The Difference Engine
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Written by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling.
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Editorial Review (from Amazon.com)
With the computer age arriving a century ahead of its time--during the Industrial Revolution--politician's daughter Sybil, explorer and paleontologist Edward, and diplomat and spy Laurence race toward a rendezvous with history. Reprint. NYT.User Reviews (1) Login or create an account to write a review.
Colin thinks this book is Worth Reading.
While I don't think that this is Gibson's or Sterling's best book on its literary merits, it certainly does represent one of the most interesting premises put forth in the genre of science fiction. Essentially, it comes down to the question: Had Babbages ideas caught on earlier, could there have been a 19th century information age?
The descriptions of towering, mechanical computers are quite riveting and the exploration of the giant computers' consequences on 19th century England are fascinating. If this book is simply considered as a platform to explore these ideas, it is an excellent read. However, the plot, characters and narrative are nothing special, nothing to keep the reader affixed to pages. It is easy to put this one down and not bother to pick it up again for several weeks. The later books of both authors, particularly of Gibson, are much better on that regard.