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THE UNIVERSAL HISTORY OF COMPUTING

Name: THE UNIVERSAL HISTORY OF COMPUTING
Author: Georges Ifrah
ISBN: 0-471-39671-0

FROM THE ABACUS TO THE QUANTUM COMPUTER

by Georges Ifrah & translated by E.F. Harding ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2000

Like many a software designer, the author has put plenty of information into his work, but has failed to make it...

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An ambitious but baffling history of automatic calculation, from ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic numbers to modern computers.

Ifrah, a former math teacher and independent scholar, precedes his discussion of computation with a condensed version of his first study, The Universal History of Numbers (not reviewed). The first section begins with a chronology of significant events in the development of writing and numerical notation: the entries start with notched bones dating from between 35,000 and 20,000 b.c., continuing through various ancient scripts and number-systems to the spread of the “Arabic” numerals now in use. Diagrams illustrating ancient number systems are intriguing, but dauntingly technical; examples of calculation presented in mathematical transcription without verbal explanations are bound to frustrate nonmathematical readers. A chronology of algebraic calculation is also intimidating, whipping through the formulations of Gauss and Fourier with the same blithe disdain for explanations. Ifrah slows down in his discussion of non-decimal number systems, especially the binary systems that underlie the operation of modern computers; in a fascinating twist, he notes, the 17th-century logician Leibniz based his invention of binary arithmetic on a misunderstanding of the ancient Chinese hexagrams of the I-Ching. The second section, which looks at the computer’s mechanical ancestors—abacuses, clockwork calculators of the late Renaissance, and slide-rules—before tracing the development of ENIAC, the first modern electronic calculator, and its descendants, offers more dramatic episodes (including Germany’s hair-raising successes with electromechanical calculation during WWII). However, the author does little to make crucial material—the elements of set theory, polyvalent logic, or the premises of symbolic calculus—understandable for a general audience, too often lapsing into laundry lists of events or concepts without discussion of the significance of the entries. Frequent intrusions by the translator, attempting to introduce sections, recapitulate, or supply missing information, further suggest Ifrah’s impatience with nonspecialists.

Like many a software designer, the author has put plenty of information into his work, but has failed to make it user-friendly. (b&w drawings)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000

ISBN: 0-471-39671-0

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Wiley

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2000

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
A UNIVERSAL HISTORY OF NUMBERS
by Georges Ifrah & translated by David Bellos

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.