The Difference Engine

Why have I never heard mention here of The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. I'm rereading it now. Its a good piece of steampunk by one of SF's present premier authors and I remember it as being among my first AH works, (of my second reading period).

Perhaps because many people would agree with me that there isn't very much to write about. And to be honest, I've never rated Gibson or Sterling that highly. Gibson especially strikes me as one of those writers (like Banks) who get picked up by the quality papers as token sf because they mistake stodginess for seriousness.

N14,

It was good on some levels, but it portrayed 'too much, too soon' in the way of changes for good AH IMHO.

His POD begins with the Chartists and the 'Rad' Lords, IIRC, who, after blowing up Wellington, help Babbage (and others) with government funds and kick off a steam powered information age of sorts. I got the distinct feeling that many of the changes; especially social bits, happened far, far too quickly. A quarter of a century is just too little time for such sweeping changes, computers or not.

I remember the protagonist's brother, for example. He's back from the war in the Crimea and is described as a strapping six feet plus thanks to a better knowledge of nutrition. Knowing that children need good food and drink and actually ensuring that they recieve it are two very different things. The protagonist's family are not rich or even part of the rural gentry. For his brother to recieve the benefit of that nutritional knowledge, the necessary foodstuffs need to be both cheap and readily available. Nothing in the book even suggests that the Rad Lib government subsidizes food distribution in such a manner.

There were other social bits I found equally implausible. People just don't change that fast.

That being said, I liked some of the ideas presented. An US civil war engineered, managed, and eventually settled by an interventionist Britain is very intriguing. The scene in which the streamlined steam car beats the older models in nifty, as is the idea of the mechanical 'flash card' movie screens conrolled by punchcard-driven Babbage engines. The Buckingham Palace Guard wearing cameoflauged uniforms, carrying 'snaildrum' fed magazine rifles, and marching about to music played by a steam powered, Babbage engine controlled, calliope was nicely jarring too.


Bill

I've got a lot of gift card money to blow on B&N. The paperback costs 7.99. Do you suggest the book for me to read?

Mikey said:

I've got a lot of gift card money to blow on B&N. The paperback costs 7.99. Do you suggest the book for me to read?

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Mikey,

No. Get it in a secondhand book store for a few bucks instead. It's good, but it's not 8 dollars good. Besides, it has been out for a while. Why spend good money on an old paperback you can find cheap in a secondhand book store?


Bill

I liked the AH bits, though they were quite improbable... Texas independent, California (I think) too, New York a communist state led by Karl Marx himself, all set up by the "divide et impera" Britains... but all in all I have to agree, Gibson is overrated. I always prefered "The Shockwave Rider" by John Brunner to Gibson's Cyberpunk novels.

Prunesquallor said:

Perhaps because many people would agree with me that there isn't very much to write about. And to be honest, I've never rated Gibson or Sterling that highly. Gibson especially strikes me as one of those writers (like Banks) who get picked up by the quality papers as token sf because they mistake stodginess for seriousness.

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Agreed. I did find it a trifle stodgy.

I just finished the book, and I agree with Bill regarding the over-rapid shifts in Victorian society. From what I've read about this book at SHWI, the Analytical Engines in this book are too much like modern computers than actual Engines. It seems that the processing power of an Engine would've been 60,000 times slower than even the old ENIAC. There's a thread here that discusses how even setting up a simple database of everyone in Britain at the time would be beyond the abilities of such an Engine (and most pre-1990 computers, too).

The thing that bugged me the most, though, were Mallory's "modern" ideas on paleontology. I'm surprised he was able to identify the polished stones near the fossil of the "brontosaur" (or whatever we'd call it) as gastroliths, considering the (nonexistant) methods of surveying commonly used in Victorian paleontology. Add to that his theory about extinction through comets. If you look at any text on dinosaurs written prior to 1980, there will be almost no mention at all of meteorite-based extinction. It simply wasn't considered. AND Mallory's considering this in an era when there are arguements about whether comets are solid or giant clouds of gas! Finally, there was mention of build a plaster replica of the "brontosaur" to mount in the Palaentological Palace. Again this is a surprising shift in established practices: it was common in those days to simply drill through the bones and fit iron rods to support it.

Sorry about the rant, but I read about this stuff in my youth, so I'm a little sensitive to bad concepts. My advice is to get the book, but keep a bag of salt handy.

Oh, and I'm still sad that the Russians got their asses kicked in the Crimea again. I wonder if they still have Flashman...

I don't see why the palace guard would wear camouflage gear. Britain had camouflage gear (early forms thereof) as far back as 1805 but the palace guard have always worn red because camouflage against a rural background isn't exactly advantageous to them. And they've always had modern as well as ceremonial weapons too - if you take a look you may see them with SA-80 assault rifles today.

Punch card driven slide shows. We I guess we need a PowerPoint in any era.
The concept of the difference engine was good, the overall presentation was a little lacking. It was an interesting read since I got the book second hand