Keith Houston's Blog, page 4
December 9, 2023
Shady Characters advent calendar 2023: the arithmometer
Welcome to the first ever Shady Characters advent calendar! I’m counting down to Christmas by way of a collection of beautiful, clever, important, and/or outright odd calculators and calculating devices. Some come from the pages of Empire of the Sum, some are part of my Calculator of the Day series, and some will be new to the blog. I won’t manage twenty-four posts, but I do plan to hit at least one every other day. I hope you enjoy the series!
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December 7, 2023
Shady Characters advent calendar 2023: Wilhelm Schickard’s Rechenuhr
Welcome to the first ever Shady Characters advent calendar! I’m counting down to Christmas by way of a collection of beautiful, clever, important, and/or outright odd calculators and calculating devices. Some come from the pages of Empire of the Sum, some are part of my Calculator of the Day series, and some will be new to the blog. I won’t manage twenty-four posts, but I do plan to hit at least one every other day. I hope you enjoy the series!
Read more →December 5, 2023
Shady Characters advent calendar 2023: Napier’s bones
Welcome to the first ever Shady Characters advent calendar! I’m counting down to Christmas by way of a collection of beautiful, clever, important, and/or outright odd calculators and calculating devices. Some come from the pages of Empire of the Sum, some are part of my Calculator of the Day series, and some will be new to the blog. I won’t manage twenty-four posts, but I do plan to hit at least one every other day. I hope you enjoy the series!
Read more →December 3, 2023
Shady Characters advent calendar 2023: Chinese counting rods
Welcome to the first ever Shady Characters advent calendar! I’m counting down to Christmas by way of a collection of beautiful, clever, important, and/or outright odd calculators and calculating devices. Some come from the pages of Empire of the Sum, some are part of my Calculator of the Day series, and some will be new to the blog. I won’t manage twenty-four posts, but I do hope to hit at least one every other day. I hope you enjoy the series!
Read more →December 1, 2023
Shady Characters advent calendar 2023: the tally stick
Welcome to the first ever Shady Characters advent calendar! This is all a little experimental, but I plan to count down to Christmas by way of a collection of beautiful, clever, important, and/or outright odd calculators and calculating devices. Some come from the pages of Empire of the Sum, some are part of my Calculator of the Day series, and some will be new to the blog. I won’t manage twenty-four posts, but I do hope to hit at least one every other day. I hope you enjoy the series!
Read more ...November 20, 2023
We have audiobook winners!
Congratulations to Piotr, William, Roslyn and Ian, winners of the Empire of the Sum audiobook giveaway! Their names were picked at random from the set of all entrants who replied to the original post about the competition. Thank you all for taking part!
Read more →November 5, 2023
Win the Empire of the Sum audio book!
The Empire of the Sum audio book is out now, narrated by Elliot Fitzpatrick, and this is your chance to win one of four (four!) free copies at audiobooks.com. To enter, leave a comment on this post with a valid email address so that I can contact you in the event that you win.
Read more →October 8, 2023
We have (even more) winners!
Congratulations to Marta and Rosemary, winners of the third round of the Empire of the Sum giveaway! Their names were picked at random from the set of all entrants who replied to the original post about the competition. Thank you all for taking part!
Read more →October 4, 2023
Shady Characters at the WSJ: Five Best Books on Great Inventions
The following was published in the Wall Street Journal on August 18th, 2023, under the title “Five Best: Books on Great Inventions”. It comprises short reviews of five books I read in the course of researching Empire of the Sum. Enjoy, and please leave your own recommendations for good books on inventions, computing, and calculators in the comments!
Read more →October 1, 2023
Win a copy of Empire of the Sum!
It has been a long time coming, but Empire of the Sum will be published in the UK and other non-US countries this coming Friday, the 6th of October. To celebrate, non-US readers finally have a chance to win one of two free copies of the book! To enter, leave a comment on this post with a valid email address so that I can contact you in the event that you win.
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