The author takes into account Alan Turing's concept of "paper machines" and outlines a
history of the calculating machine from the very beginning of Wilhelm Schickard (1623) to the last pre-industrial mechanical calculating machine of Johann Helfrich Müller (1786).
This technological period in history is always presented as the "prehistory" but is presented here as a time where there was an independent knowledge information to arithmeticae. Dotzler examines the scientific and technical literature of the 17th and 18th century. His book includes texts on mathematics, logic, physiology and physiognomy, as well as on poetry and selected examples from literature. These texts will be considered under the guiding concepts of cybernetics namely communication and control.
