Sunday, June 15, 2008

Crunching Numbers By Real Crunches

Tam wrote of Babbage; Og goes from Persia to Armonk, NY in easy steps. Me? I give you The Meccano Brain. (Look around, he's done plenty).

Oh, don't thank me, go read Michael Flynn's In The Country Of The Blind or even Gibson and Sterling's The Difference Engine if you haven't already. Somebody I know has a handy Amazon link for the purchase of such books.
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9 comments:

  1. Turk TuronJune 15, 2008 at 9:26 PM

    Excellent biography of a fascinating man.

    Alan Turing, The Enigma
    by Andrew Hodges

    http://www.amazon.com/Alan-Turing-Enigma-Andrew-Hodges/dp/0802775802

    ReplyDelete
  2. John BJune 16, 2008 at 12:21 AM

    Hey I got it!
    How about a Wooden Difference Engine.
    oh right, they have those.
    they're called a slide-rule.
    or an abacus.

    as your roomie sez

    T'hee

    ReplyDelete
  3. MarkJune 16, 2008 at 6:46 AM

    That is the most wonderful thing I've seen all week. Wait, it's Monday... that's probably the most wonderful thing I'll see all week!

    ReplyDelete
  4. bredaJune 16, 2008 at 7:52 AM

    or, you know, check them out from your local library.

    ReplyDelete
  5. DrangJune 16, 2008 at 11:09 PM

    Just picked up a book from the library, Jacquard's Web by James Essinger, sort of a Connections thing, from JM Jacquard's loom--which introduced punch-card programming--through Babbage, up to today. (ISBN-13: 978-0192805782)

    Mrs. Drang being a fiber artist, and one of the features we're looking for in a new home being room for her spinning wheels and loom, I figure she'll enjoy it as much as me. Maybe more.

    ReplyDelete
  6. TamJune 16, 2008 at 11:41 PM

    But Breda, I am my local library... ;)

    ReplyDelete
  7. CarteachJune 17, 2008 at 8:05 AM

    'The Difference Engine'... I have never met anyone else who has read it. Interesting.

    Look around at todays world. What emerging technology has the ability to change everything?

    ReplyDelete
  8. bredaJune 17, 2008 at 10:05 AM

    I wanted to make a joke about "checking out" the local library but I'll resist. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Roberta XJune 17, 2008 at 1:48 PM

    I was thinkin' of the Bard of Avon, myself: "Get thee to a library!"

    ReplyDelete

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