Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
W. W. Norton & Company (2006), Edition: Reprint, Paperback, 336 pages
Description
Biography & Autobiography. Nonfiction. HTML: A "skillful, literate" (New York Times Book Review) biography of the persecuted genius who helped create the modern computer To solve one of the great mathematical problems of his day, Alan Turing proposed an imaginary computer. Then, attempting to break a Nazi code during World War II, he successfully designed and built one, thus ensuring the Allied victory. Turing became a champion of artificial intelligence, but his work was cut short. As an openly gay man at a time when homosexuality was illegal in England, he was convicted and forced to undergo a humiliating "treatment" that may have led to his suicide. With a novelist's sensitivity, David Leavitt portrays Turing in all his humanity�his eccentricities, his brilliance, his fatal candor�and elegantly explains his work and its implications..… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member tgraettinger
Not bad when the book works with well-supported facts, but the author frequently dives into what IMHO appears to be amateurish psychoanalysis and speculation. Turing was an eccentric, complex, and brilliant person with a tragic history. Will have to seek out another biography, like Hodges' "Alan
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Turing: The Enigma". Show Less
LibraryThing member bragan
British mathematician Alan Turing laid many of the foundations of computer science. He also played a significant role in winning WWII with his work on breaking German codes, only to eventually be driven to suicide by the society he had helped to save, which proved incapable of tolerating his
In other words, this is yet another book with lots of interesting potential that turned out to be disappointing. I've been reading too many of those lately. It's made me grumpy, and inclined to rate this one lower than I otherwise might.
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homosexuality. It's an important, fascinating story of genius, triumph and tragedy.... and this book, alas, does not do it justice. As a biography of Turing, it just feels lacking. In fact, the earliest sections are downright annoying, as Leavitt keeps going off on tangents, generally literary ones, that have very little to do with Turing. For a while, I felt as if I were reading an English term paper by someone making a desperate attempt to impress the teacher with his reading, not to mention his ability to find sexual subtext in everything up to and including abstract mathematics. It does sort of settle down after that, and portions of it were actually pretty interesting, but I still don't feel as if I've come away from it with much more of an understanding of Turing the person than I had when I started. I think that's largely because Leavitt tells us a lot about Turing -- or rather, about his ideas about Turing -- but shows us very little. And so much of what he has to say is speculation that seldom seems to be particularly well grounded. It's rather one-note speculation, too; Leavitt never does stop with that sexual subtext thing. It is at least rather more successful as an explanation of Turing's work, especially if you're interested in the gritty mathematical details. Although, really, I think it goes into quite a bit more gritty mathematical detail than most readers are likely to want or need.In other words, this is yet another book with lots of interesting potential that turned out to be disappointing. I've been reading too many of those lately. It's made me grumpy, and inclined to rate this one lower than I otherwise might.
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LibraryThing member joeltallman
Let your eyes glaze over some of the math, and enjoy a brief tour through the life of one of the 20th Century's odd mathematical giants.
LibraryThing member JJMcDermott
Alan Turing was one of the most fascinating figures of 20th century history. His theoretical mathematical work that led to the invention of the computer, his key role in breaking the Nazis' Enigma code during WW II, and his acceptance of his own homosexuality at a time when most of society still
David Leavitt is a gay writer who writes both fiction and nonfiction. He has a narrative style which is easy to read. That is a definite asset in this book, since he addresses some mathematical concepts which might not be easy for everyone to understand.
Leavitt gives a great deal of attention to Turing's sexuality, and argues for two points in particular. One is not very controversial. He points out that other mathematicians who disagreed with Turing's theoretical views used an incorrect syllogism to dismiss those views: "Turing thinks that machines can think. Turing sleeps with men. Therefore, machines cannot think."
The other point Leavitt brings up is more controversial. He makes the case that Turing's homosexuality made him a better mathematical thinker. Basically, the argument is that Turing knew from his own experience that being gay was perfectly natural and that the majority of society was wrong on the issue; that made him a more original thinker in general, which led to his revolutionary ideas that laid the foundation for the invention of the computer. This idea was very intriguing to me, since I frequently hear a similar idea brought up in connection to gay artists and writers, but rarely in connection to gay mathematicians or scientists.
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considered it unnatural, all put him ahead of his time.David Leavitt is a gay writer who writes both fiction and nonfiction. He has a narrative style which is easy to read. That is a definite asset in this book, since he addresses some mathematical concepts which might not be easy for everyone to understand.
Leavitt gives a great deal of attention to Turing's sexuality, and argues for two points in particular. One is not very controversial. He points out that other mathematicians who disagreed with Turing's theoretical views used an incorrect syllogism to dismiss those views: "Turing thinks that machines can think. Turing sleeps with men. Therefore, machines cannot think."
