A 1960s Children’s Book about Computers #Computers #Literature #History @pagetable
The 1963 book “Robots and Electronic Brains” (by Robert Scharff) from the “How and Why Wonder Books” series is an early children’s book about computers. Pagetable looks at some of the interesting contents – and how the German translation “Was ist was: Roboter und Elektronengehirne,” from 1967, changed some details.
Published in 1963, this might very well be one of the first children’s books on computers ever. To put this into context, this was:
less than 20 years after the first workable computers
four years after the introduction of the IBM 1401, one of the first commercial computers based on transistors (as opposed to tubes), weighing five tons and with programs on punch cards
With this context, the somewhat weird title “Robots and Electronic Brains” might be more understandable:
Computers are called “electronic brains”, since “computers” might not have been a common enough term (especially for children!) at the time.
Even though the book is mostly about computers, “robots” are mentioned first in the title, because they are a familiar concept. Robots like “Robby” (“Forbidden Planet”, 1956) were part of the pop culture.
While the original German version went with a literal translation, later editions updated the title to “Computer und Roboter” – computers and robots. They kept updating it until 1999, but it’s now out of print.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
