Rating: 
Summary: Intriguing Mystery, Fascinating History
Review: I had never heard of the Turk before reading a short blurb elsewhere about this book, nor do I play chess, but I was intrigued enough by what I read to order it and am glad I did. A relatively short book with some occasional (in my opinion) awkward writing, it provides a fascinating look at 18th century automata in general as well as a detailed history of the Turk. What was the Turk? As the title and book jacket indicate, a famous chess playing machine designed as a Turkish man sitting at a cabinet with a chessboard on top. The Turk moved its own pieces, could roll its eyes and shake its head, and, having put its opponent in check, say "Check" (or, later, "Echec", the equivalent in French). It could even detect cheating, at which it would return the offending piece to its previous position and then continue with its own turn, forcing the cheater to lose his. Cheat again and the piece would be confiscated; cheat thrice and the Turk would shake his head and sweep all the pieces to the floor.Although not unbeatable, the Turk won the great majority of its games and defeated some of the best players of its day. It was shown throughout Europe, made its way to the United States, and was even displayed in Cuba. During its travels it played against Napoleon Bonaparte-according to his valet, Napoleon cheated and was duly caught-and Benjamin Franklin, a rumored sore loser. Edgar Allen Poe saw The Turk play and wrote an exposé as to how he thought it worked. Its fame and indeed its life outlasted that of its creator, who rued that it overshadowed his other considerable achievements, and in all its 85 years of existence its secret remained just that. Was it really a machine? Or was there some trick that allowed human intelligence to guide it? If so, how? And what ultimately became of it? Along with the answers to these questions read contemporary theories as to how it worked, and how the genius that went into producing the automata of the time was the precursor to the Industrial Revolution and even today's computer. From early talking machines, mechanical ducks and elephants, and fabulously elaborate clocks and diorama man progressed to mightier machines and thus changed the world. At the end of the book the author reveals the secret of the Turk, plus tacks on to me a superfluous history of Deep Blue, today's modern equivalent. I stayed up until 1:30 a.m. to finish the book because I wanted so badly to know how The Turk worked and I was afraid I'd cheat otherwise and skip to the end. If you want an entertaining read for a couple evenings, I would highly recommend this book. One doesn't have to play chess to admire The Turk or enjoy its wonderful story.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Very Fun
Review: I might be a bit biased since my grandfather used to tell me about this automaton, but on the other hand I don't particularly like chess, so on balance I feel justified reviewing. This is a terrific book, a short, breezy read about an audacious incident that is deservedly still legendary. Really something you can't put down. On top of legitimate sounding details, Standage provides a solution that is reasonably satisfying for how this thing worked. I would have liked more detail on some of the mechanisms and on how the machine came to have an apparently rare-at-the-time solution to a classic chess puzzle ("the knight's tour"; I think I understand what Standage is getting at with this, but he never really spells it out). But with the inventor long dead and the machine consumed in a fire, these details are probably lost to history. What remains is fun and well worth reading. [Note that the "other" Turk book currently in print contains all the primary sources but costs $50. Standage uses that book as a source in producing this book, which is pitched at a more general audience. My advice: read this one and either or both of Steven Millhauser's novellas about automatons, then see if you can find somebody willing to lend you the big book.]
Rating:
Summary: From Maria Theresa to Kasparov, by fermed
Review: This is a delightful book that takes one cultural artifact (a mechanical chess playing machine that looks like a human being and is dressed in oriental opulence, "The Turk") and follows its entire life, from its conceptualization and manufacture to its final demise in a fire in Philadelphia. The period of the Turk's life lasted 85 years, and the people who somehow met and interacted with it were such luminaries Napoleon, and Charles Babbage (inventor of the first computer, sort of), and P. T. Barnum. Edgar Allan Poe started an entire genre (the short detective story) by writing "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," in part inspired by the mental exercise of trying to figure out how The Turk worked. Silas Wier Mitchell, the famous American Civil War physician and neurologist, actually owned The Turk before donating it to the Chinese museum in which it finally perished. Literally hundreds of Europe's intellectuals, and crowned heads, and glitterati of one sort or another played chess against the famous automaton, and usually (but not always) lost the game. And nobody except the operators knew the secret of the machine. The Turk was the work of Wolfgang Kempelen, an engineer and an aid to the Austro-Hungarian Empress Maria Theresa, who called him to court so that he could explain to her the magic and the related magnetic games that were being demonstrated by a Frenchman by the name of Pelletier in the various courts of Europe. Maria Theresa, being of a scientific mind herself, wanted a respected official to uncover the trickery (if any) involved in Pelletier's performance. Mr. Kempelen explained each act as it was being performed, and was so unimpressed by the whole show that he boasted that if he had six months of free time he would be able to construct a really impressive automaton that would outclass anything then being shown in Europe. Maria Therese took him up on the challenge, and ordered him to go home, build his marvel in six months, and forget his duties to the state during that period. Six months passed and in the Spring of 1770 Mr. Kempelen arrived in court with the Turk in tow. It was a life-size wood carving of a man wearing Turkish garb, seated at a table, with only one movable arm (the left)with dexterous fingers, and with a fixed gaze that stared down at a chess board. On the night of the first demonstration, Kempelen wheeled the figure before the audience, opened the various doors of the table, showing an impressive set of elaborate and mysterious clockwork and allowing the audience to look through the various openings, shining a candle for behind, so that they would see they were either empty or full of wheels and cogs, but free of any human being. When he convinced everyone that there was nothing hiding inside the machine, Kempelen invited one of the courtiers to sit at the table and play against the Turk. He used a large key to wind it up, and when he released a lever the Turk moved his head as if scanning the board, and suddenly reached out his arm and moved a piece. The game had began! Every ten moves or so, Kempelen would wind up the mechanism again, giving it the additional energy to proceed with the game. The Turk, of course, won the match that launched his famous career. The author follows this career carefully and only after the Turk's life was ended does he reveal the method used by Kempelen (and others that owned the automaton). That is fair enough, giving the book the measure of suspense it should have in order to keep the reader excited and able to create his or her theory about how the machine operated and hold it until the end of the book. The book does not end with the demise of the Turk, but it extends into the realm of the Kasparov - Deep Blue matches of 1996 (Kasparov won) and 1997 (D B won). It is a thoroughly delightful book to get into, and a hard one to put down. Even after the secrets of the machine are revealed, one is left in utter amazement about the Turk and its rambunctious life.
