The Difference Engine by Doron Swade

Charles Babbage and the quest to build the first computer. A wonderful book about an interesting man and an idea before its time. The main question is whether it would work and if it wasn't made because machining of that day wasn't adequate. Based on the book it seem the design definitely worked and the machining was very satisfactory. It was logistics, expense, and some greed that caused its failure, and also really lack of crucial need for it and the fact that Babbage invented the analytical engine which was far superior, more flexible, and elegant. Now we wait for the book on that, which tells us whether that machine works and could have been built or can be built even now! I also was curious about the "method of differences," which is the mathematical basis of the difference engine.