Different Engines

Brake and Hook pull off a genuinely useful trick here — making the conversation between science and science fiction feel both rigorous and fun across four centuries of history. The seven-ages structure gives the book real analytical shape, and the writing has enough wit to keep an interested non-specialist engaged. Some repetition and the inevitable dating of the computer and biology chapters are real weaknesses, but as an introduction to this cross-disciplinary relationship, it remains a strong entry point.