JACQUARD’S WEB

Here, author James Essinger shows through a series of remarkable and meticulously researched historical connections how the Jacquard loom kickstarted a process of scientific evolution which would lead directly to the development of the modern computer. Jacquard’s 1804 invention, a loom which used punch cards with stored instructions for weaving different patterns and designs, enabled the master silk-weavers of Lyons to create fabrics 25 times faster than the competition. This lively account reveals the plethora of links between Jacquard’s innovation and the computer age, introducing readers to the intriguing and colorful people who paved the way. The book concludes by bringing the story up to the development in the World Wide Web and the fascinating phenomenon of artificial intelligence.