The Difference Engine

SUMMARY: A brilliantly inventive alternate history by the two biggest names in Cyberpunk, Gibson and Sterling, about a 19th century computer revolution arising from the invention of Charles Babbage's Difference Engine--a forerunner of today's computer based on mechanical principles rather than electronic technology. 1855: The Industrial Revolution is in full and inexorable swing, powered by steam-driven cybernetic Engines. Charles Babbage perfects his Analytical Engine and the computer age arrives a century ahead of its time. And three extraordinary characters race toward a rendezvous with history - and the future: Sybil Gerard - dishonored woman and daughter of a Luddite agitator; Edward "Leviathan" Mallory - explorer and paleontologist; Laurence Oliphant - diplomat and spy. Their adventure begins with the discovery of a box of punched Engine cards of unknown origin and purpose. Cards someone wants badly enough to kill for... Part detective story, part historical thriller, The Difference Engine is the first collaborative novel by two of the most brilliant and controversial science fiction authors of our time. Provocative, compelling, intensely imagined, it is a startling extension of Gibson's and Sterling's unique visions - in a new and totally unexpected direction! -(http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/337116.The_Difference_Engine) Goodreads In London of 1855, celebrated paleontologist Edward Mallory gets mixed up with Charles Babbage, the inventor of an advanced calculating machine run by his elite group of clackers Fictional Speculation On What Would Have Happened If The Computer Had Been Invented In The 19th Century. William Gibson, Bruce Sterling. A Bantam Spectra Book--t.p. Verso.