The thrilling adventures of Lovelace and Babbage
by Sydney Padua · first published 2015
93% recommend7% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Funny steampunk graphic novel imagining Lovelace and Babbage finishing the Analytical Engine, backed by extensive footnotes and primary sources. Suits anyone curious about Babbage and early computing history.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
315 pages : chiefly illustrations ; 27 cm1130L Lexile
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For an alternative take on Ada Lovelace (the mother of programming) and her relationship with Charles Babbage (the father of computing), check out Sydney Padua's awesome graphic novel: "The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage" [0]. Steampunk romance with difference engines and a guest appearance from Isembard Kingdom Brunel ("You look like you need an Engineer"). It's not as serious as the OP, but I love it, especially Babbage's…
on “Gobblebook: On Lord Byron and Ada Lovelace” ↗Anybody interested in Babbage could find much amusement in "The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage" [1] by Sydney Padua, a webcomic that spawned a book. It refers to a lot of incredible-but-actually-true material, duly footnoted. [1] http://sydneypadua.com/2dgoggles/
on “Babbage the unfortunate (2004)” ↗I'm reminded of the dialogue box presented by the Analytical Engine in the awesome graphic novel, "The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage" by Sydney Padua: *Annulation Lever Activated - do you wish to continue? Engage STOP lever to continue. Engage CONTINUE lever to stop."
on “Amazon intentionally made it hard to cancel Prime subscription in secret project” ↗If you like this stuff, I really, really recommend The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. It's a great half-comic-book half-historical scholarship. The second half is contained in footnotes and primary sources, which are about half the book, and it's delightfully fun.
on “Charles Babbage” ↗Last Christmas, I was given and then bought for others: The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer ( https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thrilling-Adventures-Lovelace-Babba... ) It's a halfway house between a graphic novel and a proper book, and is written in a…
on “Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?” ↗I liked * "The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage", by Sydney Padua (geeky fun) * "Exit West", by Mohsin Hamid (beautiful) * "Fugletribunalet", by Agnes Ravatn (freaky)
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?” ↗…Search for Truth https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Logicomix-Search-Truth-Apostolos-... -- a biographies of Frege, Russell, and Gödel and the history of predicate logic in comic book form … Or consider The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Thrilling-Adventures-Lovelace-Bab... -- a history of early mechanical computer science in comic book form … Or consider Understanding…
on “Why's (Poignant) Guide to Ruby (2004)” ↗I'm so glad you mentioned Padua's art and book. Her book ("The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage") was just a joy to read. The footnotes are magnificent, and span multiple pages, and it was just altogether entertaining as heck. The artwork is great as well. :)
on “It's often said that the Analytical Engine was before its time” ↗> I know there's a whole genre (steampunk) As I'm sure you know, the classic example is 'The Difference Engine' [0] by Gibson and Sterling, but my favourite is 'The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage' [1] by Sydney Padua, which features the eponymous characters as a crime-fighting duo, assisted by appropriate automation. It also features Isambard Kingdom 'You look like you need an Engineer' Brunel.…
on “Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine Turns 200” ↗I recommend as well the comic The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: The (mostly) true story of the first computer: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thrilling-Adventures-Lovelace-Babba... Very funny read with great art.
on “The Joy of Computer History Books” ↗Core Memory: A Visual Survey of Vintage Computers Typeset in the future https://typesetinthefuture.com/ The Rudiments of Wisdom by Tim Hunkin (cartoons not photographs) The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage by Sydney Padua (cartoons with epic footnotes and endnotes)
on “Open Circuits: The Inner Beauty of Electronic Components” ↗Sydney Padua's awesome, mostly true, steampunk graphic novel "The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage" jokes about the error messages that might have produced by the difference engine. One example occurs when a character tries to stop a sequence that may or may not destroy a precious manuscript: Annulation…
on “Yes/No/Cancel causes Aspirin sales to soar” ↗…the neglect of the Government towards his inventions. Even the association of such a distinguished man as Faraday would take away from the recognition which was due to him." Anyway Padua's book (The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage) seems very well-researched (I admit I haven't read much of it but read all the appendices in detail; would strongly recommend anyway).
on “What did Ada Lovelace's program actually do? (2018)” ↗This year I read: 1. The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer - A steampunk graphic novel about Ada Lovelace and Charlie Babbage. Fun story with loads of research to back it up. Got even better when I got to go the…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2017?” ↗There is an excellent webcomic called The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage, that describes what would have happened if they had successfully completed the Analytical Engine and gone on to fight crime. http://sydneypadua.com/2dgoggles/ More impressive than the comic itself is…
on “Untangling the Tale of Ada Lovelace” ↗