The Thrilling Adventures Of Lovelace And Babbage: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer - Tapa dura

So impossibly funny, clever, demented, charming and altogether wonderful that I was a convert within three pages. Buy it for everyone you know, regardless of what you think they like. Brilliant stuff (Lucy Mangan, Book of the Year Stylist)

My new favourite book. It has everything. Byron, maths, imaginary computers, emotion (Matt Haig, author of Reasons to Stay Alive)

A rip-roaring caper engulfed in footnotes of quotes, quips and illuminating asides... the book does more than simply celebrate the genius of the first computer programmer, it encourages us to turn our imagination to technology - just as Lovelace did. And that's an inspiration to us all (Nicola Davis Observer Tech Monthly)

The wittiest, best-researched and most original tribute yet paid to the achievements of Lord Byron's brilliant, tearaway and tragically short-lived child, Ada Lovelace... An astonishing debut... a book that ought to be ordered in triplicate by every school in the land... Ingenious as a textbook, marvellous fun as inventive biography (Miranda Seymour Literary Review)

A stylish, funny graphic novel featuring Ada Lovelace, estranged daughter of Lord Byron, and co-programmer, had it ever been built, of the "mathematical engine". Playful, earnest, and beautifully drawn, the book cuts a swathe through early computing theory, explores Ada's relationship with Charles Babbage, and brings to the fore one of the unsung heroines of science (Sarah Hall Independent)

Rich with in-jokes, warmth and charm... It's difficult not to be ignited by Sydney Padua's enthusiasm. There is so much to discover that I'll treasure my copy for years to come (Hannah Fry BBC Focus)

There is no way around this, Sydney Padua's Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage is bloody brilliant... and educational too (Robin Ince)

I love it... everyone is getting a copy (Martha Lane Fox)

Wonderful and genuinely informative... Padua's gorgeous art and very funny text are combined with factual footnotes to create an utterly unique and enormously enjoyable book (Anna Carey Irish Times)

Sydney Padua's smart and sassy steampunk science graphic novel is a delightful mixture of research and invention, dressed up in Padua's bouncy cartooning. If nothing else, it is one of the best introductions to its real-life heroine, proto-computer programmer Ada Lovelace, you could wish for. If only all science lessons could be this much fun (Herald Scotland)