“I really didn't write it with any intention of being published. If I'd known that was going to happen, I would have written something more sensible, because now I have to dress up as a pirate for book signings... I… — Gideon Defoe Copy Share Image
“Babbage's Three Laws of Difference Engines First Law: A difference engine must have at least six cogs. Second Law: A difference engine must be… — Gideon Defoe Copy Share Image
Here's your first problem," he said, pointing at a sentence. "'Religion is the opium of the people.' Well, I don't know about people, but… — Gideon Defoe Copy Share Image
“There was soot and orphans everywhere, and gaslit cobbled streets full of fog and sinister gentlemen out for a night of illicit murder. It… — Gideon Defoe Copy Share Image
“The Captain’s boat inspections were always pretty slapdash, because they mainly just involved him looking at the ropes and planks and barnacles and then… — Gideon Defoe Copy Share Image
You don't know what it is to live and laugh and love and run a man through! You've never tasted salty air on your… — Gideon Defoe Copy Share Image
This is what I like about life at sea. It’s one long voyage of discovery. Solid water! What will they think of next? Hopefully… — Gideon Defoe Copy Share Image
“I should say we’d reach England by Tuesday or thereabouts, with a decent wind behind us. It would be a lot quicker than that… — Gideon Defoe Copy Share Image
“Just then there came the wheezy sound of an accordion. It was an odd little tune that, had he been alive exactly one hundred… — Gideon Defoe Copy Share Image
That explains a lot,' he said. 'I suppose it's also why we've never glimpsed that giant compass in the corner of the Atlantic. I… — Gideon Defoe Copy Share Image
“In his time the Pirate Captain had made a number of dramatic entrances of his own – not always intentional it had to be… — Gideon Defoe Copy Share Image
“It was about as close as you could get to the platonic ideal of a ham, if Plato had spent more time discussing hams… — Gideon Defoe Copy Share Image
