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The Difference Engine

The Difference Engine

by William Gibson, Bruce Sterling

1991American Science fictionComputersFictionSteampunkSteampunk fiction
3.3
Open Library
Open Library

About this book

<Blockquote> 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! > > -[Goodreads](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/337116.The_Difference_Engine)

Themes & subjects

American Science fictionComputersFictionSteampunkSteampunk fictionFiction, science fiction, steampunk
First published 1991

Characters & people

Ada ByronLaurence OliphantCharles Babbage (1791-1871)Laurence Oliphant (1829-1888)

Setting

London19th century

About the authors

William Gibson
William Gibson

17 March 1948

William Ford Gibson is an American-Canadian writer who has been called the "noir prophet" of the cyberpunk subgenre of science fiction. Gibson coined the term "cyberspace" in his short story "Burning Chrome" and later popularized the concept in his debut novel, *Neuromancer* (1984). In envisaging cyberspace, Gibson created an iconography for the information age before the ubiquity of the Internet in the 1990s. He is also credited with predicting the rise of reality television and with establishing the conceptual foundations for the rapid growth of virtual environments such as video games and the Web. ([Source][1]) Photo by [FredArmitage][2] [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William…

Bruce Sterling
Bruce Sterling

April 14, 1954

Sterling is an American science fiction author, best known for his novels and his work on the Mirrorshades anthology, which helped define the cyberpunk genre. - [*Wikipedia*][1] [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Sterling

Authors

William Gibson, Bruce Sterling

First published

1991

Pages

406

Read time

≈ 10h

Editions

28

Languages

English, French, Portuguese

Publisher

Orion Publishing Group, Limited

ISBN

9781473208056

Where to buy

TR
Amazon Bookshop

Around the web

New York Times review

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