Jacquard's Web: How a Hand-Loom Led to the Birth of the Information Age
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.92 (630 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0192805789 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 320 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-01-06 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
A genius anticipates Herman Hollerith of IBM card fame This is a most exciting book. It is full of interesting historical twists. For an engineer, it is must reading. I keep copies in my office to pass out to friends. It is that powerful! Don't miss it!. computers made interesting As the least technologically-minded person I know I bought this book because I wanted to find out what computers really are and how they've come to dominate our lives today. The book didn't disappoint. It performs the unlikely paradox of making computing interesting - fascinating in fact.This is because Jacquard's Web is such a human story. The author breathes life into some incredibly interesting characters - an ancient Chinese prince. "Humanising the machine" according to Anthony Adolph. James Essinger's book takes us on an amazing journey from Napoleonic France, through Victorian London and on to the otherwise bewildering offices of IBM and the other giants of the computer era.On a basic level, this is a very readable history of computers, from the complexities of the modern era back through the stages that led to their invention - and then, most importantly, to the very roots of the idea - the first spark that lit a
The book concludes by bringing the story completely up-to-date with the latest developments in the World Wide Web and the fascinating phenomenon of artificial intelligence.Attractively illustrated and compellingly narrated, Jacquard's Web presents an eye-opening and scarcely known history that will prove fascinating to readers of popular science, especially those interested in the history of science, technology, and computing, as well as professional scientists, historians, and students.. Here, master storyteller James Essinger shows through a series of remarka
Its inventor in 1804? Joseph-Marie Jacquard of Lyons, France. From Booklist Doron Swade's Difference Engine (2001) recounted the computer's conceptual origin with Charles Babbage, who, as readers discover from Essinger, borrowed from the technology of silk weaving a means of programming his calculating machine. Essinger's perceptive commentary makes for interesting reading, and his work is a fluid contribution to the history of the computer. All rights reserved. Essinger bolsters Jacquard's thin but eventful biography by outlining the subsequent applications of his idea. In addition to clarifying the technical significance of the punched card, Essinger engagingly introduces the personalities-- Babbage, of course, but Lord Byron's daughter, Ada, and IBM chief Thomas Watson, too--whose lives crossed with Jacquard's punched card. Following Babbage's failure, E
He is currently working on a novel about Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace and on a popular history of the written word. . James Essinger is a writer with a particular interest in the history of ideas that have had a practical impact on the modern world