It is nearly impossible for me to review this book. The Mighty Micro was first published in 1979; my version was published in 1980. As far as I can tell, nothing was added to this version of the book.
In his earnest attempt, Evans was elucidating the potential of microcomputers to the average person in 1979. Reading this 44 years later, it’s evident that many anticipated advancements didn’t unfold as expected. While it might be tempting to chuckle at these predictions, I choose not to out of respect for Evans’ efforts.
The first four chapters of the book are the only parts of the book that I care about. After that, the book becomes an exercise in creative writing. This wasn’t the intention, but looking at the book after the fact, you could see it as Evans detailing an alternate history where people didn’t demonize science, technology, and education.
The History of Computers to 1979 (ish)
The first two chapters deal with the history of computers. They describe ways to allow people to process information, starting with math but expanding to other information types and data. For any of you who have accidentally opened an Excel spreadsheet, that is one way to organize and display information.
The reader is given several 10,000-foot view definitions of what a computer does. This is supposed to be geared toward people unfamiliar with computers, and Evans warns that computer experts aren’t the intended audience for the book. The book doesn’t get into how computers work, which is refreshing.
The second chapter covers a lot of ground. It also covers some of the machines I recognized as computers or things closer to what we might think of as computers. It picks up in the 1880s and ends shortly after WWII. The most interesting part is the code-breaking efforts by the UK government. This is written from a UK perspective and doesn’t cover everything the Polish government had done.
Chapters three and four bring us up to 1979. Evans calls this The Present, which was accurate at the time of writing. I’m going to lump it in here to make things easier on myself.
This was when a lot of money was being put into computer and technological research. There were considerable advancements in computers, and their uses also expanded. Microprocessors are brought up, and how they brought up something called Valves.
Note: This confused me because he brought up Valves a few times. I had thought they were Vacuum Tubes, which is what he was talking about. It is always fun for me to find out what other people call things in different countries.
Evans lays out how the Cold War changed the consumer market for electronics. The government invested money for its own needs, businesses made things to suit both government and business needs, and eventually, consumers got a cost-effective version of that product. Other products also came off of the initial investment because businesses needed to make money.
Video games are an excellent example of this. Games were an easy way to show people what a computer could do (e.g., play chess, checkers, or tic-tac-toe). Companies saw a potential market for video games, and that is how you got the Magnavox Oddessy. This is an overly simplified version of what happened, but it is also the basic path for computers.
Some numbers about computer speeds are outdated. This isn’t a big deal, given the age of the book. The idea he is getting at is pretty timeless, though. Computers are getting faster and smaller and will continue to do so.
It is funny reading this now since people have computers in their pockets. You can pretty much do anything with your phone these days. I don’t think Evans could’ve seen that coming.
The fourth chapter is very interesting because it seems that Evans used some Structured Analytical Techniques (SATs) to draw his conclusions. I don’t know if this is what he did, but it seems like he used a Future Scenarios or Possible Futures Projection method to draw his conclusions. Reading the rest of the book, I got the feeling that he did something like this and then explained the conclusions he drew.
The rest of the book
This is where I have a difficult time talking about the book. Some of the things he mentions did eventually happen, but not in the time period that Evans was expecting. Most of the problems with his timeline are addressed in the remainder of the book.
It is nice to read something academic that explains things in an easy-to-read way. About four-fifths of the book speculates on a possible future—one that was only possible 40-45 years ago. Now, it isn’t really worth looking at as the point of the book was to educate people on the potential uses of a microcomputer.
While it might be fun to point out what Evans says here and find parallels to our time, I would caution against it. Evans speculates on an alternate reality that only exists on the pages of this book. A handful of what he says came true, and others didn’t. This is also written from a UK perspective and might not reflect other parts of the world.
Final Thoughts
The first part of the book was fun to read. After that, it doesn’t have much value unless you want to use it as a springboard for a creative writing project. Some of the things he thought would happen partially came true.
Evans was using rose-tinted glasses when he wrote about the possible future of the 1980s and 90s. Almost none of what he wrote took place in those periods on a global scale, and the 28-hour workweek definitely didn’t happen for a full-time employee. In the 2020s, some things he wrote about took place, but these were less about computers and more due to circumstances.
The book is interesting for a few reasons. It is a lovely time capsule from when PCs weren’t widespread. The first four chapters are great, and the rest of the book could be fun, but not for its intended purpose of introducing the possibilities of computers because that has already happened.