# Home Computers: 100 Icons That Defined a Digital Generation - Hardcover

by **Alex Wiltshire** (Author), **John Short** (Photographer)

**A celebration of the early years of the digital revolution, when computing power was deployed in a beige box on your desk.**

Today, people carry powerful computers in our pockets and call them "phones." A generation ago, people were amazed that the processing power of a mainframe computer could be contained in a beige box on a desk. This book is a celebration of those early home computers, with specially commissioned new photographs of 100 vintage computers and a generous selection of print advertising, product packaging, and instruction manuals. Readers can recapture the glory days of fondly remembered (or happily forgotten) machines including the Commodore 64, TRS-80, Apple Lisa, and Mattel Aquarius--traces of the techno-utopianism of the not-so-distant past.

_Home Computers_ showcases mass-market success stories, rarities, prototypes, one-offs, and never-before-seen specimens. The heart of the book is a series of artful photographs that capture idiosyncratic details of switches and plugs, early user-interface designs, logos, and labels. After a general scene-setting retrospective, the book proceeds computer by computer, with images of each device accompanied by a short history of the machine, its inventors, its innovations, and its influence. Readers who inhabit today's always-on, networked, inescapably connected world will be charmed by this visit to an era when the digital revolution could be powered down every evening.  

### Author Biography

Alex Wiltshire is a writer and consultant for video games, design, and technology. He is the author of _Minecraft Blockopedia_ and has written for such publications as _Rock Paper Shotgun_ and _PC Gamer_.

John Short is a photographer based in London. His work appears regularly in _Wallpaper\*_.

**Number of Pages:** 256

**Dimensions:** 1.1 x 9.9 x 8.5 IN

**Illustrated:** Yes

**Publication Date:** May 19, 2020

## Details

- **Price:** 29.95 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 29.95 USD | In stock |

## Images

- Home Computers: 100 Icons That Defined a Digital Generation - Hardcover

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> Updated: 2026-07-23