Book excerpt: Computers are the most complex machines that have ever been created. Very few people really know how they work. This book tells you how they work; no technical knowledge is required. It explains the operation of a simple, focusing on computer hardware and software related. This book shows that computer hardware isn’t so complicated and can be easily understood by anyone. This is a short book, but it must be studied carefully. This means that you will have to read some parts more than once to understand them. Get as far as you can. You will be much more knowledgeable about how computers work when you are done than when you started, even if you are not able to get through the whole text. This is a technical book though it is aimed at a non-technical audience. Though this book takes considerable effort to understand, it is very easy for what it explains. After you have studied this book, it will seem simple if you go back and read it.