Ada, the Enchantress of Numbers: A Selection from the Letters of Lord Byron's Daughter and Her Descrition of the First Computer (The Pickering Masters) [Hardcover]

Ada King Lovelace (Author), Betty A. Toole (Editor)

Book Description

Series: The Pickering Masters | Publication Date: March 1992

A revision of the life and work of Ada Lovelace, which contains nearly 400 letters. She was Lord Byron's daughter and acted as interpretress for Charles Babbage, the computer pioneer. She was one of the first people to write programmes of instruction for Babbage's analytical engines.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 439 pages
• Publisher: Critical Connection; 1st edition (March 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0912647094
• ISBN-13: 978-0912647098
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #810,875 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great book, June 11, 2000

By 

Eric BERTRAND - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ada, the Enchantress of Numbers: A Selection from the Letters of Lord Byron's Daughter and Her Descrition of the First Computer (The Pickering Masters) (Hardcover)

A very pleasant biography in an original format, allowing for a good understanding of the main character. Typical american biography, where few details are untold, and where the author remains "transparent". We have to assume that B.A.Toole likes Ada, since she wrote a book about her, but we can't figure out why: was it beause she was Byron's daughter, or because she was Babbage's assistant, or because she lived an interesting life, or because she worked on early computers, or for any other reason... It might be a quality of good biographers, but as a French guy, I like to feel a greater intimacy between the autobiographer and the central character. A small disappointment: the lack of details regarding Ada's program for computing Bernouilli's numbers. Having computed some of those by myself, I know what an advantage it is to have at one's disposal a good algorithm to shorten fastidious calculations. In Toole's book, those numbers are barely mentioned, and the chapter 12, even though revised by an US Army colonel,doesn't explain why the Dept of Defense has chosen the ADA language. This having ben said, I took a great pleasure in reading a book which taught me a lot, even if Toole is too discreet on "an affair" that young Ada had when she was 17 years old with one of her preceptors (the great Turner?). Again the French side in me would have liked more details on that topic... Iconography is nice and all graphics are useful. All in all, a very good book to be read by all those who feel interested by an extraordinary woman who remains too little known by the general public.

4.0 out of 5 stars A crowning jewel in a highly-streamlined library., November 29, 2011

By 

Suze - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ada, the Enchantress of Numbers: A Selection from the Letters of Lord Byron's Daughter and Her Descrition of the First Computer (The Pickering Masters) (Hardcover)

Toole has undertaken a formidable task-- that of sifting through thousands of letters to select several hundred-- in order to construct a portrait of the daily life of one of the most extraordinary women who ever postulated. I believe she was the right person for the job as her commentary punctuating epistolary collections grouped by eras in Lovelace's life was executed in such a manner as to betray her own passion for bringing the nuances of her subject's existence to life beautifully. 'Our Bird' as Ada Byron, Countess of Lovelace was called by her intimates, indeed took flight under the guided exposition of this biographer. I don't typically alter the books in my highly-selective library in any way as I tend to donate or sell most of them but this is a book that I will not only be keeping, but whose passages I have highlighted as I was impressed to do so on my journey through this extraordinary life. My only disappointment was in feeling that too many of her personal letters, which bordered on tedium, and not enough of her professional letters, were included.

I felt a kinship with Ada, as I watched, through her letters and through Toole's sensitively-penned commentary,the exquisite and sometimes soul-rending dance between the 'analyst' and the 'metaphysician,' the scientist and the poet, the general and the fairy. I was struck, also, by the intensity of abhorrence I felt, upon finishing the book, for Ada's vindictive, frigid mother, Lady Byron-- who seemed capable of thorough and complete evil. I will leave it to the reader to draw their own conclusions as to why. Suffice it to say that the story of Ada's life would, in the right hands, make for an inordinately compelling fictional adaptation.

I loved this book.