I recently really enjoyed Art + DIY Electronics (https://archive.org/details/mit_press_book_9780262361576), which probably has a lot of relevance to the HN crowd and some great descriptions of projects like Laura Kikauka’s absurdist analog virtual reality suit Hairbrain 2000, pollution-hunting Feral Robotic Dogs adapted from secondhand toys by New York teens, and work by the Burning Man-adjacent Survival Research Laboratory.
Selling the American People (https://archive.org/details/mit_press_book_9780262374248) was also a great history of what you might call proto adtech, including things like ad execs hyping what they could do with '60s computers, Sears running analytics on when to send customers new catalogs, and '90s dreams of buying fashion from TV sitcoms. I didn't realize this one was free and actually bought the Kindle edition, which was well worth it.
I recently really enjoyed Art + DIY Electronics (https://archive.org/details/mit_press_book_9780262361576), which probably has a lot of relevance to the HN crowd and some great descriptions of projects like Laura Kikauka’s absurdist analog virtual reality suit Hairbrain 2000, pollution-hunting Feral Robotic Dogs adapted from secondhand toys by New York teens, and work by the Burning Man-adjacent Survival Research Laboratory.
Selling the American People (https://archive.org/details/mit_press_book_9780262374248) was also a great history of what you might call proto adtech, including things like ad execs hyping what they could do with '60s computers, Sears running analytics on when to send customers new catalogs, and '90s dreams of buying fashion from TV sitcoms. I didn't realize this one was free and actually bought the Kindle edition, which was well worth it.
Balkan Cyberia (https://archive.org/details/mit_press_book_9780262373265) also looks fascinating for anyone interested in Eastern bloc computer history.