On the Principles and Development of the Calculator and Other Seminal Writings

As of late 1996, this is the most readily available collection of writings of Charles Babbage, the discoverer of the principles on which all modern computing machines are based. Includes passages from his autobiography, and more technical writings about his "Difference Engine" (the subject of a great science fiction novel by Bruce Sterling), an essay on lockpicking (proving that the MIT hackers of the 1950s were not the precedent-setters they might think!), and even uniquely 19th-century passages such as a descrition of how he transported six blind salamanders while travelling around Europe. An essential volume for anyone seriously interested in the history of the computer.