Today (Oct. 14, 2014) is International Ada Lovelace Day, a celebration of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM).Â
In 1833, Lovelace met Charles Babbage for the first time. She was inspired by his Difference Engine, eager to expand upon his ideas. She and Babbage exchanged letters from June 10, 1835 to August 12, 1852. Just to give you a little perspective, it wasn’t until 1834 that the word “scientist†was coined byWilliam Whewell. Ada referred to her work as “poetical science.â€
In October 1842, Luigi Federico Menabrea published an article about Babbage’s Analytical Engine in Bibliotheque Universelle de Geneve. Lovelace translated it and added her own notes, about 20,000 words, to the 8,000 word piece. Published in 1843, her notes include a much deeper understanding of the potential for Babbage’s machine, including the suggestion that it was “capable of executing not merely arithmetical calculations, but even all those of analysis.â€
The shunning of genre fiction isn’t exactly a new revelation, and having worked as a Bookseller for a sci-fi and graphic novels specialist, it’s been on my radar for several years. As a student, I even used to feel a little sheepish admitting to my more discerning peers that, yes, one of my favorite authors is Stephen King. Of course, literary and genre fiction both have value, and it’s also worth mentioning that as with all fiction, some of it is good, and some of it is terrible.
Yesterday MobyLivesreported that ads are coming to the cheapest Kindle. A scary prospect to be sure–and probably the first small step in the direction of a fundamental shift– but as Jennifer Schuessler pointed out in an Artsbeat post on the New York Times website yesterday, Amazon’s move is the latest in a long tradition of selling ads in books.
Dirt-cheap [e-] books benefit the very rich – and the very dead. They might also help new authors to find a foothold and win an audience – although, on that logic, newcomers should think about showcasing their work for nothing. Many do. But the almost-free digital novel hammers another nail into the coffin of a long-term literary career. Who cares? Readers should, if they cherish full-time authors who craft not safe genre pieces but distinctive book after distinctive book that build into a unique body of work.
