''Decoding the Heavens: A 2,000-Year-old Computer and the Century Long Search to Discover Its Secrets'' by

Jo Marchant Jo Marchant is a freelance journalist specializing in science and history. After gaining a BSc in genetics from Leicester University and a PhD in microbiology she became a science writer, and is the author of '' Decoding the Heavens'', an explor ...

is an exploration of the history and significance of the

Antikythera Mechanism The Antikythera mechanism ( ) is an Ancient Greek hand-powered orrery, described as the oldest example of an analogue computer used to predict astronomical positions and eclipses decades in advance. It could also be used to track the four-y ...

( ), an ancient

mechanical calculator A mechanical calculator, or calculating machine, is a mechanical device used to perform the basic operations of arithmetic automatically, or (historically) a simulation such as an analog computer or a slide rule. Most mechanical calculators wer ...

(also described as the first known

mechanical computer A mechanical computer is a computer built from mechanical components such as levers and gears rather than electronic components. The most common examples are adding machines and mechanical counters, which use the turning of gears to incremen ...

Washington Post
Quote: ''Imagine tossing a top-notch laptop into the sea, leaving scientists from a foreign culture to scratch their heads over its corroded remains centuries later. A Roman shipmaster inadvertently did something just like it 2,000 years ago off southern Greece, experts said late Thursday.'') designed to calculate

astronomical Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies, ...

positions. Technological artifacts of similar complexity did not reappear until a thousand years later. Marchant approaches the mystery of the mechanism in a narrative that begins with the discovery of the

Antikythera wreck The Antikythera wreck ( gr, Ναυάγιο των Αντικυθήρων) is a Roman-era shipwreck dating from the second quarter of the first century BC."''The Antikythera Shipwreck. The Ship, The Treasures, The Mechanism. National Archaeologic ...

in 1901 and includes a primer on the development of scuba gear in the 19th century. Throughout the book, Marchant weaves ancient history with the lives and travails of the handful of contemporary scientists who bucked

conventional wisdom The conventional wisdom or received opinion is the body of ideas or explanations generally accepted by the public and/or by experts in a field. In religion, this is known as orthodoxy. Etymology The term is often credited to the economist John ...

with their belief that the mechanism embodied technological and mathematical expertise thought to be impossible for its time. It is believed to have been built about 150–100 BC and yet the delicate bronze clockwork it embodies would not be known to Europe until the Middle Ages. The author acknowledges (p. 302) that none of the principal researchers from the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project were involved "in any way" with the writing of the book. The project has published a commentary that sets out problems with the book's account of their work. The book's account of the collaboration between Michael Wright and Allan Bromley is disputed."Decoding the Heavens: Mistakes and Misinterpretations"
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Editions

The book was first published in November 2008 in hardback by William Heinemann Ltd. (). It was republished by Da Capo Press in hardback in 2009 (), and in paperback in 2010 ().

Reviews

* Anonymous. (January 26, 2009)

Publishers Weekly, Starred Review (accessed 31 May 2009) * Collins, P. (February 25, 2009)

New Scientist (accessed 31 May 2009) * Lake, E. (January 8, 2009)

The Telegraph (accessed 31 May 2009) * Sims, M. (March 8, 2009)
"'Decoding the Heavens' by Jo Marchant"
Los Angeles Times (accessed 30 May 2009) * Turney, J. (November 21, 2008)

The Independent (accessed 31 May 2009)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Decoding The Heavens 2008 non-fiction books 21st-century history books History books about Greece Technology books Heinemann (publisher) books