Rating:
Summary: Understanding the mechanical brain
Review: This is a highly informative book, even for those who couldn't care less about a game of chess. Standage offers a splendid insight in the development of human thought between the 18th and 20th Century. Very entertaining!
Rating:
Summary: A Non-Fiction Mystery
Review: This is a wonderful history of a chess playing automaton. The author weaves into the history the mechanical progress of the times as well as the public's yearning to view automatons and to be bamboozled. The "Turk" had an interesting history unto itself which included meeting many important world figures during its long career, including Twain and Napoleon. In addition to giving the reader what would be only a fairly interesting history, the author did not disclose how the Turk worked until the very end. He shared the many theories posed and the debunking of them. His self-control in holding back the secret kept reading the book as if it were an Ellery Queen novel rather than a piece of non-fiction. The finishing touch was a chapter on a real chess-playing machine, Big Blue and its human opponent. This was an interesting and thoroughly entertaining read.
Rating:
Summary: Show Business Hasn't Changed
Review: This is the story of a brilliant inventor who manages to be trapped in his own fraud. The story reads very quickly and is deftly interwoven with a history of automata and commentary upon society's interaction with new technology. (Once something gets boring--put it on the shelf for a few years and people will again pay for the experience.)
The book becomes even more interesting when the author details the development of IBM's chess machine that actually fulfills the promise of the earlier machine--the "Turk". Mr. Standage's rare ability to teach broad historical lessons in the context of a focused examination of an old "technology" makes this book a must read.
Makes you wonder if in the future we will be reading books showing how our science-fiction (i.e. Star Trek) accurately presaged some yet to be developed technology.
Rating:
Summary: Plenty of mental torque in "The Turk"
Review: Thorough, well-written exposition on history's famous and fascinating mechanical puzzle. If you're at all interested in chess, automata, computer intelligence (or even stage magic), this book's for you.
Rating:
Summary: Very Very Fun
Review: Tom Standage investigates one of the 18th century's most interesting mysteries, the chess playing automaton "The Turk." Part detective story and part technological history, THE TURK combines a tale of man's fascination with the concept of "thinking machines" with the story of how the pursuit of that ideal led to the creation of one of the greatest ruses in history. By gradually (a bit too gradually) introducing the reader to the time period and the public's preoccupation with all things mechanical, Standage shows the reader a world waiting to be amazed; even if the amazement comes by way of an ingenious form of misdirection. With appearances by a number of figures who were intimately involved with The Turk's "performances to the interaction of such luminaries as Napoleon and Poe, Standage keeps the reader interested in each and every twist of The Turk's rather bizarre history. It is only when Standage takes on the philosophy of the "thinking machine" does the book make a wrong turn; it slows down the pace and interrupts the flow of what is otherwise an intriguing look this amazing example of man's ingenuity.
P.S. You will find out how it works!
Rating: 
Summary: The "original" chess playing machine
Review: Tom Standage investigates one of the 18th century's most interesting mysteries, the chess playing automaton "The Turk." Part detective story and part technological history, THE TURK combines a tale of man's fascination with the concept of "thinking machines" with the story of how the pursuit of that ideal led to the creation of one of the greatest ruses in history. By gradually (a bit too gradually) introducing the reader to the time period and the public's preoccupation with all things mechanical, Standage shows the reader a world waiting to be amazed; even if the amazement comes by way of an ingenious form of misdirection. With appearances by a number of figures who were intimately involved with The Turk's "performances to the interaction of such luminaries as Napoleon and Poe, Standage keeps the reader interested in each and every twist of The Turk's rather bizarre history. It is only when Standage takes on the philosophy of the "thinking machine" does the book make a wrong turn; it slows down the pace and interrupts the flow of what is otherwise an intriguing look this amazing example of man's ingenuity.
P.S. You will find out how it works!
|
