The best bottom up approach to this that I have seen is Charles Petzold's "Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software" [1] which starts with us

The best bottom up approach to this that I have seen is Charles Petzold's "Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software" [1] which starts with using a flashlight to send messages and walks up the abstraction chain (switch, relay, alu, memory, cpu...) to most of the components of a modern computer. It's very accessible. [1] http://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-Computer-Hardware-Software/dp/0735611319 http://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-Computer-Hardware-Softwa...