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Passages from the Life of a Philosopher
Charles Babbage is most often described as the father of the computer, inventing machines for calculating complex formulae which remain masterpieces of invention and technological genius. This autobiography presents a picture of Victorian England from one of her more brilliant sons.
375 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 18, 2016
The rambling autobiography of a fascinating man. Three parts hilarious anecdotes, two parts ranting, one part science, one part crusade against street music, and one bizarre chapter in which Babbage communes with a piece of cheese. Gloucester cheese, to be exact.
July 22, 2020
What an absolutely INSANE ride. Went into this hoping for some personal recollections of friends and family, tender insights into the mind of a genius. Instead rewarded with a hodgepodge of random facts, opinions, ramblings, always turning back to the utter OUTRAGE at having been denied due recognition for his magnum opus The Analytical Engine. Tempting to peg Babbage as a delusional narcissist, except that he's genuinely good humored and might almost be as smart as he thinks he is. Parts of this had me wild with disbelief, laughing out loud, reading to friends. It's all so entirely bizarre, so I'm including a curated list of the best parts below (spoilers):
Chapter 2: A young Charles Babbage attempts to summon the devil through a blood pact at boarding school.
Chapter 15: Babbage builds shoes designed to walk on water. They don't work. He almost drowns.
Chapter 16: Babbage bakes himself in an oven, also descends into then-active volcano Mount Vesuvius and sets his walking stick on fire by accident.
Chapter 20: Babbage designs a theatrical light show.
Chapter 22: This chapter is a play for some reason? Completely unrelated to everything?
Chapter 25: Babbage almost crashes a train into Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Chapter 26: Babbage is harassed by a hoard of over a hundred street children and musicians.
Chapter 29: Babbage compares the founding of the universe to cheese.
This isn't autobiography in our modern sense of the word--there's little attention paid to the chronology or narrative. It's honestly just whatever Babbage felt like writing about. And I was here for it. Hoped for more Lovelace, but such is life.
Chapter 2: A young Charles Babbage attempts to summon the devil through a blood pact at boarding school.
Chapter 15: Babbage builds shoes designed to walk on water. They don't work. He almost drowns.
Chapter 16: Babbage bakes himself in an oven, also descends into then-active volcano Mount Vesuvius and sets his walking stick on fire by accident.
Chapter 20: Babbage designs a theatrical light show.
Chapter 22: This chapter is a play for some reason? Completely unrelated to everything?
Chapter 25: Babbage almost crashes a train into Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Chapter 26: Babbage is harassed by a hoard of over a hundred street children and musicians.
Chapter 29: Babbage compares the founding of the universe to cheese.
This isn't autobiography in our modern sense of the word--there's little attention paid to the chronology or narrative. It's honestly just whatever Babbage felt like writing about. And I was here for it. Hoped for more Lovelace, but such is life.
December 5, 2015
Charles Babbage seems like a pretty exciting guy. 19th century scientist, mathematician, inventor, and bitter enemy of street musicians.
I was drawn to this autobiography after reading the "comic book" (it's so much more than a comic book) "The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage." It's very satisfying to make the connections between Babbage's own account of himself and the beautifully imagined drawings of Sydney Padua, the comic illustrator.
Charles Babbage (and his friend Ada Lovelace) did a lot of work on the Difference Engine and the Analytical Engine, devices that we would recognize as early computers. Only, they were about 100 years before their time, so everything they worked on was mechanical, not electrical, and mostly just existed in theory. Still, pretty awesome.
But there's more to Babbage than just that. He's fascinatingly all over the place. One chapter he is DEMOLISHING the Trinity doctrine (he thinks the people who formalized it were either having a huge joke, or else drunk), the next chapter he's communing with the spirit of a block of cheese. (Literally, these are adjoining chapters.)
He has himself lowered into an Italian volcano and times how long he can poke around before the next eruption. He is kind of in love with a dancing automaton and dresses her with all the care of a young girl with her first Barbie. Etc., etc., etc.
Now, honestly, there were dull bits, and I did skim some of the machine and math talk. But overall I enjoyed this pretty well. I'd like to meet this charming madman. He lived vigorously.
I was drawn to this autobiography after reading the "comic book" (it's so much more than a comic book) "The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage." It's very satisfying to make the connections between Babbage's own account of himself and the beautifully imagined drawings of Sydney Padua, the comic illustrator.
Charles Babbage (and his friend Ada Lovelace) did a lot of work on the Difference Engine and the Analytical Engine, devices that we would recognize as early computers. Only, they were about 100 years before their time, so everything they worked on was mechanical, not electrical, and mostly just existed in theory. Still, pretty awesome.
But there's more to Babbage than just that. He's fascinatingly all over the place. One chapter he is DEMOLISHING the Trinity doctrine (he thinks the people who formalized it were either having a huge joke, or else drunk), the next chapter he's communing with the spirit of a block of cheese. (Literally, these are adjoining chapters.)
He has himself lowered into an Italian volcano and times how long he can poke around before the next eruption. He is kind of in love with a dancing automaton and dresses her with all the care of a young girl with her first Barbie. Etc., etc., etc.
Now, honestly, there were dull bits, and I did skim some of the machine and math talk. But overall I enjoyed this pretty well. I'd like to meet this charming madman. He lived vigorously.
April 27, 2020
I first heard his name in elementary school computer class.
What wasn't taught was that Charles Babbage was an eccentric character and an accomplished polymath with an insatiable curiosity; and the nature and journey of the mechanical achievements that earned him the name "father of computing", the Difference and Analytical Engines.
Passages in the Life of a Philosopher was written in a time when the lines between philosophy and science - wisdom and knowledge - were not as clearly defined. Babbage was a philosopher in the classical sense of the word: one who studied natural science. Babbage dabbled in philosophy in the modern sense of the word, but was first and foremost a scientist.
