A Brief History of the Computer is a free ebook available from the Quick Start Workbook website

Over the decades, word processors have continually gained new features that get in the way of the ultimate goal: writing. How do we get back to that goal?

“You’re a real one for opening your mouth in the first place,” Itzie said. “What do you open your mouth all the time for?” “I didn’t bring it up, Itz, I didn’t,” Ozzie said. “What do you care about Jesus Christ for anyway?” “...

A far-reaching and strikingly original collection of essays on the "culture of software" by new-media critic Matthew Fuller. Behind the Blip looks at the many ways in which the ostensibly neutral user interfaces, search engines, "intelligent agents," and word processors that are now part of our everyday life are actively reshaping the way we look at and interact with the world."While most institutions are still trying to figure out what to do with 'new media,' some of the best of new-media artists and theorists have already moved on to the next paradigm: the study of software culture. Matthew Fuller's excellent collection is the first monograph in this emerging field. Combining solid understanding of theory and modern art history with the groundbreaking practical work in software culture, Fuller brilliantly analyzes the tools which we all use everyday to interface with the world and each other: Web browsers,search engines, word processors. What Fuller gives us is not just a usual book of theory but rather a kind of software--a 'critical help system' to help us understand what is really going on behind the menu and the windows of our computer screens."--Dr. Lev Manovich, Visual Arts Department, University of California,San Diego; author of The Language of New Media (MIT Press)

In Japan, cellphone novels have not only infiltrated the mainstream but have come to dominate it.