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Information about The Difference Engine

For the machine designed by Charles Babbage, see .
The Difference Engine

Cover of first edition (hardcover)
AuthorWilliam Gibson and Bruce Sterling
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s)Alternate History, Steampunk novel
PublisherVictor Gollancz Ltd
Publication dateSeptember 1990
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages256 pp
ISBNISBN 0-575-04762-3
The Difference Engine is an alternate history novel by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. It is a prime example of the steampunk sub-genre.

The novel was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1991 and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 1992.

Plot introduction

The novel posits a Victorian Britain in which the Industrial Radical Party, a political party led by a longer-lived Lord Byron (who never died in the Greek War of Independence, as he did within our world), has won power after the changes that occurred in British society when entrepreneurial inventor Charles Babbage succeeded in his ambition to build a mechanical computer (actually his analytical engine rather than the difference engine).

Following this success, the Babbage computers become mass-produced and ubiquitous, and their use emulates the innovations which actually occurred during our information technology and Internet revolutions. The novel explores the social consequences of an "information technology" revolution in the nineteenth century, such as the emergence of "clackers" (a reference to hackers), technically proficient people skilled at programming the Engines through the use of punch-cards, such as Theophile Gautier.

In the novel, the British Empire is more powerful than it was in our world, thanks to the development and use of extremely advanced steam driven technology in industry. In addition, similar military technology has enhanced the capabilities of the armed forces (airships, dreadnoughts, and artillery); and the Babbage computers themselves. Britain, rather than the United States opened Japan to Western trade, in part because the United States became fragmented, due to interference from a Britain which foresaw the implications of a truly United States on the world stage. Counterpart successor states to our world's United States include: a (truncated) United States; the Confederate States of America; the Republic of Texas; the Republic of California; a Communist Manhattan Island commune (with Karl Marx as a leading light); British North America (analogous to Canada, albeit slightly larger in this world); Russian America (Alaska); and terra nullius. Additionally, all land in the Americas are colloquially referred to as America (Viz: Sybil:Do you know anything about Texas, Hetty? Hetty: A country in America. French own it, don't they?). Napoleon III's French Empire holds an entente with the British and Napoleon is even married to a British woman.

Among other historical characters, the novel features "Texian" President Sam Houston, as an exile after a political coup in Texas, a reference to Percy Bysshe Shelley (as a Luddite), John Keats as a kinotropist (an operator of mechanical pixelated screens), and Benjamin Disraeli as a publicist and tabloid writer.

Under the Industrial Radical party, Britain shows the utmost respect for leading scientific and industrial figures such as Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Charles Darwin. Indeed, they are collectively called "savants" and often raised to the peerage on their merits, causing a break with the past as regards social prestige and class distinction. These new patterns are also reflected in the educational sphere; classical studies have lost importance, and are replaced by more practical concerns (such as engineering, accountancy, etc).

Plot summary

The action of the story follows Sybil Gerard, a political courtesan and daughter of an executed Luddite leader (she is borrowed from Disraeli's novel Sybil); Edward "Leviathan" Mallory, a paleontologist and explorer; and Laurence Oliphant, a historical figure wth a real career, as portrayed in the book, as a travel writer whose work was a cover for espionage activities "undertaken in the service of Her Majesty".[1] Linking all their stories is the trail of a mysterious set of reportedly very powerful computer punch cards and the individuals fighting to obtain them.

As is the case with special objects in several novels by Gibson, the punch cards are to some extent a MacGuffin.

During the story, many characters come to believe that the punch cards are a gambling "modus," a program that would, theoretically, always allow the user to place reliable bets. This is in line with Ada Lovelace's penchant for gambling (in both the novel and actuality). Only in the last chapter is it revealed that the punched cards represent a program which prove two theorems which in reality would not be discovered until 1931 by Kurt Gödel.

Defending the cards, Mallory gathers his brothers and a policeman to fight the revolutionary Captain Swing who leads a London riot during "the Stink", a major episode of pollution in which London swelters under an inversion layer (compare to the London Smog of December 1952).

Trivia

  • The character Michael Godwin was named after attorney Mike Godwin as thanks for his technical assistance in linking Sterling and Gibson's computers to allow them to collaborate between Austin and Vancouver.[2]

References

1. ^ '"Secret Agent", Chap. 5, 'Laurence Oliphant'', Anne Taylor, Oxford University Press, 1982
2. ^ Sterling, Bruce. The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier, 1992; download link from Project Gutenberg

External links

Editions

  • First UK hardcover, 1990: ISBN 0-575-04762-3
  • First UK softcover, 1991: ISBN 0-575-05297-X
  • First US hardcover, 1991: ISBN 0-553-07028-2
  • First US paperback, 1992: ISBN 0-553-29461-X
  •  • [ e] Gibsonian
Novels: The Sprawl trilogy: Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive • The Difference Engine (with Bruce Sterling) • The Bridge trilogy: Virtual Light, Idoru, All Tomorrow's Parties • Pattern Recognition, Spook Country
Short stories: Burning Chrome collection: "Johnny Mnemonic", "The Gernsback Continuum", "Fragments of a Hologram Rose", "The Belonging Kind", "Hinterlands", "Red Star, Winter Orbit", "New Rose Hotel", "The Winter Market", "Dogfight", "Burning Chrome" • uncollected: "Skinner's Room"
Miscellanea: Neuromancer videogame • Agrippa (A Book of the Dead) • Johnny Mnemonic • New Rose Hotel • No Maps for These Territories • two The X-Files episodes
Story elements: Neural Attenuation Syndrome • Molly Millions • Cyberspace • Megacorporation • Screaming Fist • Tessier-Ashpool • Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics • Ono Sendai • Turing Police • The Sprawl • Raygun Gothic • Gender-bait • Hubertus Bigend
William Gibson

