Back in 1984, when home computers were still a novelty, a remarkable pop-up book titled «Inside The Personal Computers» hit the shelves. It promised to teach readers everything they needed to know about personal computers through a fun, three-dimensional tour. The back cover boasts: "This sensational new book teaches you everything you need to know about personal computers on a fun three-dimensional tour. Open the book and find friendly computers popping off the page to guide you through their inner workings, from input to output."
Another passage from the book reads: "Watch what happens when you press a key on the keyboard. Go behind the screen and see how a word is written. On your journey through the inside of the computer, you'll visit disk drives, chips and printers and learn all about bits and bytes and RAM and ROM."
The back cover concludes: "Three-dimensional models, illustrations, graphs and diagrams will teach you how the computer thinks, remembers and communicates, all in terms that even the youngest computer users can understand. (...) At the end of this guided tour, you'll literally know the computer inside and out." And as you'll see below, it's no exaggeration.
Published in 1984 by Abbeville Press Inc., this book features fourteen interactive pages that will delight retro-computing enthusiasts. A quick Google search shows it available on various online marketplaces for prices ranging from $20 to $200, depending on condition. Given that these images are likely to go viral, I wouldn't be surprised if its value starts to climb.
The discovery is thanks to Marcin Wichary, who shared these sensational images (along with descriptions) with his followers via his Twitter account. Head over there for even more photos. Thanks for the magic, Marcin!
Gallery: Inside the Book
Take a closer look at the pages of this remarkable pop-up book.
