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The Difference Engine
 
 
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The Difference Engine (Paperback)

by William Gibson (Author), Bruce Sterling (Author) "Composite image, optically encoded by escort-craft of the trans-Channel airship Lord Brunel: aerial view of suburban Cherbourg, 14 October 1905 ..." (more)
2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Gollancz; New edition edition (23 July 1992)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 057505297X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0575052970
  • Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 283,522 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #10 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > S > Sterling, Bruce
    #27 in  Books > Fiction > Cult Authors > Gibson, William

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Product Description

Product Description

In 1855, London swelters in a poisonous heatwave. The computer age has arrived a century ahead of time and the Industrial Revolution is in full swing. However, there is a conspiracy afoot, linking Britain with the France of Louis Napoleon and the Manhattan commune of Karl Marx.

About the Author

William Gibson began writing in 1977 and burst upon the literary world with his acclaimed first novel, NEUROMANCER, the book that launched the cyberpunk generation, and the first novel to win the holy trinity of science fiction, the Hugo, Nebula and Philip K. Dick Awards. His most recent books include PATTERN RECOGNITION and IDORU. Bruce Sterling burst onto the sf scene with the birth of Cyberpunk and co-authored THE DIFFERENCE ENGINE with his colleague William Gibson. His biggest UK success was with THE HACKER CRACKDOWN. He lives with his wife and daughters in Austin, Texas. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Composite image, optically encoded by escort-craft of the trans-Channel airship Lord Brunel: aerial view of suburban Cherbourg, 14 October 1905. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

45 Reviews
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2 star:
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Average Customer Review
2.9 out of 5 stars (45 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb!, 27 Jun 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: The Difference Engine (Gollancz S.F.) (Paperback)
This book is the best `alternative history' novel, and one of the best SF novels I have read so far. The authors did their homework before writing this book; the atmosphere, the historical details and the psychology of the 19th-century characters are utterly credible, as is the science. I had no problem with the numerous digressions from the main storyline; they thoroughly immerse you into the culture of the time - or the alternative culture that might have been.

I'm a great fan of Baxter, who also has stories in which some discoveries or inventions are made "too early", but those lack the feeling of authenticity The Difference Engine manages to generate. There should be more books like this.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Alternate History by a Cyber-Punk master, 20 Feb 2007
By M. R. N. Shackelford "mark shackelford" (Worthing, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
This is a story of how things might have been if the brilliant Charles Babbage had succeeded in creating his Computer (the Difference Engine) - all brass cogs, gears and thundering steam.

William Gibson (whose other books such as the stunning Neuromancer et al. are quite different) and Bruce Sterling have expanded this idea and peopled a reinvented Victorian Age with real names in new situations.

As someone who often thinks he would have liked to have been a Victorian (if only they had had more technology) this book is just perfect. I have now read it three times - and still thought it was excellent on the third time round.

Do not expect anything similar to Gibson's other sci-fi or else you will be disappointed. If, on the other hand you really enjoyed Neal Stephenson's (similar-ish) "Diamond Age" - then "The Difference Engine" is the book for you.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A very believable alternate history, 4 Sep 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: The Difference Engine (Gollancz S.F.) (Paperback)
I bought this at a book shop a while ago on the title alone, and I thought it was worth it.
If you know a little about Babbage and are intruiged by the potential his (uncompleted) machines had, I think you can really imagine the world this book depicts. Not just the mechanics of Babbages creations and their offspring, but the mechanics of society which has evolved along with them. Two merged Revolutions, both Industrial and Informational.
I also found the story to be interesting, but excuse me if I rave about the setting it is in most of all. :)
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars avoid - it's rubbish
William Gibson is not a great writer, he is inventive and original. Bruce Stirling is not a great author, he is not as inventive or as original. Read more
Published 1 month ago by S. A. Bookless

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice alternate history, very weak story line.
I found this book on my bookshelves when rearranging my fairly large collection of books recently and I did not remember reading it. Read more
Published 1 month ago by S. Horrigan

1.0 out of 5 stars Good idea, badly executed
Take Victorian Britain, crank up the industrial revolution a couple of notches, have the government in the hands of a pragmatic Lord Byron as Prime Minister, place science to the... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Horrocks

2.0 out of 5 stars Potentially fascinating but unfulfilling
The premise for this story is fascinating and offered so much more potential than was realised by these authors. I found the narrative confused and rather tedious. Read more
Published 22 months ago by G. Kelly

1.0 out of 5 stars Great text book
Unfortunately dry.
This book is packed with great historical ideas and intriguing inventions, but so are many physics and history books. Read more
Published on 16 July 2005

3.0 out of 5 stars wasted effort
I found this book in John Clute's encyclopedia of Science fiction, as one of the classics of the 90's. I run to read it and was disappointed, like many other reviewers. Read more
Published on 28 Feb 2005 by RAMON

2.0 out of 5 stars A book that shouldn't be written
It's always a pity to see a talented author suddenly to come out with an hopelessly weak title. You sometimes just wish that he had the guts NOT to write when he feels that it's... Read more
Published on 24 Dec 2002 by Sergei Barbarash

3.0 out of 5 stars But only for the fantastic scene setting
Can't believe this book, I got totally engrossed in the background and atmosphere of a heady London where gaining information and the ability 'wipe' people was simply a case of... Read more
Published on 18 April 2002 by iamvaughanie

3.0 out of 5 stars fans of Gibson's best work will be disappointed.
Seeing William Gibson's name on the cover, one might expect a brilliantly-envisioned world filled with fascinating technology. Read more
Published on 5 Mar 2002 by mikey

1.0 out of 5 stars A horrible mess, with frightful dialogue
I'm always suspicious of novels written by two people, and in this case my suspicions were more than vindicated. Read more
Published on 16 Oct 1999 by Tony Barrell

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