The Pattern On The Stone

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

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