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Alan Turing : The Enigma, by Andrew Hodges
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Listed as one of the essential 50 books of all time in The Guardian
It's only a slight exaggeration to say that the British mathematician Alan Turing (1912-1954) saved the Allies from the Nazis, invented the computer and artificial intelligence, and anticipated gay liberation by decades―all before his suicide at age forty-one. This classic biography of the founder of computer science, reissued on the centenary of his birth with a substantial new preface by the author, is the definitive account of an extraordinary mind and life.
A gripping story of mathematics, computers, cryptography, and homosexual persecution, Andrew Hodges's acclaimed audiobook captures both the inner and outer drama of Turing's life. Hodges tells how Turing's revolutionary idea of 1936―the concept of a universal machine―laid the foundation for the modern computer and how Turing brought the idea to practical realization in 1945 with his electronic design. The audiobook also tells how this work was directly related to Turing's leading role in breaking the German Enigma ciphers during World War II, a scientific triumph that was critical to Allied victory in the Atlantic. At the same time, this is the tragic story of a man who, despite his wartime service, was eventually arrested, stripped of his security clearance, and forced to undergo a humiliating treatment program―all for trying to live honestly in a society that defined homosexuality as a crime.
- Sales Rank: #488157 in Books
- Brand: Brand: Simon n Schuster
- Published on: 1983-11
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 587 pages
Features
- Used Book in Good Condition
Amazon.com Review
Alan Turing died in 1954, but the themes of his life epitomize the turn of the millennium. A pure mathematician from a tradition that prided itself on its impracticality, Turing laid the foundations for modern computer science, writes Andrew Hodges:
Alan had proved that there was no "miraculous machine" that could solve all mathematical problems, but in the process he had discovered something almost equally miraculous, the idea of a universal machine that could take over the work of any machine.
During World War II, Turing was the intellectual star of Bletchley Park, the secret British cryptography unit. His work cracking the German's Enigma machine code was, in many ways, the first triumph of computer science. And Turing died because his identity as a homosexual was incompatible with cold-war ideas of security, implemented with machines and remorseless logic: "It was his own invention, and it killed the goose that laid the golden eggs."
Andrew Hodges's remarkable insight weaves Turing's mathematical and computer work with his personal life to produce one of the best biographies of our time, and the basis of the Derek Jacobi movie Breaking the Code. Hodges has the mathematical knowledge to explain the intellectual significance of Turing's work, while never losing sight of the human and social picture:
In this sense his life belied his work, for it could not be contained by the discrete state machine. At every stage his life raised questions about the connection (or lack of it) between the mind and the body, thought and action, intelligence and operations, science and society, the individual and history.
And Hodges admits what all biographers know, but few admit, about their subjects: "his inner code remains unbroken." Alan Turing is still an enigma. --Mary Ellen Curtin
Review
"One of the finest scientific biographies ever written."--Jim Holt, New Yorker
"Andrew Hodges' 1983 book Alan Turing: The Enigma, is the indispensable guide to Turing's life and work and one of the finest biographies of a scientific genius ever written."--Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times
"Turing's rehabilitation from over a quarter-century's embarrassed silence was largely the result of Andrew Hodges's superb biography, Alan Turing: The Enigma (1983; reissued with a new introduction in 2012). Hodges examined available primary sources and interviewed surviving witnesses to elucidate Turing's multiple dimensions. A mathematician, Hodges ably explained Turing's intellectual accomplishments with insight, and situated them within their wider historical contexts. He also empathetically explored the centrality of Turing's sexual identity to his thought and life in a persuasive rather than reductive way."--Michael Saler, Times Literary Supplement
"On the face of it, a richly detailed 500-page biography of a mathematical genius and analysis of his ideas, might seem a daunting proposition. But fellow mathematician and author Hodges has acutely clear and often extremely moving insight into the humanity behind the leaping genius that helped to crack the Germans' Enigma codes during World War II and bring about the dawn of the computer age. . . . This melancholy story is transfigured into something else: an exploration of the relationship between machines and the soul and a full-throated celebration of Turing's brilliance, unselfconscious quirkiness and bravery in a hostile age."--Sinclair McKay, Wall Street Journal
"A first-class contribution to history and an exemplary work of biography."--I. J. Good, Nature
"An almost perfect match of biographer and subject. . . . [A] great book."--Ray Monk, Guardian
