The Man Who Knew Too Much by David Leavitt
To solve one of the great mathematical problems of his day, Alan Turing proposed an imaginary programmable calculating machine. But the idea of actually producing a "Turing machine" did not crystallize until he and his brilliant Bletchley Park colleagues built devices to crack the Nazis' Enigma code, thus ensuring the Allies' victory in World War II. In so doing, Turing became a champion of artificial intelligence, formulating the famous (and still unbeaten) Turing Test that challenges our ideas of human consciousness. But Turing's postwar computer-building was cut short when, as an openly gay man in a time when homosexuality was officially illegal in England, he was apprehended by the authorities and sentenced to a "treatment" that amounted to chemical castration, leading to his suicide. With a novelist's sensitivity, David Leavitt portrays Turing in all his humanity-his eccentricities, his brilliance, his fatal candor-while elegantly explaining his work and its implications.
'a painful and slightly deranged story, a case history to illustrate Freud's notion that modern man is a 'prosthetic god', immortailised by his technological appliancesIt is guaranteed to make you feel tenderly towards the martyred Turing' -- Peter Conrad THE OBSERVER '[Leavitt's] description of Turing's great paper on computable numbers really does explain what it was about and why it was important.' THE TIMES 'Leavitt's biography will give even the most innumerate reader an idea of the beautiful and fascinating world he is missing.' THE ECONOMIST 'Turing... showed that no mathematical system can provide a general method for testing the truth or falsehood of its theorems.' THE SPECTATOR 'A thoroughly compelling read.' CITY A.M. 'Leavitt provides a sympathetic novelist's take on a brilliant eccentric... a picture of the fragility of human genius.' THE GUARDIAN 'Alan Turing's story will still fascinate those who come to it through this book.' THE INDEPENDENT 'a peculiarly British tragedy, where genius is subordinate to the status quo and conformity prized above all.' TIME OUT
David Leavitt is the author of several novels, including most recently The Body of Jonah Boyd, and story collections. He teaches creative writing at the University of Florida, Gainesville, where he lives.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780297846550 |
| ISBN 10 | 0297846558 |
| Title | The Man Who Knew Too Much |
| Author | David Leavitt |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Orion Publishing Co |
| Year published | 2006-06-08 |
| Number of pages | 320 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |