Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Award-winning author/illustrator Don Brown explores computers and technology in this installment of the Big Ideas That Changed the World graphic novel series.



Machines That Think! explores machines from ancient history to today that perform a multitude of tasks, from making mind-numbing calculations to working on assembly lines to guiding spaceships to the moon. It includes fascinating looks at the world's earliest calculators, the birth of computer programming, and the arrival of smartphones. Contributors discussed include Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, Ada Lovelace, Alan Turing, and Bill Gates. From the abacus to artificial intelligence, machines through the ages have pushed the boundaries of human capability and creativity.



Big Ideas That Changed the World is a graphic novel series that celebrates the hard-won succession of ideas that ultimately changed the world. Humor, drama, and art unite to tell the story of events, discoveries, and ingenuity over time that led humans to come up with a big idea and then make it come true.



Big Ideas That Changed the World series:

Rocket to the Moon! (#1)

Machines That Think! (#2)

A Shot in the Arm! (#3)

We the People! (#4)

All Charged Up! (#5)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

School Library Journal Review

Gr 3--7--Brown continues his "Big Ideas That Changed the World" series with a look at machines through the ages. Ancient mathematician Muhammad ibn-Mu̅sa̅ al-Khwa̅rizmi̅ offers readers a primer on technology, from the abacus to 16th-century thinker Blaise Pascal's Pascaline ("a shoebox-sized gadget that used gears, wheels, axles, and dials to add numbers") to Ada Lovelace's analytical machine to the early computers used by NASA, and, finally, to smartphones. As in Rocket to the Moon, Brown adeptly explains how scientists and thinkers stand on the shoulders of giants, each building upon earlier technology and advancing knowledge. The narrative is quick and engaging, accompanied by Brown's familiar watercolors. Expressive characters, visual humor, and details that will reward careful readers, along with asides from al-Khwa̅rizmi̅ ("Not bad for a self-taught engineer!"), infuse this informative work with wit and verve. Those left wanting more will appreciate the time line, notes about binary code, and the thorough bibliography. VERDICT Accessible, occasionally funny, and always thoughtful, this speedy but thorough trip through time is a must for budding scientists.--Jody Kopple, Shady Hill School, Cambridge, MA

Kirkus Book Review

How rows of rocks evolved into the intricate circuitry that runs our homes, drives our cars, and orders our pizza.Brown lets al-Khwrizm, the Muslim mathematician who popularized Arabic/Hindu numbers (most notably, for Brown's purposes here, "0" and "1"), take the role of tour guide. He squires readers through centuries of watershed developments from the abacus and mechanical Pascaline calculator to the punch cards of Joseph-Marie Jacquard, ENIAC, IBM, the transistor, and robots. Closing with an explanation of the Turing test, he offers a mildly cautionary view of the increasingly pervasive roles computers play in our daily lives ("will they be doing all the thinking for us?") and an appended disquisition on binary numbers. Along the way he chronicles both major and incremental advances as well as offering nods to significant thinkers and doers familiar (Ada Lovelace, Steve Jobs) or otherwisenotably Jean Jennings and six other women charged with figuring out how to program ENIAC but not invited to its unveiling. Though he acknowledges in an afterword that his cast is largely white, European, and male he does what he can throughout to diversify itand cogently observes at the end that the "domination of the West in the sciences has ended." Panels are drawn in a loose style that lightens the substantial informational load. Another terrific case study on the power of a big idea to work profound changes in our lives. (endnotes, timeline) (Graphic nonfiction. 8-11) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.