"Drawing on previously unused archival material, The Difference Engine is a tale of both Babbage's nineteenth-century quest to build a calculating engine and its twentieth-century sequel. For in 1991, Babbage's vision was finally realized, at least in part, by the completion at the Science Museum in London of the first full-sized Babbage engine, finished in time for the 200th anniversary of Babbage's birth. The two quests are mutually illuminating and are recounted here by the then Curator of Computing, Doron Swade - one of the main protagonists of the successful resumption of Babbage's extraordinary work."--BOOK JACKET.

The 20th anniversary edition of the classic steampunk novel With new commentary by the authors 1855: The Industrial Revolution is in full swing, powered by steam-driven cybernetic Engines. Charles Babbage perfects his Analytical Engine, and the computer age arrives a century ahead of its time. Three extraordinary characters race toward a rendezvous with the future: Sybil Gerard—fallen woman, politician’s tart, daughter of a Luddite agitator; Edward “Leviathan” Mallory—explorer and paleontologist; Laurence Oliphant—diplomat, mystic, and spy. Their adventure begins with the discovery of a box of punched Engine cards of unknown origin and purpose. Cards someone wants badly enough to kill for. Part detective story, part historical thriller, The Difference Engine took the science fiction community by storm when it was first published twenty years ago. This special anniversary edition features an Introduction by Cory Doctorow and a collaborative essay from the authors looking back on their creation. Provocative, compelling, intensely imagined, this novel is poised to impress a whole new generation.

Inventor, reformer, mathematician, philosopher, scientist and critic. Charles Babbage, a controversial 19th-century figure, saw both glory and failure.

Charles Babbage, pioneer in the field of computing machines, is well known today as the development and dissemination of computers has made it clear that he was a man ahead of his time. For a large part of his life Babbage was chiefly interested in the calculating engine, but from his writings it is apparent that in addition to understanding the principles of the construction of computers, he had a clear insight into their potential applications and the way to use them. He was also a pioneer in the field of operations research, was interested in an amazingly broad range of subjects, and was one of the first people to obtain a government grant in support of research! The editors have written an introduction which serves as a coordinating preamble to some chapters from Babbage's "Passages from the Life of a Philosopher" along with selections from "Calculating Engines" and assorted miscellaneous papers, blending everything to produce a book which can be read with the ease of a novel and is certainly no less entertaining.

Charles Babbage (1792–1871) articulated the principles behind modern computing machines. This compilation of his writings, plus those of several of his contemporaries, illuminates the early history of the calculator.

The famous and prolific nineteenth-century mathematician, engineer and inventor Charles Babbage (1791-1871) was an early pioneer of computing. He planned several calculating machines, but none was built in his lifetime. On his death his youngest son, Henry P. Babbage, was charged with the task of completing an unfinished volume of papers on the machines, which was finally published in 1889 and is reissued here. The papers, by a variety of authors, were collected from journals including The Philosophical Magazine, The Edinburgh Review and Scientific Memoirs. They relate to the construction and potential application of Charles Babbage's calculating engines, notably the Difference Engine and the more complex Analytical Engine, which was to be programmed using punched cards. The book also includes correspondence with members of scientific societies, as well as proceedings, catalogues and drawings. Included is a complete catalogue of the drawings of the Analytical Engine.