''ThePatternOnTheStone : The Simple ideas that Make Computers Work'' by 
W. DanielHillis  Published in GB 1998 by Weidenfeld & Nicholson
[ISBN:0465025951], currently available as a November 1999 paperpack [ISBN:046502596X]

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I really enjoyed this first paragraph:

''I etch a pattern of geometric shapes onto a stone. To the uninitiated, the shapes look mysterious and complex, but I know that when arranged correctly they will give the stone a special power, enabling it to respond to incantations in a language no human being has ever spoken. I will ask the stone questions in this language, and it will answer by showing me a vision: a world created by my spell, a world imagined within the pattern on the stone''.

-- MartinNoutch