"A superb biography. . . . Written by a mathematician, it describes in plain language Turing's work on the foundations of computer science and how he broke the Germans' Enigma code in the Second World War. The subtle depiction of class rivalries, personal relationships, and Turing's tragic end are worthy of a novel. But this was a real person. Hodges describes the man, and the science that fascinated him--which once saved, and still influences, our lives."--Margaret Boden, New Scientist
"Andrew Hodges's magisterial Alan Turing: The Enigma . . . is still the definitive text."--Joshua Cohen, Harper's
"Andrew Hodges's biography is a meticulously researched and written account detailing every aspect of Turing's life. . . . This account of Turing's life is a definitive scholarly work, rich in primary source documentation and small-grained historical detail."--Mathematics Teacher
"The Bible of Turing biography."--Alvy Ray Smith, Notices of the AMS
From the Back Cover
"One of the finest scientific biographies I've ever read: authoritative, superbly researched, deeply sympathetic, and beautifully told."--Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind
"A captivating, compassionate portrait of a first-rate scientist who gave so much to a world that in the end cruelly rejected him. Perceptive and absorbing, Andrew Hodges's book is scientific biography at its best."--Paul Hoffman, author of The Man Who Loved Only Numbers
"A remarkable and admirable biography."--Simon Singh, author of The Code Book and Fermat's Enigma
"A first-rate presentation of the life of a first-rate scientific mind.... It is hard to imagine a more thoughtful and compassionate portrait of a human being."--from the Foreword by Douglas Hofstadter
Most helpful customer reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
A book for the dedicated math fan
By Loves to Knit
"The Imitation Game" was my favorite movie of 2014. I devoured the shows on PBS about cracking Enigma. I was glad to start reading this book. Soon I wasn't so glad. The writer, a mathematician, doesn't have the gift for narrative needed to bring Turing, and the group at Bletchley Park, to life.
The trivia included rather than pruned shows a lack of writing skill. For example, in early chapters about Turing's schooling, one reads nearly every note sent home by a schoolmaster. But a more major event (nailing Turing under floorboards) was glossed over in a sentence without a comment by the author as to impact, or primary source quote concerning the incident.
More troubling is the utter boring chapter on Bletchley Park. How can this chapter be boring? Yet it is. The explanation and sketches of how Turing's machine worked are unsatisfactory. I didn't learn anything from the authors (and I had several advanced math classes in college). I contrast this with biographies of physicists, contemporaries of Turing but written by writers (Richard Rhodes, for example): gripping books that manage to explain quantum theory or the workings of particle accelerators quite well.
Absolutely unsettling is the jarring way the author skips from topic to topic. On one page he note that Turing accepted his sexual orientation; on the next there is talk of suicide. Again, there is no comment by the author. Considering how Turing's life ended, one would expect more explication here. Related to this topic is the story of Turing and Bob Augenfeld, the young refugee Turing sponsored. Turing propositioning the minor Augenfeld would today be classed as sexual predation, yet the author glossed over it, noting that Augenfeld remained friends with Turing. An alternative explanation might be that Augenfeld hoped Turing would help get his mother out of Vienna, and did not seek to sever the relationship for this reason. This was in 1941.
In summary, this book was slow reading, even for someone interested in the man and the topic. I give it 3 stars because of the importance of the topic and the many contribution Turing made to mathematics and computer sciences.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful.
Not an easy read, and a long book
By Catherine A Young
This book is a difficult read. I have a science background, and technology does not slow me down, but I found the writing at some times inscrutable. Not an easy read, and a long book.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful.
Too many digressions and diversions at the beginning!
By Inquiring Reader
I am upgrading my review from *** to **** as I plow through the book. The book is quite good, but quite detailed or technical. Not for a general reader.
It is quite good to see the role that Turing played during WW II and how effective he was. He was also very ineffective at times because he was clueless about social clues and unwilling/unable to understand military/war hierarchies. Still a fascinating and detailed, detailed, and more detailed book.
My original review:
Digression after digression, especially at the beginning of the book. Do I really need to know what letters Turing sent to a friend's mother or how she replied? Quite distracting. Too many digressions about historical figures, too. There is too much of that in the first 15% or so of the book.
Once the book gets into Turing's post-graduate work and his work to create computers, that kind detail is very useful -- and relevant.
I ordered this book as a Kindle book, because there were too many complaints about the small font in the print copies. It's easy to read on a Kindle app.
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