The Turk: The Life and Times of the Famous Eighteenth-Century Chess-Playing Machine - Softcover

Standage, Tom

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0425190390 ISBN 13: 9780425190395

Publisher: Berkley Trade, 2003

Synopsis

Describes the eighteenth-century invention by Wolfgang von Kempeden of the Turk, a mechanical man fashioned of wood, powered by clockwork, and capable of playing chess, examining the machine's remarkable career in light of the industrial revolution and the impact of the invention on the history of technology. Reprint.

About this title

About the Author:

Tom Standage, the technology correspondent for The Economist, has written for Wired, Prospect, The Guardian, and The Daily Telegraph.

From Booklist:

*Starred Review* It's a shame that most people these days have never heard of Wolfgang von Kempelen's magnificent machine called the Turk, because it really was a marvelous creation. In the middle of the eighteenth century, automatons were all the rage: mechanical ducks and elephants; pictures with moving parts; even human simulacrums that could write, draw, and play musical instruments. And then there was the Turk, an automaton that could, it appeared, play chess--not just move pieces around a board, but also plan and execute strategies and outwit some of Europe's finest chess players. The Turk had a career that lasted more than eight decades: Benjamin Franklin played a match against it; Edgar Allan Poe wrote about it; Charles Babbage, the great-grandfather of the computer, was fascinated by it. But was it a genuine automaton? Or was it, as the Turk's many critics claimed, a hoax, a simple trick dressed up as a scientific wonder? Standage, who is also the author of the delightful Victorian Internet (1998), chronicles the life and times of the Turk, charting its ups and downs, showing the machine's impact on the world (the Turk was, in a way, the inspiration both for the computer and the modern detective story). Saving the best--the truth about the Turk--for last, he keeps us on the edge of our seats, wondering about the secret to this magical device. History as seen from an unusual angle; thrilling stuff. David Pitt
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About this edition

• Publisher: Berkley Trade
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0425190390
• ISBN 13: 9780425190395
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288