The Difference Engine
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.30 (757 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 1480541850 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 551 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-01-01 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Charles Babbage perfects his Analytical Engine, and the computer age arrives a century ahead of its time. A collaborative novel from the premier cyberpunk authors, William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. Part detective story, part historical thriller, The Difference Engine takes us not forward but back, to an imagined 1885: the Industrial Revolution is in full and inexorable swing, powered by steam-driven, cybernetic engines.
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 more than twenty years ago. Charles Babbage perfects his Analytical Engine, and the computer age arrives a century ahead of its time. Provocative, compelling, and intensely imagined, this novel is poised to impress a whole new generation.. 1855: The Industrial Revolution is in full swing, powered by steam-driven cybernetic Engines. 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
"Uneven." according to J. Edgar Mihelic, MBA. The Difference EngineThis book is pretty uneven, but I suppose that comes from two authors mailing floppy disks back and forth to each other.The world that they build is pretty interesting, and it seems that that was the basis of more of the conversations between Gibson and Sterling (I have to confess, I’ve only read like three previous Gibson books, and none of Sterling’s full-length books. I think that though they. A great idea, poorly executed. A great idea, poorly executed. The topic could easily have spawned a trilogy but instead, the story develops sideline characters and plots and then drops them. I chose this originally since I know it was influential in the development of the Steampunk genre and also because Stirling collaborated with William Gibson, However, knowing Gibson's earlier works, I see nothing of his style here. So much promise, so disappointing.. Well crafted answer to the question, "What if Babbage succeeded in inventing the mechanical computer?" Gibson and Sterling collaboratied to create a rather deep world focused around the far reaching implications that mechanical computation would bring.Though successful in it's primary endeavor it lacks direction, there are three primary characters, the first of which fades from sight quickly, the second occupies roughly 2/3 of the total content of the book, the third persona takes the last third.To be frank, the plot barely mate