Sometimes it was argued, that the Commodore 64 homecomputer wasn't a big innovation at this time. Other computers for example the Apple II was more impressive, and the Unix system V operating system was superior over the Commodore 64. But can we compare the C-64 only by it's technical specification? It's important to mentioned the complete picture. Most users are not interested in the machine itself, but they are were fascinated by the additional equipment.
In the basic form this is equal to some games, a device for making punches into the floppy disc and a joystick. But the most interesting equipment for a Commodore 64 was the books published in that time. If we are taking a look into the journals and printed books of the 1980s we will perceive a surprisingly powerful community. There were books available how to program text adventures in Basic, how to use the Geos software, how to make music with the SID chip and even graphics programming in Assembly language was explained in the books.
What is often ignored is, that it's possible to read such books without using a real commodore 64. That means, the books but not the 6510 cpu was the most fascinating part of the Commodore 64 legend. These books wasn't available before the Commodore 64 was realized. They are discussing subjects like a database, game programming and mathematics from a certain standpoint which was the beginning of the home computer revolution.
Another interesting fact was, the books about the Commodore 64 were available in normal bookshops and even in public libraries. The 1980s was the first decade in which such literature was produced.