Review; Dreaming in Code: Ada Byron Lovelace, Computer Pioneer by Emily Arnold McCully

Last year, I was fortunate enough to recieve an ARC of the biography Dreaming in Code: Ada Byron Lovelace, Computer Pioneer by Emily Arnold McCully through Netgalley. I read it shortly afterwards, but I haven't published my review until now as it it Women's History Month in March.

Description from Goodreads
This illuminating biography reveals how the daughter of Lord Byron, Britain's most infamous Romantic poet, became the world's first computer programmer.

Even by 1800s standards, Ada Byron Lovelace had an unusual upbringing. Her strict mother worked hard at cultivating her own role as the long-suffering ex-wife of bad-boy poet Lord Byron while raising Ada in isolation. Tutored by the brightest minds, Ada developed a hunger for mental puzzles, mathematical conundrums, and scientific discovery that kept pace with the breathtaking advances of the industrial and social revolutions taking place in Europe. At seventeen, Ada met eccentric inventor Charles Babbage, a kindred spirit. Their ensuing collaborations resulted in ideas and concepts that presaged computer programming by almost two hundred years, and Ada Lovelace is now recognized as a pioneer and prophet of the information age. Award-winning author Emily Arnold McCully opens the window on a peculiar and singular intellect, shaped -- and hampered -- by history, social norms, and family dysfunction. The result is a portrait that is at once remarkable and fascinating, tragic and triumphant.

"She reasoned that vanity was the cause of most unhappiness; not being pretty therefore meant she was spared both vanity and unhappiness."

My Thoughts on the Book

Dreaming in Code is a nuanced biography that shows both the good and the bad about Ada Lovelace and her life. A little detail that bugged me was that I felt this was more of a YA biography rather than a biography suitable for young children.