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Indeed, but interestingly enough the book, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power, only has 9 mentions of the word computer and zero for supercomputer.

The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power

https://www.amazon.com/Prize-Epic-Quest-Money-Power/dp/14391...

⬐ dredmorbius

The Prize is an excellent history, though one with some very curious omissions.

⬐ EricE

From the authors Bio: "Daniel Yergin is the author of the bestseller The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World which has been hailed as “a fascinating saga” about the “quest for sustainable resources of energy,” and “the book you must read to understand the future of our economy and our way of life,” ..."

So it's more a book to persuade (feelings) than inform (facts) - no wonder they aren't mentioned.

Know what you're reading.

⬐ dekhn

The book is loaded with facts. It just doesn't focus on the computational aspect (more focus on the geopolitical details). I strongly recommend this book- I understood a lot more about modern power after reading The Quest and The Prize.

⬐ jgalt212

I know I read a book that won the Pulitzer.

https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/daniel-yergin

and I know you the passage you cite from his bio is not in related to the book I cited.

This is probably more than you want to read, but The Prize by Daniel Yergin is a stellar history of the oil industry from 1800s-1990s https://www.amazon.com/Prize-Epic-Quest-Money-Power/dp/14391...

⬐ forgotmysn

Oh perfect, thank you. I've read Sinclair's Oil, but that's about it.

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I too wasn't interested in history at all until I read this book: The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power ( http://www.amazon.com/Prize-Epic-Quest-Money-Power/dp/143911...) Which was a fascinating history from the rise of oil in modern times uptil the first Gulf War. I would love recommendations on other history books that got people turned onto history?

⬐ joveian

Cherokee Tragedy: The Ridge Family and the Decimation of a People by Thurman Wilkins

⬐ CPLX

The Prize is my second favorite book of history/non-fiction ever. My favorite is "The Power Broker" which has a similar sort of style and scale. Highly recommended.

⬐ benbreen

I actually got into history through visual sources and maps, like Colin McEvedy's "Penguin Atlas of Medieval History." But the history books that I remember really changing my life include Simon Schama's "The Embarrassment of Riches" (a fantastic history of the rise and fall of the Dutch empire), Alfred Crosby's "Ecological Imperialism" (similar to 1491, but more wide-ranging), and Fernand Braudel's Civilization and Capitalism series (the best history books of the 20th century, in my view).

I also remember loving John Brewer's "The Pleasures of the Imagination: English Culture in the 18th Century" and Mario Biagioli's "Galileo Courtier." Also "Mad Blood Stirring" by Edward Muir, which tackles the question of why 16th century Italian street life was so incredibly violent.

Edit: seems apropos to mention that a couple friends of mine are about to launch a site for historians to curate lists of their favorite books on key topics, called Backlist: http://backlist.cc

⬐ thaumasiotes

> I actually got into history through visual sources and maps

I've noticed that fantasy novels often include maps of the fictional geography of the world, and fantasy authors sometimes write introductions basically on the theme "I've always loved maps and thought they were special". Personally, I've never really looked at those omnipresent maps, because they never matter in the story.

On the other hand, maps are incredibly useful when reading history. Or they would be... but history books almost never include them!

The Prize by Daniel Yergin devotes several chapters to the impact of oil in WW2, notably the destruction of the Shell complex at Balikpapan in the Pacific and Ike's decision to allocate fuel to Montgomery instead of Patton when stocks ran low, boosting Montgomery's march towards Antwerp but stopping Patton two days short of the Saar.

He covers everything from Japan's desire for the oil production of Indonesia to Germany's doomed synthetic fuel effort. The author also covers Nimitz's focus on denying oil resources to Japan, a strategy that eventually let him land several fatal blows to the Imperial Navy and end the war in the Pacific.

Nimitz was so successful in that strategy that near the end of the war, the Japanese began using kamikaze attacks against American naval vessels as a fuel-saving tactic, since pilots only required half as much fuel to complete their mission.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Prize-Quest-Money-Power/dp/1439110...

For more on the history of oil, The Prize by Daniel Yergin is an excellent read. While long, it's quite captivating and interesting.

http://www.amazon.com/Prize-Epic-Quest-Money-Power/dp/143911...