Jacquard's Web: How a Hand Loom Led to the Birth of the Information Age.

JACQUARD'S WEB: How a Hand Loom Led to the Birth of the Information Age. JAMES ESSINGER

It seems unlikely that a loom would spark the computer age. But, as Essinger explains, French inventor Joseph-Marie Jacquard did just that with his amazing machine. After presenting a brief I] history of weaving, Essinger introduces the man who would revolutionize the entire process. Invented in 1804, the Jacquard loom transformed the silk industry and catapulted its inventor to fame. What made his machine unique was the use of punched cards that, when strung together, produced the same pattern with each use, Shortly thereafter, mathematician Charles Babbage recognized the potential of Jacquard's idea and put it to use in a computer that he called the Analytical Engine. Essinger describes the intellectual curiosity and acumen that led Babbage to invent this machine, which could be programmed using punch cards. Babbage's device was put to widespread use during the 1900 census of the United States. That device ultimately led to the birth of the modern computer and, in 1924, to the founding of IBM. Oxford, 2007, 302 p., b&w images, paperback, $16.95.