William Gibson in August 2007
Born: March 17 1948 (1948--) (age 59)
Conway, South Carolina
Occupation: novelist
Writing period: 1977 —
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Bruce Sterling

Bruce Sterling at the Ars Electronica Festival
Pseudonym: Vincent Omniaveritas (in fanzine Cheap Truth)
Born: March 14 1954 (1954--) (age 53)
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In political geography and international politics, a country is a political division of a geographical entity, a sovereign territory, most commonly associated with the notions of state or nation and government.
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Motto
"Dieu et mon droit" [2]   (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
"God Save the Queen" [3]
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See Language (journal) for the linguistics journal.


A language is a system of symbols and the rules used to manipulate them. Language can also refer to the use of such systems as a general phenomenon.
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English}}} 
Writing system: Latin (English variant) 
Official status
Official language of: 53 countries
Regulated by: no official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1: en
ISO 639-2: eng
ISO 639-3: eng  
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''For the technical term used in historiography, see alternative history.

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For the comic book, see .


Steampunk is a subgenre of fantasy and speculative fiction which came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s.
..... Click the link for more information.
novel (from, Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new", "news", or "short story of something new") is today a long prose narrative set out in writing.
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Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information – the activity of making information available for public view. In some cases, authors may be their own publishers.
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Victor Gollancz Ltd was a major British book publishing house of the 20th century. It was founded in 1927 by Victor Gollancz (1893–1967) and specialised in the publication of high quality literature, non fiction and popular fiction, including science fiction.
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A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) is a book bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth, heavy paper, or sometimes leather).
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Paperback, softback, or softcover describe and refer to a book by the nature of its binding. The book covers of such books are without cloth or leather, and are bound, usually, with glue rather than stitches or staples.
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International Standard Book Number, ISBN, is a unique[1] commercial book identifier barcode. The ISBN system was created in the United Kingdom, in 1966, by the booksellers and stationers W.H. Smith.
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    This article may be too long.
    Please discuss this issue on the talk page and help summarize or split the content into subarticles of an article series.

''For the technical term used in historiography, see alternative history.

..... Click the link for more information.
novel (from, Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new", "news", or "short story of something new") is today a long prose narrative set out in writing.
..... Click the link for more information.
William Gibson

William Gibson in August 2007
Born: March 17 1948 (1948--) (age 59)
Conway, South Carolina
Occupation: novelist
Writing period: 1977 —
..... Click the link for more information.
Bruce Sterling

Bruce Sterling at the Ars Electronica Festival
Pseudonym: Vincent Omniaveritas (in fanzine Cheap Truth)
Born: March 14 1954 (1954--) (age 53)
..... Click the link for more information.
For the comic book, see .


Steampunk is a subgenre of fantasy and speculative fiction which came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s.
..... Click the link for more information.
Winners of the Nebula Award for Best Novel, awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The stated year is that of publication; awards are given in the following year. Winning titles are listed first, with other nominees listed in the next column.
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John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel has been awarded every year since 1973, except in 1994. Unlike other major science fiction awards, such as the Hugo and the Nebula, recipients are selected by a jury.
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Victorian era of the United Kingdom marked the height of the British Industrial Revolution and the apex of the British Empire. Although commonly used to refer to the period of Queen Victoria's rule between 1837 and 1901, scholars debate whether the Victorian period—as defined
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Lord Byron

Born: 22 January 1788(1788--)
London, England
Died: 19 March 1824 (aged 36)
Messolonghi, Greece
Occupation: Poet, revolutionary


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Greek War of Independence (1821–1829), also commonly known as the Greek Revolution (Greek: Ελληνική Επανάσταση Elliniki Epanastasi
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Charles Babbage FRS (26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English mathematician, philosopher, and mechanical engineer who originated the idea of a programmable computer. Parts of his uncompleted mechanisms are on display in the London Science Museum.
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computer is a machine which manipulates data according to a list of instructions.

Computers take numerous physical forms. The first devices that resemble modern computers date to the mid-20th century (around 1940 - 1941), although the computer concept and various machines
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The analytical engine, an important step in the history of computers, was the design of a mechanical general-purpose computer by the British professor of mathematics Charles Babbage. It was first described in 1837, but Babbage continued to work on the design until his death in 1871.
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difference engine is a special-purpose mechanical digital calculator, designed to tabulate polynomial functions. Since logarithmic and trigonometric functions can be approximated by polynomials, such a machine is more general than it appears at first.
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Information technology (IT), as defined by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), is "the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware.
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Internet is a worldwide, publicly accessible series of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol (IP). It is a "network of networks" that consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and government
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