The other point Leavitt brings up is more controversial. He makes the case that Turing's homosexuality made him a better mathematical thinker. Basically, the argument is that Turing knew from his own experience that being gay was perfectly natural and that the majority of society was wrong on the issue; that made him a more original thinker in general, which led to his revolutionary ideas that laid the foundation for the invention of the computer. This idea was very intriguing to me, since I frequently hear a similar idea brought up in connection to gay artists and writers, but rarely in connection to gay mathematicians or scientists.
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LibraryThing member Fred_Wilson
Turing was a fellow at King's College, Cambridge, in 1936, when he confronted what might be called the mathematician's nightmare: the possibility of blindly devoting your life to what, unbeknownst to anyone but God, is an unsolvable problem. If only there were a way to know beforehand, a procedure
Turing's stroke of genius was to recast the issue - mathematicians call it the decision problem - in mechanical terms. A theorem and the instructions for proving it, he realized, could be thought of as input for a machine. If there was a solution, Turing's imaginary device would eventually come to a stop and print the answer. Otherwise it would grind away forever. Although it was not his primary intention, he had discovered, in passing, the idea of the programmable computer.
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for sifting out and discarding the uncrackable nuts.Turing's stroke of genius was to recast the issue - mathematicians call it the decision problem - in mechanical terms. A theorem and the instructions for proving it, he realized, could be thought of as input for a machine. If there was a solution, Turing's imaginary device would eventually come to a stop and print the answer. Otherwise it would grind away forever. Although it was not his primary intention, he had discovered, in passing, the idea of the programmable computer.
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LibraryThing member sben
I didn't know much about Turing as a person, or about much of his work beyond the most famous, so this was interesting from that perspective.
Two major complaints:
* The author kept making connections between Turing's homosexuality and his professional work. While those connections seem reasonable
* At the end of the book -- literally the last several pages -- the author drops the suggestion that the British government had Turing killed. Though it apparently gave the book its title, the speculation is again completely unsupported and speculative, and weakened the book.
Two major complaints:
* The author kept making connections between Turing's homosexuality and his professional work. While those connections seem reasonable
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later in his career, and are very interesting and thought-provoking there, the ties to his earlier work are tenuous at best, and completely unsupported by the author.* At the end of the book -- literally the last several pages -- the author drops the suggestion that the British government had Turing killed. Though it apparently gave the book its title, the speculation is again completely unsupported and speculative, and weakened the book.
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LibraryThing member cendri
I'm a huge fan of Alan Turing's. A FAN. And god, if he isn't completely tragic.
I liked this biography especially because the author sat down and worked out some of the math, and spent time explaining decoding. But really, the important part was that they didn't gloss over the fact
Even for someone that likes to read nonfiction anyway, I was REALLY into this book. Only reason it took so long to get to it was school (since I bought this in the summer).
Great biography. Really.
I liked this biography especially because the author sat down and worked out some of the math, and spent time explaining decoding. But really, the important part was that they didn't gloss over the fact
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that--shock--Turing was gay. Even for someone that likes to read nonfiction anyway, I was REALLY into this book. Only reason it took so long to get to it was school (since I bought this in the summer).
Great biography. Really.
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LibraryThing member AndrewCapey
Not at all sure why this was written. As the author acknowledges, he has used the books by Simon Singh (on code breaking) & the **much better** biography by Andrew Hodges as source material. Having read both of those I don't really see anything substantially new. There are a few bits that extend
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the analysis of Turing's homosexuality but not enough to warrant a new book. Even the trauma of his trial & "treatment" are dealt with in a few pages, & not developed into a polemic on gay rights. So there's no really strong axis to the book - code breaking, maths, life as a homosexual in mid 20thC England - are all present, just not strongly put, apart from making me want to go back to Singh & Hodges.. Show Less
LibraryThing member ajlewis2
I got through almost all of the first chapter. I found the writing style very difficult to read. There are some concepts that are somewhat difficult being a book about a mathematician, but the story didn't seem to flow. The hardest part for me seemed to be a rather unusual combining of words that
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didn't come together for me to give an image of who was doing what or what was happening to whom. I did not finish the 4th section of the first chapter. I'll have to look for something else on Alan Turing. Show Less
LibraryThing member stef7sa
Leavitt being a novelist I expected this to be a novel, but it is a biography. Moreover, most attention goes to Turings mathematical work instead of his life. Unfortunately the author tries to link Turings homosexuality to this work which is almost always unpausible, if not ridiculous. He saves his
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best one for the last sentence though! Turing seems to have had a weird sense of humour that entirely escapes Leavitt. Show Less
LibraryThing member m_mozeleski
A very insightful novel, showing clearly how Turing thought and acted, as well as what he believed. Perhaps a bit cold in the description of personality and relationships, but clear and rather moving. I enjoyed the explanation of the concepts Turing was looking into. While I don't quite have the
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head for it, I would definitely re read this book in an effort to understand them better. The subject of Cryptanalysis is quite difficult, but the explanations are thorough. Show Less
Subjects
Original publication date
2006
Physical description
336 p.; 8.5 inches
ISBN
0739471953 / 9780739471951