Jacob's review
The Difference Engine (Spectra Special Editions) by William Gibson
I think that I own this book because I had to read it for science fiction media/literature class, but I didn't finish it at the time. I finally finished it recently and was a bit disappointed. The concept of the book is great -- it's steam punk, so it's about what if Babbage's computing engine had taken off and we'd entered a world of computing during the steam age rather than the electric age. But I feel that I lack a lot of knowledge of the history to enjoy the way he changes history (and makes off-handed comments about certain people's fates or certain events, but when I don't know the name, I don't get the joke). Plus, the ending was disappointing -- and very confusing! I really don't understand how things wrapped up at the end -- but it could just be me, and my inability to follow what's going on.
