I also want to know the history behind these marvellous devices.

"Darwin Among the Machines - the Evolution of Global Intelligence"(1997) by George B. Dyson is one of the most captivating books I've ever read on the history of computing. As its title suggests, the author is of a like mind to evolutionists (evolution "fact-ists" I should say).

From the liner notes: "... This deep and elegant book derives both its title and its outlook from Samuel Butler's 1863 essay 'Darwin Among the Machines.' Observing the beginnings of miniaturization, self-reproduction, and telecommunication among machines, Butler predicted that nature's intelligence, only temporarily subservient to technology, would resurface to claim our creations as her own. Updating Butler's arguments, Dyson has distilled the historical record to chronicle the origins of digital communications and the evolution of digital computers, beginning long before the time of Darwin and exploring the limits of Darwinian evolution to suggest what lies beyond. ... Nature, believes Dyson, is on the side of the machines."