The achievement for which he is most remembered is the Analytical Engine, and it is also the one which brought him the most grief. Motivated by an earnest desire to advance knowledge, even if it meant "living on bread and cheese", he set off to make his machines with the aid of his government, but more often than not at the expense of his own health, time, career, and fortune. This momentous project, as is often the case, was fraught with complications and snubbed by bureaucracy. Ultimately, the Difference Engine was left incomplete after years of labor, and the new-and-improved Analytical Engine completed many years after at great expense.
The chapters on the story behind the engines were genuinely interesting. The technicalities, however, flew right over my head. Despite my best efforts, the many chapters detailing the math behind the machine was indecipherable to me. Perhaps I'll try again in a decade.
The rest of the book was a mixed bag. In the sense that it was truly all over the place. Chapters on tedium followed by bits of unpredictable intrigue. A chapter on something as boring as electioneering experience, then a chapter of scenes from a political play. A chapter on the exhibition of the Analytical Engine, then a chapter on an adventure into the mouth of an active volcano. A chapter on railroads, then a chapter detailing a vision of a transcendent conversation with a piece of Gloucester cheese.
The most enjoyable parts were Babbage's own childhood experiences, the creation of the engines, and his conversation with a block of cheese. That said, most of it was a slog.
What wasn't taught was that Charles Babbage was an eccentric character and an accomplished polymath with an insatiable curiosity; and the nature and journey of the mechanical achievements that earned him the name "father of computing", the Difference and Analytical Engines.
Passages in the Life of a Philosopher was written in a time when the lines between philosophy and science - wisdom and knowledge - were not as clearly defined. Babbage was a philosopher in the classical sense of the word: one who studied natural science. Babbage dabbled in philosophy in the modern sense of the word, but was first and foremost a scientist.
The achievement for which he is most remembered is the Analytical Engine, and it is also the one which brought him the most grief. Motivated by an earnest desire to advance knowledge, even if it meant "living on bread and cheese", he set off to make his machines with the aid of his government, but more often than not at the expense of his own health, time, career, and fortune. This momentous project, as is often the case, was fraught with complications and snubbed by bureaucracy. Ultimately, the Difference Engine was left incomplete after years of labor, and the new-and-improved Analytical Engine completed many years after at great expense.
The chapters on the story behind the engines were genuinely interesting. The technicalities, however, flew right over my head. Despite my best efforts, the many chapters detailing the math behind the machine was indecipherable to me. Perhaps I'll try again in a decade.
The rest of the book was a mixed bag. In the sense that it was truly all over the place. Chapters on tedium followed by bits of unpredictable intrigue. A chapter on something as boring as electioneering experience, then a chapter of scenes from a political play. A chapter on the exhibition of the Analytical Engine, then a chapter on an adventure into the mouth of an active volcano. A chapter on railroads, then a chapter detailing a vision of a transcendent conversation with a piece of Gloucester cheese.
The most enjoyable parts were Babbage's own childhood experiences, the creation of the engines, and his conversation with a block of cheese. That said, most of it was a slog.
September 26, 2014
This is an autobiography of Charles Babbage, who invented the mechanical computer in the early 1800s. He writes amusing anecdotes from his life, He shared a lot of fascinations with modern geeks, like cryptography, lockpicking, railroads, long distance communication, mechanical toys, and so forth. He held the Lucasian chair and was acquainted with Lord Wellington. He found street musicians terribly annoying.
January 29, 2021
Why.. this should be called “Passages from My opinions on anything and everything”. The writing gets a bit draggy in the middle because of the old language and because I don’t care about political structure of European nobility. I liked the entire discourse on the Analytical engine and Babbage’s bureaucratic struggle in getting one built. I wonder: if Babbage was to build one now.. probably a kickstarter fundraising would be very helpful. What was about that weird cheese story? It’s also interesting that Babbage had some ideas on primitive alpha beta pruning followed by his views that every game can be played by an automaton.
Throughout the reading, I was always had the nagging thought that Babbage is not a commonplace scientist.. no.. he is an upper class scientist. I don’t know if it’s true though. Well if you get lost in the street as a child in 1800s and there is a dedicated servant to find you, you should be. I would have been more pleased if Babbage dedicated some part of his analytical engine discourse to the countless engineers who worked under him. All in all: 3/5
P.S. The autobiography is in public domain. I gathered the copy from standardebooks.org which is an amazing group of people custom formatting open works from project gutenberg for tablet and kindle devices. Do check them out for their collection!
Throughout the reading, I was always had the nagging thought that Babbage is not a commonplace scientist.. no.. he is an upper class scientist. I don’t know if it’s true though. Well if you get lost in the street as a child in 1800s and there is a dedicated servant to find you, you should be. I would have been more pleased if Babbage dedicated some part of his analytical engine discourse to the countless engineers who worked under him. All in all: 3/5
P.S. The autobiography is in public domain. I gathered the copy from standardebooks.org which is an amazing group of people custom formatting open works from project gutenberg for tablet and kindle devices. Do check them out for their collection!
June 6, 2021
Picked it up thinking it would provide an insight into what went through his mind while he was getting into the process of making an Analytical Engine. However, it was a fun ride through many of his frivolous thoughts, random experiments and coincidences— a record of his thoughts and beliefs of various stuff we wouldn't typically associate with the "Father of Computer".
Would recommend to anyone who has enough time & patience to get through it.
Would recommend to anyone who has enough time & patience to get through it.
March 26, 2019
Delightful chapters interspersed with some gnatterings about local body politics.
Want to read
April 18, 2025post.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews