Reddit mentions of Structured Computer Organization (6th Edition)

C targets a virtual memory system and instruction set architecture (ISA). It's an abstraction over the hardware implementation of the ISA. Those worlds are just different, and you'll gain a better understanding if you just study them separately.

for computer architecture, I've found two books to be most helpful.

https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Design-Computer-Architecture-Harris-ebook/dp/B00HEHG7W2

https://www.amazon.com/Structured-Computer-Organization-Andrew-Tanenbaum/dp/0132916525/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1536687062&sr=8-1&keywords=tanenbaum+computer+architecture&dpID=41B7uYANs%252BL&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

there is a low level operating system book that uses a lot of C code to explain how to build a kernel. This might interest you

https://www.amazon.com/Operating-System-Design-Approach-Second/dp/1498712436

in this book you'll find a chapter on the evolution of PC's architectures and parts, but i'm not sure this is what you're looking for.

In that pile-o-stuff there are really two main subjects: architecture and operating systems. I'd pick up recent copies of the dinosaur book and where's waldo. Silbershatz and Tanenbaum are seminal authors on both subjects.

There are numerous resources to learn C. Since I seem to be recommending books, Kernighan and Ritchie's book is pretty much the gold standard.

Good luck.

http://www.amazon.com/Structured-Computer-Organization-Andrew-Tanenbaum/dp/0132916525

http://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-Computer-Hardware-Software/dp/0735611319

Yes, this is good books

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I can recommend https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Algorithms-3rd-MIT-Press/dp/0262033844 this books instead Sedgwick

Or if you go further https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Programming-Volumes-1-4A-Boxed/dp/0321751043/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3KIIUSO0OCYLD&keywords=donald+knuth&qid=1566900852&s=books&sprefix=donald+kn%2Cstripbooks-intl-ship%2C369&sr=1-1

Also see this https://www.amazon.com/Structured-Computer-Organization-Andrew-Tanenbaum/dp/0132916525/ref=sr_1_5?crid=2PZADWCTIJ5EM&keywords=tanenbaum&qid=1566900893&s=books&sprefix=tanen%2Cstripbooks-intl-ship%2C263&sr=1-5

I highly recommend Structured Computer Organization by Andrew Tanenbaum. It is a great book for beginners

Computer Organization and Design or Structured Computer Organization

When you say you want to make a simplistic OS, do you mean you want to put together a simplistic Linux distro, or you want to code an OS from scratch?

In former case DSL might be your friend (Damn Small Linux):
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/. There are other similar distros that might fit under 25 megabyte, google is your friend. As already mentioned by somebody else linuxfromscratch.org is another option. If you go with LFS, you want to look at minimal libraries instead of standard GNU libs for C library and standard system applications. For example you would like to get https://www.uclibc.org/ for c library (or some other similar, there are few) and say busybox https://www.busybox.net/ for your system apps. There other "micro" versions of some popular software (X server etc) which you might wish to consider if you are going completely custom route.

If I was you, I wouldn't do it, since many others have same thoughts as you and have already put effort and hours into making it, so why repeating all that work if you can just get a distro like DSL and install it and simply customize/change what you dislike. If you want it as an educational experience than certainly go for it, LFS might be very rewarding in that case.

If you want to code your own kernel and OS, than you might wish to take a CS class about OS:s, Tanenbaum is your eternal friend:
https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Operating-Systems-Andrew-Tanenbaum/dp/013359162X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498831929&sr=8-1&keywords=andrew+tanenbaum

https://www.amazon.com/Structured-Computer-Organization-Andrew-Tanenbaum/dp/0132916525/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1498831929&sr=8-4&keywords=andrew+tanenbaum

And don't forget Google ...

I recommend you grab this book, I used it in the university and gives a pretty good explanation of how computers work.

That being said, you would need input from material physicist, electronic engineers, chemists, and a bunch of other professionals to really understand how a computer really works. It is a complex machine, and building one combines knowledge from many many disciplines.