The Difference Engine

The Difference Engine was written by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling and was published in 1990. This book definitely changed the course of science fiction by popularizing the idea of an altered Victorian world. It ushered in the era of re-imagined pasts.

 The Difference Engine is considered by many to define the subgenre of Steampunk.  The book takes place in an alternate Victorian era where Charles Babbage has perfected a computer one hundred years before it’s time. While there are references to the Babbage computer and various steam powered machines the real focus of this book is history and Victorian culture. Above all this novel is about politic. The Science Fictional what if’s in the book are mainly political : What if the British Empire had continued to thrive and grow dominant? What if Japan had opened international trade with Britain instead of the U.S.? What if Lord Byron became a great political power? It’s actually quite fun to compare this world to ours and all it’s might have beens.

I think I would have found this novel more compelling if there was more exploration of technology and mankinds relationsip to it. Instead the technology in this novel is really a very minor aspect.

The story follows three characters through this transformed Victorian London during an aborted uprising.

 My favorite part is the last few pages, which follows the concepts of the novel to a strange conclusion.