Name: Decoding the Heavens
ISBN: 9781409060482

Decoding the Heavens

The bronze fragments of an ancient Greek device have puzzled scholars for more than a century after they were recovered from the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, where they had lain since about 80 B. C. Now, using advanced imaging technology, scientists have solved the mystery of its intricate workings. Unmatched in complexity for a thousand years, the mechanism functioned as the world’s first analog computer, calculating the movements of the sun, moon, and planets through the zodiac. In Decoding the Heavens, Jo Marchant details for the first time the hundred-year quest to decode this ancient computer. Along the way she unearths a diverse cast of remarkable characters-ranging from Archimedes to Jacques Cousteau-and explores the deep roots of modern technology, not only in ancient Greece, but in the Islamic world and medieval Europe. At its heart, this is an epic adventure story, a book that challenges our assumptions about technology development through the ages while giving us fresh insights into history itself.

What Hacker News says

adolphDec 2021

Darwin College Lecture Series: Decoding the Heavens: The Antikythera Mechanism by Jo Marchant

"There are quite a few mentions of devices that sound a bit like the Antikythera mechanism"

https://youtu.be/Iv-zWbxm2lY?t=2695

Jo Marchant is an award-winning science journalist and author of several popular science books including Decoding the Heavens: Solving the mystery of the world’s first computer and the New York Times bestseller Cure: A journey into the science of mind over body (both shortlisted for the Royal Society science books prize). She has a PhD in genetics, and has worked as a senior editor at New Scientist and at Nature.

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yuSep 2009

Full shortlist:

  * The Age of Wonder: How the romantic generation discovered the beauty and terror of Science by Richard Holmes (Harper Press)
  * What the Nose Knows: The science of scent in everyday life by Avery Gilbert (Crown Publishers)
  * Bad Science by Ben Goldacre (Harper Perennial)
  * Decoding the Heavens: Solving the mystery of the world's first computer by Jo Marchant (William Heinemann)
  * The drunkard's walk: How randomness rules our lives by Leonard Mlodinow (Penguin)
  * Your Inner Fish: The amazing discovery of our 375-million-year-old ancestor by Neil Shubin (Penguin)

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RiderOfGiraffesSep 2009

And now formatted for easier reading ...

* The Age of Wonder: How the romantic generation discovered the beauty and terror of Science by Richard Holmes (Harper Press)

* What the Nose Knows: The science of scent in everyday life by Avery Gilbert (Crown Publishers)

* Bad Science by Ben Goldacre (Harper Perennial)

* Decoding the Heavens: Solving the mystery of the world's first computer by Jo Marchant (William Heinemann)

* The drunkard's walk: How randomness rules our lives by Leonard Mlodinow (Penguin)

* Your Inner Fish: The amazing discovery of our 375-million-year-old ancestor by Neil Shubin (Penguin)

thread