[comp.edu] John's reading list

slimick@unix.cis.pitt.edu (John C Slimick) (12/13/90)

Having just finished my first attempt at a social implications
of computers course, I would like to share the student reaction
to the reading list. I had 12 books placed on reserve at the 
library here, and each student was to read and write a review of
three of the 12. Please keep in mind that we have a small
library, and that this course seems to have caught our library
unprepared. Some of these book are probably questionable, but
they were what was available.

-Long-              

Brown, Geoffrey, _The Information Game_  was read by three of the twelve
	students. All complained about the reading level (seems to be
	about first year grad school), but all thought that it was
	valuable.

Burnham, David, _The Rise of the Computer State_ was read by three of
	the 12. Generally liked, and will probably be required
	reading next year. One student was really frightened by
	what he read in the book.

Forester, Tom, _High-Tech Society_ was read by 2 of the twelve. No
	memorable comments.

Hayes, Dennis, _Beyond the Silicon Curtain_ was read by 4 of the twelve.
	Some were impressed by the description of the workaholics in
	Silicon Valley; otherwise nothing notable.

Naisbitt, John, _Megatrends_ was read by six of the twelve. A great
	favorite, because it is easy to read. The significant
	comment was that it was a good "quickly" outline of what
	we were talking about in the course.

Noble, John, _Forces of Production_ was read by none. What a shame!
	I really liked it.

Perrole, Judith, _Computers and Social Change_ was read by one of
	the twelve. Apparently textbooks turn off potential
	readers in this context.

Perrow, Charles, _Normal Accidents_ was read by three of the twelve.
	One response was that this really had little to do with
	computers (true). Another was impressed with the arguments
	for the causes of accidents. All liked the horror stories,
	one, in particular, enjoying the "kitchen" sequence.

Roszak, Theodore, _The Cult of Information_, was read by two of the 
	twelve. The feeling was that it was not all that well written,
	especially the chapter on Descartes.

Stoll, Clifford, _The Cuckoo's Egg_ was read by seven of the twelve,
	and was the favorite. Everyone who read this loved it, and
	all wanted it to be required reading. I am not quite as 
	impressed, since Stoll could have put more perspective in it.
	For example, all the students picked up on the FBI's lack
	of interest, and I had to explain that what Stoll was asking
	for was the FBI to do domestic surveillance, most likely
	withou a warrant, over a $0.75 accounting error. I suspect
	that some of those FBI that Stoll was trying to convince 
	had had their careers hurt by  the public exposure of the
	FBI's domestic surveillance during Vietnam, and here was
	Stoll asking them to do it again...

Toffler, Alvin, _The Third Wave_ was read by no one.

Weiner, Norbert, _The Human Use of Human Beings_ was read by two of
	the twelve. I added this late. The two who read it felt
	that it really showed it's age, one student commenting that
	"Weiner's future was now in the past." 

john slimick
university of pittsburgh at bradford

slimick@unix.cis.pitt.edu