The Seductive Computer Why IT Systems Always Fail

From the reviews:

“Experienced computer professionals will appreciate this book’s subtitle. Partridge (emer, Univ. of Exeter, UK) has divided the volume into four parts … . Overall, the well-written book provides a good starting point for serious discussions. It will be most useful for those with significant experience with computer systems since they will be able to fully appreciate the arguments presented. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.” (M. B. DuBois, Choice, Vol. 48 (9), May, 2011)

“The author, Derek Partridge, dissects the art of computer programming carefully detailing all the problems, traps and gotchas that result in computer programs … . In my opinion the executives overseeing any major IT project would find the information in this book to be quite valuable … .” (Brent Sims, Goodreads, June, 2011)

“The Seductive Computer is a very enlightening book chocked full of interesting facts, figures, and examples.” (John, Goodreads, March, 2011)

“Partridge is a technologist, and in some sense an optimist. … written for a general educated audience, and builds its arguments from both well-documented historical examples and detailed analyses of an apparently simple programming task … . There are plentiful pointers towards supporting data and further reading, and an extensive glossary. … The Seductive Computer is … well worth reading, if only for the schadenfreude of realising that practitioners of the high-tech arts have conceptual problems at least as deep as philosophy’s own.” (Chris Fields, Journal of Experimental & Theoretical Artificial Intelligence, January, 2012)

“Throughout the book, Partridge gives details of both conventional engineering and IT disasters … . The table of contents is thorough, there is a good index and glossary, and each chapter has relevant endnotes. … Partridge’s book alerts readers to the true lack of reliability of computer programs and the risk to which citizens in our modern world are exposed. … This is a book that should be compulsory reading for computer programmers and IT project managers.” (David B. Henderson, ACM Computing Reviews, December, 2011)