Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage (Padua) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also, consider these LitLovers talking points to help start a discussions for The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage:

1. One of the many (many) footnotes describes the difference between Babbage and Lovelace as this: "In a sense the stubborn, rigid Babbage and mercurial, airy Lovelace embody the division between hardware and software." How does this metaphor work to describe the personalities and characteristics of the two protagonists?

2.  Why does Ada Lovelace take up mathematics and science? To escape...what?

3. Here's one of the big questions the novel poses: What is the relationship between science and imagination?

4. And Here's another intriguing question from the book: Was mathematics invented or discovered?

5. One of the footnotes tells us that Lovelace is fascinated by zero: "It had a spiritual dimension." How so?

6. Was the story and the prodigious imagery of the book overwhelming or distracting to you? Or did you find it enhanced your understanding of the story and its of humor ?

7. Follow-up to Question 6: Ditto the footnotes—were they helpful or overwhelming?

8. Talk about the ways that Padua envisions  The Difference Machine changing the world of the 19th century. In other words, what is the alternative history imagined here?

9. Describe the humor in Padua's novel—how she uses it and the different forms it takes.

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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