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  1. $17.50 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

The Man Who Knew Too Much: Alan Turing and the Invention of the Computer (Great Discoveries)

by David Leavitt

The Man Who Knew Too Much: Alan Turing and the Invention of the Computer (Great Discoveries) Cover

ISBN13: 9780393329094
ISBN10: 0393329097
Condition: Standard
All Product Details

Only 1 left in stock at $9.50!

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

A "skillful and 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.

Synopsis:

Alan Turing helped break the Nazis' Enigma code and became a champion of artificial intelligence. An openly gay man, he was sentenced to chemical castration and committed suicide. Leavitt portrays Turing in all his humanity--his eccentricities, his brilliance, his fatal candor.

About the Author

David Leavitt is the author of several novels (most recently, The Body of Jonah Boyd) and story collections. He teaches creative writing at the University of Florida, Gainesville, where he lives.

Product Details

ISBN:
9780393329094
Subtitle:
Alan Turing and the Invention of the Computer
Author:
Leavitt, David
Publisher:
W. W. Norton & Company
Subject:
General
Subject:
History
Subject:
History -- Philosophy.
Subject:
Scientists - General
Subject:
Science & Technology
Edition Description:
Paperback
Series:
Great Discoveries
Publication Date:
November 2006
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
319
Dimensions:
8 x 5 in

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