An account of how the invention of a weaving machine led to the birth of computers.

Welp. Chalk this one up on the list of books on fascinating subjects that are poorly written. So disappointing. It reads like an amateurish dissertation, with lots of unnecessary rehashing and arguments made too forcefully (ex: Essinger, in a discussion of an image he shares of an invoice for Charles Babbage's purchase of one of Jacquard's woven portraits, says both that, "This clearly shows the sum he paid - 200 francs," and then later on the same page, "It seems quite clear that Babbage kept the invoice as a record of having purchased the woven portrait and of how much it cost him." I...could not possibly care less how much Mr. Babbage paid for the thing, for sobbing out loud. And dude, just let the thing speak for itself - I'm not an idiot; I can read the invoice. Move on, maybe. And there were moments like this throughout. It made me feel like I was supposed to be grading it as a student paper instead of enjoying a published work on an interesting topic. Gah. ( )

I had hoped for more about Jacquard and his loom. There is a lot more about Babbage than about Jaquard. Still, an interesting treatment of how punchcards led to today's computers. ( )

Interesting exploration of an oft-forgotten but important forerunner of today's computers... the Jacquard loom of early 18th-century France. The book traces the loom's beginnings and evolution from then to today, with much discussion of those whose inventions and thinking spun directly from Jacquard's invention, like Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, Herman Hollerith, and Howard Aiken.To keep the book slim, many others were left out, though, like George Boole and Alan Turing, for instance, lending a bit of a rushed feeling as the narrative weaved its way into the present day. The numerous pictures, including of the loom, the punched cards it used, and some of its finished products, however, all helped visualize the history being explained.I would add that this book isn't only for those interested in computer science history, but really for anyone working with computers as well as would-be inventors hitting that proverbial blank wall. The book's story can help ground the reader with a fuller understanding of how the digitized means controlling so much in our society today, much of which we take for granted now (even those involved in creating and programming them) came from a very real hands-on application, of creating woven fabrics with artistic and functional beauty, and making them more accessible to more people as automation brought costs down. The story of how the loom evolved into the bits & bytes that guide us today is a microcosm of the constant human endeavor to seek better ways of doing things, and of the importance of persevering despite how novel one's ideas might seem, especially ones outside the box.Originally written on Dec 28, 2008 at 03:11AM ( )