Turk, The: The Life and Times of the Famous Eighte

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Turk, The: The Life and Times of the Famous Eighteenth-Century Chess-Playing Machine

Created by a Hungarian nobleman & presented at cou

Our Price: $14.00

By Tom Standage (au)
Year: 2003
Pages: 272
Binding Paperback
ISBN 0-425-19039-0

Product Code: 1422359190

Description

Created by a Hungarian nobleman & presented at court to Empress Maria Theresa, the Turk was a mechanical man, fashioned from wood, powered by clockwork, dressed in stylish costume -- & capable of playing chess. Over the next 85 years, the Turk would travel throughout Europe & America, baffling, angering, inspiring, & intimidating challengers & audiences incl. such figures as Benjamin Franklin, Catherine the Great, Charles Babbage, & Edgar Allan Poe. Here, the story of the Turk, his colorful career, & his influence on the modern world -- & on our evolving view of ourselves in relation to machines - -is told. The book ranges from the Age of Enlightenment to the 1990s chess duels between Garry Kasparov & IBM’s Deep Blue computer. Ill.

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