This book tells the story of the birth of the technological world we now live in. It chronicles how computers reshaped World War II. And it does it all through the origins of 12 influential computers built between 1939 and 1950. In 1940, a computer was someone who ploughed through gruelling calculations each day. A decade later, a computer was a buzzing machine that filled a room. This book tells the story of how our world was reshaped by a dozen such computers - and the geniuses that brought them into being, from Alan Turing to John von Neumann. You'll discover how these pioneers shortened World War II, and hidden truths that governments didn't want you to know. But this isn't just a story about how these computers came to be, or the fascinating people behind them: it's a story about how a new world order, built on technology, sprang into being. This book is a world tour through the modern history of computing, and it begins in 1939 with the first electronic digital computer, the