Decoding the Heavens
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Review
Fascinating and wide-ranging account of 'the world's first computer' ... marvellous --Daily Mail
a dizzyingly brilliant thing... the Antikythera mechanism bears a chilling message for our technological age --Telegraph
Sunken treasure. A mysterious artefact. Scrambled inscriptions. Warring academis egos. technology 1,000 years before its time. [This] tale of a wondrous relic...sounds like pulp fiction. But it's all true... Puts ancient Greece in a whole new light --Independent
a fabulous piece of storytelling, thick with plot, intrigue, science, historical colour and metaphysical speculation. The mechanism is fascinating - but the larger question of why its knowledge was lost, and what else with it, is mind-blowing --Metro
Compelling --Guardian
Pacy, yet full of fascinating scientific digressions -- Telegraph
a dizzyingly brilliant thing... the Antikythera mechanism bears a chilling message for our technological age --Telegraph
Sunken treasure. A mysterious artefact. Scrambled inscriptions. Warring academis egos. technology 1,000 years before its time. [This] tale of a wondrous relic...sounds like pulp fiction. But it's all true... Puts ancient Greece in a whole new light --Independent
a fabulous piece of storytelling, thick with plot, intrigue, science, historical colour and metaphysical speculation. The mechanism is fascinating - but the larger question of why its knowledge was lost, and what else with it, is mind-blowing --Metro
Compelling --Guardian
Pacy, yet full of fascinating scientific digressions -- Telegraph
Book Description
The fascinating story of the discovery of, and subsequent quest to decode, the world's first computer
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Very disappointing,
By
This review is from: Decoding the Heavens: Solving the Mystery of the World's First Computer (Paperback)
I found this a very disappointing book, perhaps my expectations had been too high. The narrative of the human interaction of the various investigators was interesting but my frustration with trying to understand the purpose or workings of the mechanism grew with every page.
A picture (or diagram) is worth a thousand words it is said; I doubt if most people could picture the workings from (tedious) descriptions like "the little wheel with seven teeth on the same axle drove the larger wheel with 59 teeth" ..... and so on and on....... There were some photographs after page 184 including half a dozen of the mechanism (small) - then eventually we have the only two (!) diagrams on pages 247 and 258. Far, far too little far too late I fear. Then we get to know in the acknowledgments that the author did not have the full co-operation of the latest investigators. A shame as the full potential was not realised.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Across the universe....,
By Nick Phillips (Button Moon) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Decoding the Heavens: Solving the Mystery of the World's First Computer (Paperback)
A delightful book that you'll read from cover to cover in no time at all. I suspect however, that if you're anything like me, the memories 'Decoding the Heavens' will unlock and the wide-eyed enthusiasm it will awaken will last with you for a very long time. The narrative unfolds like a well-crafted documentary revealing the discovery of an ancient shipwreck off the coast of a small Greek island in 1901 and the complex web of personal sacrifice, competition and politics during the following 100 years which leads to a pretty thorough understanding of the world's first computer - the 'Antikythera Mechanism'.
I won't spoil the 'plot' just in case you haven't read up that closely on all of the amazing things this device could do, but suffice to say, it humbles inventions made a millennium later and demonstrates an incredible knowledge of the cosmos and miniature engineering that would have transformed our planet if this evolutionary branch-line in human ingenuity hadn't died out. Perhaps we'd be beginning our journeys to the stars today instead of just photographing them. This book made me feel like a kid again: I want to look at the stars on a clear night; I want to build things with wheels and gears; I want to teach my first child ( due the next few days hopefully ) about the history of our species, about the interplay of myth and technology that for better or worse has always driven us on.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Sloppy standards make for poor prose,
By
This review is from: Decoding the Heavens: Solving the Mystery of the World's First Computer (Paperback)
Whilst this book is an interesting read, those purchasing it would do well to do some research regarding the Antikythera Mechanism, and the teams that worked on it- as there seems to be some dispute between the author and the research team as to its accuracy.
There also seems to be concern that one of the scientists written about has not been portayed in a fair manner, to the extent that his widow and friends have constructed a webpage disputing the facts of the book and publishing their memories of the man. One of the most striking is the fact that the author even fails to get the date the man died right. This is, at the very least, extremely disrespectful and disappointing from a woman who describes herself as a journalist and leads me to question the value of this book as a narrative account of events. In response, the author claims that the proofs were submitted to a member of the team for checking. This seems a poor defence- especially when it is considered that there were many people the author did not interview who could have helped- and as a freelance researcher myself, I would like to stress to her that if you are not sure of your facts, then you should not put your name to them. And it is not too hard to check basic astronometrical details such as how many degrees the sun traverses a day (just over one- which is why we have a year 365.25 days long). All in all, disappointing and had I actually bought rather than borrowed this book, I would be writing and asking for a refund from the publisher.
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