The Turk: The Life and Times of the Famous 18th Century Chess Playing Machine
by Standage, Tom
- Used
- very good
- Paperback
- Condition
- Very Good
- ISBN 10
- 0802713912
- ISBN 13
- 9780802713919
- Seller
-
GORING BY SEA, West Sussex, United Kingdom
3 Copies Available from This Seller
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Synopsis
In the annals of man and machine, The Turk has to rank among the most astonishing stories. In 1769, Baron Von Kempelen, engineer to the Imperial Court in Vienna, was so unimpressed by the performance of a visiting conjurer that he boasted he could do better. He built a mechanical chess-playing mannequin, dressed like a Turk, capable of beating even the Court's best players. Over the next decades, the Turk toured the courts of Europe to tremendous acclaim. Amid the craze for automata that swept Europe during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, as the Industrial Revolution developed, it was one of the wonders of its time: Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon were among the luminaries who lost to it. Eventually, the Turk ended up in America, where it toured for many years before being destroyed by a fire in 1854. But was it a fraud? The colorful story of the Turk involves a diverse cast of Ludwig van Beethoven, Edgar Allen Poe, Charles Babbage and many others, and encompasses the history of magic, the rise of machines, the debate over mechanical reasoning, and the early days of artificial intelligence.
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Details
- Bookseller
- World of Books Ltd (GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- GOR003635886
- Title
- The Turk: The Life and Times of the Famous 18th Century Chess Playing Machine
- Author
- Standage, Tom
- Format/Binding
- Paperback
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 3
- ISBN 10
- 0802713912
- ISBN 13
- 9780802713919
- Publisher
- Walker & Company
- Place of Publication
- New York
- This edition first published
- April 1, 2002
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About the Seller
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