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Dreaming in Code

Ada Byron Lovelace, Computer Pioneer

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
This illuminating biography reveals how the daughter of Lord Byron, Britain's most infamous Romantic poet, became the world's first computer programmer.
Even by 1800s standards, Ada Byron Lovelace had an unusual upbringing. Her strict mother worked hard at cultivating her own role as the long-suffering ex-wife of bad-boy poet Lord Byron while raising Ada in isolation. Tutored by the brightest minds, Ada developed a hunger for mental puzzles, mathematical conundrums, and scientific discovery that kept pace with the breathtaking advances of the industrial and social revolutions taking place in Europe. At seventeen, Ada met eccentric inventor Charles Babbage, a kindred spirit. Their ensuing collaborations resulted in ideas and concepts that presaged computer programming by almost two hundred years, and Ada Lovelace is now recognized as a pioneer and prophet of the information age. Award-winning author Emily Arnold McCully opens the window on a peculiar and singular intellect, shaped—and hampered—by history, social norms, and family dysfunction. The result is a portrait that is at once remarkable and fascinating, tragic and triumphant.
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  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      While some authors' attempts to narrate their own stories fall short of listeners' expectations, Emily Arnold McCully's performance of this audiobook about computer pioneer Ada Byron Lovelace demonstrates that her voice is just as connected to her words as her pen. In a steady and emphatic tone, McCully sets the stage for Lovelace's birth, offering listeners brief background on the short-lived love affair of her parents, Lord Byron and his wife, Anne. Delving into Ada's unusual upbringing, McCully maintains an engaging storytelling cadence, breaking the rhythm only when she delivers occasional quotes from Ada or those around her. McCully voices Ada with a confident air, though she often shows off the historical character's stubbornness with clipped words. Listeners will appreciate McCully's approach to Ada's biography as they learn fascinating facts about a woman who made groundbreaking discoveries in computer science. V.T. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      March 25, 2019
      McCully (She Did It!) dramatically details the life of Augusta Ada Lovelace (1815–1852), the person first credited with understanding a computer’s potential beyond mathematical calculation. Lovelace’s father was the poet Lord Byron, and her childhood was framed by her principled, domineering mother’s determination to eradicate all traces of his paternity. Privately tutored in mathematics to ward off any poetical instincts, Lovelace thrived intellectually even as she endured physical ill-health and her mother’s emotional coldness. Her introduction at age 17 to her future mentor and collaborator Charles Babbage, inventor of the earliest computer prototypes, changed her life, offering intellectual food and challenge. McCully proceeds with clear explanations of Lovelace’s intellectual activities—in particular, Note G, in which Lovelace proposes an algorithm considered to be the first for a computer—while blending a largely sympathetic view of her personal life: marriage, offspring, gambling and other addictions, and early death from uterine cancer. Archival photos and illustrations, appendices, source notes, a glossary, and a bibliography deepen the portrait of this singular figure whose impact on science and technology has long been understated. Ages 10–14.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:1110
  • Text Difficulty:7-9

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