Review: Ada's Algorithm by James Essinger

Ada's Algorithm: How Lord Byron's Daughter Ada Lovelace Launched the Digital Age by James Essinger (Melville House, 272 pages)

Because I have a husband who works with computers every day and knows them inside and out, I've naturally become more interested in the development of technology and computer history over the past decade plus. In fact, sometimes I know more about the history of computers than he does, but that's only because I try to get my hands on lots of history-of-science-y books cause that's how I roll.

So when I heard about Ada's Algorithm, I couldn't wait until it was released, but then life got in the way, so I only just finished reading it. In this wide-ranging but relatively slim biography/history of Ada Lovelace (daughter of George Gordon, Lord Byron), her friends, and early-19th-century England, Essinger details how this brilliant and inspired woman pursued her mathematics education and ultimately understood more about Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine than Babbage himself.

Random Recommendation Guest Post: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

This recommendation comes from Kristina Pino. You can follow her on her blog GeekeryDo and on twitter @geekerydo.

Attachments (2012) by Rainbow Rowell

"From the award-winning author of Eleanor & Park, Fangirl, and Landline comes a hilarious and heartfelt novel about love in the workplace.

Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It's company policy.) But they can't quite bring themselves to take it seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives.

Meanwhile, Lincoln O'Neill can't believe this is his job now- reading other people's e-mail. When he applied to be "internet security officer," he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers- not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty joke.

When Lincoln comes across Beth's and Jennifer's messages, he knows he should turn them in. But he can't help being entertained-and captivated-by their stories."

Review: The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami

The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami, translated by Ted Goossen (Knopf, 96 pages)

"WUT."

That's what I was thinking while starting this latest from one of the masters of bizarro fiction, and that's what I thought after I finished it. WUT. WAS. THAT.

But what's this odd, beautifully-illustrated, small book that you can read in half an hour actually about? Um, ok- so a teen-aged boy goes to the library to return some books and check out some new ones. For some reason, he absolutely has to know about taxation in the Ottoman Empire. Yup. So he returns the books and is then whisked down a million twisty corridors by a scary old librarian dude, and locked in a cell. The old dude says the boy is a prisoner until he reads all of the massive books on Ottoman taxation and repeats them word-for-word back to the dude.

Books to Look For (January): History

The World of the Salons: Sociability and Worldliness in Eighteenth-Century Paris by Antoine Lilti (Oxford University Press, 344 pages, January 2)

Oh MAN I was born in the wrong century. I mean, these salons must have been so great. And so what that Lilti presents an alternative way of looking at the salons, arguing that, rather than being committed to equality and Enlightenment, they were actually "meritocratic settings" where high-society worked to shore up social hierarchies and the status quo. I mean, ok, but writers! artists! philosophers! all in one room! and in France! Sorry, I get carried away sometimes...



Reading Publics: New York City's Public Libraries, 1754-1911 by Tom Glynn (Fordham University Press, 400 pages, January 22)

"On May 11, 1911, the New York Public Library opened its 'marble palace for book lovers' on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street."  Here, Glynn explores the evolution of the NY Public Library, including how the development of book collections and the aim of "improving society" through books influenced the libraries of today and American identity in general.

From the TBR Shelf #37: The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

The Martian Chronicles (1950) by Ray Bradbury

I've had quite the interesting experience with Ray Bradbury's writings. Of course, the first book of his I picked up was Fahrenheit 451, and I did that just 6 or 7 years ago (I know, I don't know how I went so long before reading it). Maybe I'd feel differently now, but at the time, I was underwhelmed by the story. The writing was nothing special, and the plot was only mildly interesting, though this might have been because I've been spoiled on Star Trek and SG-1 since I was a teenager.

Jump to about 5 years ago, and I was reading a wonderful anthology of sci-fi stories, when I came across Bradbury's piece, "Mars is Heaven!" Instantly, I reevaluated what I thought about him. "Mars is Heaven!" is bizarre and utterly fascinating- the kind of story that I'm always looking for and hoping some day in some universe to write.

In Translation: January Fiction

So the new year’s finally here, and you’re gearing up for some hard-core literary-fiction-in-translation reading, yes? Of course you are! This month, we’re featuring stories from Saudi Arabia, Finland, and France. It’s going to be a great year.


The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen, transl. by Lola M. Rogers (Thomas Dunn, 352 pages, January 20)
“A highly contagious book virus, a secretive literary society, and a disappearing author”? SIGN ME UP. In his latest novel, Finnish fantasy and sci-fi writer Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen creates a world in which literary societies can be dangerous, even malevolent things. When Ella, a young literature teacher, is invited to become the tenth member of this elite group of writers in the town of Rabbit Back, she feels honored- that is, until a disappearance and words that rearrange themselves in books make her think twice. And Jääskeläinen must be doing something right, since he’s won the Kuvastaja Fantasy Prize given by Finland’s Tolkien Society twice and the Atorax Award for Fantasy four times.

Random Recommendation Guest Post: As the Crow Flies by Jeffrey Archer

This recommendation comes from Kate Flegal. You can follow her on her blog The Book Junkie, on facebook, and on twitter @bookjunkieorg.


As the Crow Flies (1991) by Jeffrey Archer

"Growing up in the slums of East End London, Charlie Trumper dreams of someday running his grandfather's fruit and vegetable barrow. That day comes suddenly when his grandfather dies leaving him the floundering business. With the help of Becky Salmon, an enterprising young woman, Charlie sets out to make a name for himself as "The Honest Trader". But the brutal onset of World War I takes Charlie far from home and into the path of a dangerous enemy whose legacy of evil follows Charlie and his family for generations.

Encompassing three continents and spanning over sixty years, As the Crow Flies brings to life a magnificent tale of one man's rise from rags to riches set against the backdrop of a changing century."