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Mon 12 Dec 2008A scientific detective story about the world's first computer
BOOK OF THE DAY:Decoding the Heavens: solving the mystery of the world's first computer. By Jo Marchant. Heinemann. 328pp; £12.99
THE INGENUITY is breathtaking. Arguably one of the greatest mechanical inventions, and the most important scientific artefact from classical Greek times, the Antikythera mechanism is over 2,000 years old, has some three-dozen intricate gear wheels, and its sophistication was not matched until the 18th century. Erich von Däniken saw it as proof that alien civilisations had visited Earth thousands of years ago.
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