Charles Babbage, pioneer in the field of computing machines, is well known today as the development and dissemination of computers has made it clear that he was a man ahead of his time. For a large part of his life Babbage was chiefly interested in the calculating engine, but from his writings it is apparent that in addition to understanding the principles of the construction of computers, he had a clear insight into their potential applications and the way to use them. He was also a pioneer in the field of operations research, was interested in an amazingly broad range of subjects, and was one of the first people to obtain a government grant in support of research! The editors have written an introduction which serves as a coordinating preamble to some chapters from Babbage's "Passages from the Life of a Philosopher" along with selections from "Calculating Engines" and assorted miscellaneous papers, blending everything to produce a book which can be read with the ease of a novel and is certainly no less entertaining.
