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Available
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Publication
Pan (2000), Edition: New Ed, Paperback
Description
"[A] colorful cast of luminaries and rogues . . . This biography provides an intriguing glimpse into the beginnings of computer science and a reminder that character is destiny."Wall Street Journal Known in her day as an "enchantress of numbers," Ada Byron, Lady Lovelace, daughter of the poet Lord Byron, was one of the most fascinating women of the 19th century. In collaboration with Charles Babbage, inventor of the mechanical "thinking machine" that anticipated by more than a century the invention of the computer, Ada devised a method of using punch cards to calculate Bernoulli numbers and thus became the mother of computer programming. It was in her honor that, in 1980, the U.S. Department of Defense named its computer language "Ada." In this critically acclaimed biography, Benjamin Woolley, author of The Queen's Conjurer, portrays Ada Byron's life as the embodiment of the schism between the worlds of romanticism and scientific rationalism. He describes how Ada's efforts to bridge these opposites with a "poetical science" was the driving force behind one of the most remarkable careers of the Victorian Age.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member PuddinTame
Despite the one star, this might be an interesting book for someone who wants to read about Byron and his marriage, particularly a reader who isn't expecting something else.
I bailed out of this about a third of the way through, having gotten extremely frustrated waiting for the author to discuss
It appears that the author's real interest is Lord Byron, who appears in what is supposedly a biography of his daughter more than can be justified, since he had virtually no involvement in her life after the shipwreck of his marriage. I am somewhat skeptical about how good a father Byron would have been in any case - writing touching lines about the loss of one's child is a far cry from the actual inconveniences of being a parent. This really isn't the point. Byron must have haunted Ada's life: he was famous, and Woolley would have it that cleansing his daughter of any similarities was the obsession of Lady Byron's life. But this wasn't the flesh-and-blood Byron, but society's and Lady Byron's view of him. Woolley rambles on about his doings that were probably irrelevant to Ada. Meanwhile, she is a dimly glimpsed cipher.
It's a pity that the Byrons' marriage was such a disaster, but really, I picked this up to learn about Ada Lovelace, not how vicious unhappy marriages can get. For that purpose, an article would have sufficed.
I bailed out of this about a third of the way through, having gotten extremely frustrated waiting for the author to discuss
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Ada Lovelace. She never was as vividly portrayed as her parents; I have learned more about her from snippets in books about Victorian intellectual life. Even when she is on stage, it is as the puppet of her domineering mother - the incidents are at least as much about Lady Byron as about Ada. I suggest that Byron's Daughter: Spawn of Acrimony, would be a more accurate description of the contents. Or perhaps, the Martyrdom of Lord Byron at the Hands of His Demented Wife. It appears that the author's real interest is Lord Byron, who appears in what is supposedly a biography of his daughter more than can be justified, since he had virtually no involvement in her life after the shipwreck of his marriage. I am somewhat skeptical about how good a father Byron would have been in any case - writing touching lines about the loss of one's child is a far cry from the actual inconveniences of being a parent. This really isn't the point. Byron must have haunted Ada's life: he was famous, and Woolley would have it that cleansing his daughter of any similarities was the obsession of Lady Byron's life. But this wasn't the flesh-and-blood Byron, but society's and Lady Byron's view of him. Woolley rambles on about his doings that were probably irrelevant to Ada. Meanwhile, she is a dimly glimpsed cipher.
It's a pity that the Byrons' marriage was such a disaster, but really, I picked this up to learn about Ada Lovelace, not how vicious unhappy marriages can get. For that purpose, an article would have sufficed.
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LibraryThing member timjones
Benjamin Woolley has chosen a great subject for biography: Ada Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron, scientist, mathematician, author of the world's first computer program (or, at least of the world's first published computer program), and key collaborator of Charles Babbage, inventor of the Difference
Unfortunately, Woolley seems a lot more interested in the relationships between Lord Byron and Ada's mother Annabella, and between Annabella and Ada, than he does in Ada herself. Ada is almost absent from the book until page 100, and her important role in early 19th century English mathematics and science is glossed over in favour of yet more angst between mother and daughter.
The sometimes purple prose doesn't help - try this from p. 42: "While she [Annabella] waited, she took long walks along the seaside, trying to control passions that pounded her sense of self-control as relentlessly as the waves pounded the rocky shore".
And yet, and yet - Ada still emerges from these pages as a fascinating person. I'm glad I read this biography and learned much more about her than I previously knew; but I suspect there are better biographies of Ada Lovelace to be found, or to be written.
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Engine and the Analytical Engine.Unfortunately, Woolley seems a lot more interested in the relationships between Lord Byron and Ada's mother Annabella, and between Annabella and Ada, than he does in Ada herself. Ada is almost absent from the book until page 100, and her important role in early 19th century English mathematics and science is glossed over in favour of yet more angst between mother and daughter.
The sometimes purple prose doesn't help - try this from p. 42: "While she [Annabella] waited, she took long walks along the seaside, trying to control passions that pounded her sense of self-control as relentlessly as the waves pounded the rocky shore".
And yet, and yet - Ada still emerges from these pages as a fascinating person. I'm glad I read this biography and learned much more about her than I previously knew; but I suspect there are better biographies of Ada Lovelace to be found, or to be written.
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LibraryThing member tronella
This is a biography of Ada Lovelace, the "first computer scientist" (sort of) and daughter of Annabella Milbanke and Lord Byron, although it includes at least as much material on Annabella as on Ada. Annabella comes across as being so horrible but also so smugly self-deluded into thinking she was
This book feels a little hyperbolic in places, but I enjoyed the descriptions of all the other recognisable figures whose paths crossed (or almost crossed) with Ada's - Babbage, of course, but also Dickens, Brunel, etc. - and the scientific "fads" she was caught up in, particularly mesmerism and atmospheric railways.
I also enjoyed reading about Ada getting frustrated while trying to write a paper. I feel your pain! ;_;
Minus half a star for the ridiculous number of typos and missing/misplaced articles.
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selfless and right-thinking that I sort of love her? I mean, she was terrible, but I feel like if I married a celebrity and then found out he was having an affair with his own sister I would also probably react with some vindictiveness.This book feels a little hyperbolic in places, but I enjoyed the descriptions of all the other recognisable figures whose paths crossed (or almost crossed) with Ada's - Babbage, of course, but also Dickens, Brunel, etc. - and the scientific "fads" she was caught up in, particularly mesmerism and atmospheric railways.
I also enjoyed reading about Ada getting frustrated while trying to write a paper. I feel your pain! ;_;
Minus half a star for the ridiculous number of typos and missing/misplaced articles.
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LibraryThing member AdonisGuilfoyle
Ada Byron Lovelace, daughter of the infamous poet and credited with writing the first computer algorithm (over a century before the first computer was ever built), is truly the stuff of historical biographies. Benjamin Woolley rubs some of the shine from her posthumous reputation in his bid to
The first few chapters are given over to the ill-fated match between Byron and Ada's mother, Annabella. Byron called her 'the Princess of Parallelograms', but Woolley shoots down her mathematical genius ('She did not have any special expertise'). After Byron's death, Annabella kept her daughter sequestered from society, with only books and tutors to divert her from her father's creative inheritance. Really, Ada's greatest achievement was surviving her manipulative mother, not inventing a computing code! The background to Babbage's Difference Engine - post-French Revolution statistics - is interesting, but according to Woolley, Ada's contribution was limited. 'She did not challenge the system - She did what she did on behalf of herself, not her sex', he writes.
I think I was expecting far more of Ada, but she married, had three children, an affair and a gambling addiction, and died relatively young, reminding me of Georgiana Cavendish. She was intelligent, yes, and had the means and the connections to test her mental agility and creativity, but I wasn't exactly overawed by her achievements. 'In more contemporary terms, it would be like nominating Lisa-Marie Presley to annotate a study of quantum computation', is Woolley's pithy summary of her work with Babbage.
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portray a fair and accurate representation of her life, but really, romance novelists would struggle to pen such an original character. Talented but tragic father, cold and calculating mother, scandalous cousin, and a host of well-known acquaintances, including Messrs. Babbage and Dickens. Like an intelligent Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, Ada's personal life fills more pages than her 'professional' achievements.The first few chapters are given over to the ill-fated match between Byron and Ada's mother, Annabella. Byron called her 'the Princess of Parallelograms', but Woolley shoots down her mathematical genius ('She did not have any special expertise'). After Byron's death, Annabella kept her daughter sequestered from society, with only books and tutors to divert her from her father's creative inheritance. Really, Ada's greatest achievement was surviving her manipulative mother, not inventing a computing code! The background to Babbage's Difference Engine - post-French Revolution statistics - is interesting, but according to Woolley, Ada's contribution was limited. 'She did not challenge the system - She did what she did on behalf of herself, not her sex', he writes.
I think I was expecting far more of Ada, but she married, had three children, an affair and a gambling addiction, and died relatively young, reminding me of Georgiana Cavendish. She was intelligent, yes, and had the means and the connections to test her mental agility and creativity, but I wasn't exactly overawed by her achievements. 'In more contemporary terms, it would be like nominating Lisa-Marie Presley to annotate a study of quantum computation', is Woolley's pithy summary of her work with Babbage.
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LibraryThing member TheDivineOomba
Ada Lovelace, the only child (legitimate) of Lord Bryon. Her tale is a sad, horrible one. An intelligent woman in a time when women weren't allowed to do their own research, but was allowed to study men's work and comment.
This history of Ada and her family was well written. At times a bit dry, but
I do not know much about Ada, Lord Bryon, or Annabell, so I don't know if these people are written truly. It seems like everyone involved is over the top - Ada being a bit flighty and a dilettante.
Its an interesting time period. The tension between art versus science, belief vs intellectualism. Its a good book for a slice of life story of a affluent woman in the 1850's.
This history of Ada and her family was well written. At times a bit dry, but
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well researched. The author is very clear on where he had conjectured what had happened, always noting on what sources he was using to make the conjecture. I do not know much about Ada, Lord Bryon, or Annabell, so I don't know if these people are written truly. It seems like everyone involved is over the top - Ada being a bit flighty and a dilettante.
Its an interesting time period. The tension between art versus science, belief vs intellectualism. Its a good book for a slice of life story of a affluent woman in the 1850's.
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Physical description
416 p.; 7.56 inches
ISBN
0330484494 / 9780330484497