The Difference Engine

By: William Gibson, Bruce Sterling

Narrated by: Simon Vance

The Difference Engine is an alternate history novel by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. It is a prime example of the steampunk sub-genre; It posits a Victorian Britain in which great technological and social change has occurred after entrepreneurial inventor Charles Babbage succeeded in his ambition to build a mechanical computer called Engines.

The fierce summer heat and pollution have driven the ruling class out of London and the resulting anarchy allows technology-hating Luddites to challenge the intellectual elite.

A set of perforated punch cards come into the hands of the daughter of an executed Luddite leader who sets out to keep them safe and discover what secrets they contain.

©1991 William Gibson and Bruce Sterling (P)2010 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Steampunk alternative history

The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling is an alternative history with a steampunk setting in England in the mid 1800's. Charles Babbage's 'difference engine', regarded as the world's first computer, albeit mechanical is extrapolated to have developed into a thriving business analogous to electronic computers 100 hundred years later. The story is told successively from three different perspectives surrounding a mysterious box of computer code of unknown function, but quite valuable. At the same time, weather conditions create a situation in London where much of the upper class, who rely on the technology of the machines have left town and a Luddite resistance emerges.

The steampunk components introduce a mechanical equivalent of electronic computer capabilities including modeling dinosaur structures from bones, video projections, and law enforcement forensic analysis. Historical figures are utilized extensively, while positing that England retained superior economic dominance due to Babbage's technology. A whole section near the end provides a global perspective with a divided America and Britain opening up Japan.

Given the British setting, the narration is quite good with all appropriately rendered British accents in an easily understand manner.

a challenge to get through

the book starts in confusion and fragmentation eventually telling one continuous story and then returns to fragmentation. the end feels tacked-on. I like the subject matter and found many portions of the book amusing butt was left disappointed.

I didn't "get" it

I'll have to revisit this book again, it doesn't seem very "gibsony" to me. I was expecting something like The Diamond Age but this was all together different.

I've definitely had better

if you like a plodding and disjointed story with little to know resolution or impact on the world of story, or your own internal mental landscape; a story best summed up with, "Well, that happened..." this one is for you!

Not Gibson's Best

I've been a huge fan of William Gibson's science fiction works for many years, particularly the Sprawl trilogy. While Difference Engine is an intriguing and entertaining alternate history thriller, I'm afraid I can't recommend it for fans of Gibson's other work. I found myself intrigued by descriptions of technology and "clackers", this world's equivalent of programmers, but the technological divergences in the world of Difference Engine quickly took a backseat to human drama that had little to nothing to do with the alternately advanced technological landscape (at least by my reckoning). Well written and fantastically delivered by Simon Vance, but unfortunately I was disappointed by my own misplaced expectations.