Turing and the Computer : The Big Idea

Rating:
Summary: Computer Journalism
Review: If you want to read about Turing and the origins of computing on the level and in the style of your Sunday newspaper, this is your book (especially if that Sunday newspaper of yours comes in tabloid format). Otherwise, go for something more intelligent, like A. Hodges, Davies or Copeland.

Rating:
Summary: Nice biography, but not technical enough
Review: This book gives a short overview over the life of Alan Turing, though it does not go as deep into detail as Douglas Hofstaedter does - and that was just one article in his Metamagicum collection! But if you don't already have Hofstaedter on your bookshelf, you might as well buy this book.

Unfortunately, the mathematical and technical stuff in the book are only described very vaguely - I did not understand how the Enigma code was cracked, or how the proofs concerning computability worked. I am not quite sure whether the author understood what he was writing about.

Rating:
Summary: A good appetizer
Review: This little book offers a quick overview of the history of the computer until eventually settling on Alan Turing and his paramount contributions. Obviously it is not meant to be exhaustive but it opens up a menu of topics to be followed if one is interested, all circling around Turing: computer theory, mathematics and the solution of cryptographical problems, Bletchley Park's contribution to winning WorldWarII, artificial intelligence, mathematical theory, mid-20th century persecution of homosexuals in Britain, eccentricity and the nature of genius, the very peculiar personality of Turing himself. It's a little book that explains some basics and opens many doors, for which one has to be grateful.

Rating:
Summary: Learn about computer history!
Review: What? You have never heard of Alan Turing? You don't deserve tolive! Quick, buy this book (which [is inexpensive]) and learn everything about computer history before uncle Gabriel discover it and pull your ear lobes! This book shows the computer history, beginning from abacus and obviously focuses at Alan Turing and his most important inventions for computing history, the Colossus and the ENIAC. What? You have never heard of ENIAC? Promise to us: come back here in Hardware Secrets only after you have finished reading this book, ok?