James Essinger: 4 books
Ada's Algorithm
How Lord Byron's Daughter Ada Lovelace Launched the Digital Age
Language: English
Release Date: October 14, 2014
“[Ada Lovelace], like Steve Jobs, stands at the intersection of arts and technology."—Walter Isaacson, author of The Innovators
Over 150 years after her death, a widely-used scientific computer program was named “Ada,” after Ada Lovelace, the only legitimate daughter of the eighteenth...
Jacquard's Web
How a hand-loom led to the birth of the information age
Language: English
Release Date: October 28, 2004
Jacquard's Web is the story of some of the most ingenious inventors the world has ever known, a fascinating account of how a hand-loom invented in Napoleonic France led to the development of the modern information age. James Essinger, a master story-teller, shows through a series of remarkable and...
Spellbound
The Surprising Origins and Astonishing Secrets of English Spelling
Language: English
Release Date: May 1, 2007
Welcome to the illogical, idiosyncratic, outrageous linguistic phenomenon known as the English language. The story of how this ragtag collection of words evolved is a winding tale replete with intriguing accidents and bizarre twists of fate. In this eye-opening, fabulously entertaining book, James...
Frankie
How One Woman Prevented a Pharmaceutical Disaster
Language: English
Release Date: April 15, 2019
Ten million thalidomide pills had already been produced for distribution in the United States when it was first submitted to the FDA for approval. The morning sickness wonder drug had been approved for sale in Germany, Canada, and the UK, and the drug's distributors assumed that it would be no different...