brenticus reviewed Turing's Vision by Chris Bernhardt
None
3 stars
I thought this would be more about Turing and less about computability but hey, at least that computer science degree is good for something.
The mathematical history surrounding Turing's results puts them in very interesting, both highlighting how important he is to the history of computing and giving credit to the large number of logicians and mathematicians who came before and after him. The proofs highlighted interesting logical devices–some, like diagonalization, probably explained better than in my degree–but occasionally got repetitive and boring. There was some minor inconsistencies in language and definitions that made it a bit hard to parse the proofs, but it's all certainly more clear than the original papers.
Regarding the biographical aspects... There's not much. Even the last chapter, ostensibly about all the parts of Turing's life after his work with Turing machines, only occasionally mentions him and goes into hardly any detail.
This book is …
The mathematical history surrounding Turing's results puts them in very interesting, both highlighting how important he is to the history of computing and giving credit to the large number of logicians and mathematicians who came before and after him. The proofs highlighted interesting logical devices–some, like diagonalization, probably explained better than in my degree–but occasionally got repetitive and boring. There was some minor inconsistencies in language and definitions that made it a bit hard to parse the proofs, but it's all certainly more clear than the original papers.
Regarding the biographical aspects... There's not much. Even the last chapter, ostensibly about all the parts of Turing's life after his work with Turing machines, only occasionally mentions him and goes into hardly any detail.
This book is a bit hard to recommend, with not enough depth in the math to actually teach much about computer science and not enough detail in the history to satisfy there, but it was a decent read that sparked some nostalgia for my university days so I'm happy enough.
