The cover page is adapted from Charles Babbage, F.R.S., a painting completed in 1845 by Samuel Laurence. The cover and title pages feature the League Spartan and Sorts Mill Goudy typefaces created in 2014 and 2009 by The League of Moveable Type. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Laurencewww.theleagueofmoveabletype.com/
Passages from the Life of a Philosopher
章节(39)
- Epigraph 0:00
- Dedication 0:59
- Preface 1:59
- I: My Ancestors 4:10
- II: Childhood 14:02
- III: Boyhood 31:44
- IV: Cambridge 45:45
- V: Difference Engine No. I 1:14:31
- VI: Statement Relative to the Difference Engine, Drawn Up by the Late Sir H. Nicolas from the Author’s Papers 1:59:06
- VII: Difference Engine No. II 2:53:57
- VIII: Of the Analytical Engine 3:20:37
- IX: Of the Mechanical Notation 4:14:52
- X: The Exhibition of 1862 4:22:50
- XI: The Late Prince Consort 4:59:22
- XII: Recollections of the Duke of Wellington 5:07:24
- XIII: Recollections of Wollaston, Davy, and Rogers 5:31:06
- XIV: Recollections of Laplace, Biot, and Humboldt 5:48:06
- XV: Experience by Water 6:06:46
- XVI: Experience by Fire 6:21:25
- XVII: Experience Amongst Workmen 6:49:56
- XVIII: Picking Locks and Deciphering 6:58:20
- XIX: Experience in St. Giles’s 7:12:32
- XX: Theatrical Experience 7:29:14
- XXI: Electioneering Experience 7:42:50
- XXII: Scene from a New Afterpiece, Called “Politics and Poetry;” or, “The Decline of Science” 8:13:57
- XXIII: Experience at Courts 8:42:37
- XXIV: Experience at Courts 8:53:14
- XXV: Railways 9:20:58
- XXVI: Street Nuisances 10:06:18
- XXVII: Wit 10:58:03
- XXVIII: Hints for Travellers 11:12:25
- XXIX: Miracles 11:42:34
- XXX: Religion 11:59:10
- XXXI: A Vision 12:18:37
- XXXII: Various Reminiscences 12:45:51
- XXXIII: The Author’s Contributions to Human Knowledge 13:01:20
- XXXIV: The Author’s Further Contributions to Human Knowledge 13:22:08
- XXXV: Results of Science 14:21:08
- XXXVI: Agreeable Recollections 14:37:09
Charles Babbage was a Victorian polymath, and someone with a seemingly never-ending intellectual curiosity about the world around him. A mathematician by training, he also wrote copiously on subjects such as economics, physics, engineering, computation, cryptography, religion and education, along with conducting practical experiments with pretty much anything that had grabbed his interest at the time. Today, he’s widely viewed to be the father of the computer with his Difference and Analytical Engines. Although neither were fully completed during his lifetime, a working replica of the Difference Engine was built in the 1990s, and an Analytical Engine is currently in the planning stages.
This autobiography (first published near the end of his life in 1864) veers from topic to topic and rarely settles on any subject for more than a chapter. Apart from his early life and an explanation of the thinking behind his computing Engines, Babbage also transcribes his memories of climbing into an active volcano, arguing with street musicians, picking locks, standing in elections, and imagining life as a cheese mite, among other diverse subjects. The original meaning of the titular word “Philosopher” is “lover of wisdom,” and this book shows Babbage to be just that.