterious “other level” beneath what they understand about their computer that requires a lot of formal training to understand. I want to show that things aren’t really that complicated at the lower level, and that all of the complexity is layered on top of a very simple foundation.
And, I find the subject really interesting, so I enjoy writing about it. I’m going to set up a website for he new project soon, but in the meantime, I’ll put an excerpt up here to see what people think.
Update: Here it is – The Simplest Possible Computer
markbessey.blog 
Leave a Reply