Books like Turing and the computer by Paul Strathern

An exploration of the parallels between computer systems and the nervous system, focusing on cybernetic principles and neural networks.

Alan Turing, cryptographer at Bletchley Park and pioneer of modern computing, dreamed of a machine that could think, shaping the world of computer science and exploring the boundaries between human and technology.

Legendary historian and philosopher of science George Dyson vividly re-creates the scenes of focused experimentation, incredible mathematical insight, and pure creative genius that gave us computers, digital television, modern genetics, models of stellar evolution--in other words, computer code. In the 1940s and '50s, a group of eccentric geniuses--led by John von Neumann--gathered at the newly created Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Their joint project was the realization of the theoretical universal machine, an idea that had been put forth by mathematician Alan Turing. This group of brilliant engineers worked in isolation, almost entirely independent from industry and the traditional academic community. But because they relied exclusively on government funding, the government wanted its share of the results: the computer that they built also led directly to the hydrogen bomb. George Dyson has uncovered a wealth of new material about this project, and in bringing the story of these men and women and their ideas to life, he shows how the crucial advancements that dominated twentieth-century technology emerged from one computer in one laboratory, where the digital universe as we know it was born.

Alan M. Turing, a towering figure in 20th‑century mathematics and computing, whose pioneering work on Enigma and contributions to logic, artificial intelligence and computational biology reshaped modern science.

Brilliant mathematician and codebreaker Alan Turing’s life and ideas—from breaking Germany’s Enigma codes to founding theoretical computer science—are explored in this concise biography.