It seems like ages since I finished a book. I actually checked, my last post in the Books category is dated 7th Dec, last year. Meanwhile I hadn't stopped buying books, making substantial additions to my collection. You keep doing that and there comes a point when the towers of books on the table (and chair), under the cot etc become just too much to bear and makes me park my lazy ass and do some actual, continuous reading. Lacking any big plans, the weekend offered the opportunity.
The book was David Leavitt's biography of Alan Turing. All you CS grads know about Turing machine, Turing test, Turing award and so on. No doubt the man was a Genius! He started his career as a pure mathematician, specifically tackling the decision problem (he proved it is insoluble), and it is for this task that he invented the concept of 'a-machine' (which later became known as Turing machine). During WWII he was among the chief cryptanalysts of Britain and broke the formidable Enigma cipher. Later, he proposed the 'imitation game' (which later became known as Turing test) as a test to decide whether a machine can be deemed intelligent. But despite his towering intelligence and important contributions, he led a tragic life. He was a homosexual (which was punishable by law in 1950s), and when this fact was discovered, he was deemed a security threat by the authorities, his security clearance was revoked, and he was forced to undergo a course of estrogen injections (intended to cure him) which was effectively chemical castration. Humiliated, he took his life by biting into a cynaide laced apple in 1954.
The book is a good read, but it is not extensive. The 'computable numbers' paper (in which Turing proposed the 'a-machine') is well explained, but I found the description of Enigma breaking a bit confusing (read Simon Singh's Code book if you really want to know). Also there is a theory that the 'Computing machinery and Intelligence' paper (in which the 'imitation game' was proposed) has a parallel meaning as describing Turing's feelings regarding his sexuality, which I found rather amusing. Now maybe I should go and read The biography of Turing.
Enjoy!
The book was David Leavitt's biography of Alan Turing. All you CS grads know about Turing machine, Turing test, Turing award and so on. No doubt the man was a Genius! He started his career as a pure mathematician, specifically tackling the decision problem (he proved it is insoluble), and it is for this task that he invented the concept of 'a-machine' (which later became known as Turing machine). During WWII he was among the chief cryptanalysts of Britain and broke the formidable Enigma cipher. Later, he proposed the 'imitation game' (which later became known as Turing test) as a test to decide whether a machine can be deemed intelligent. But despite his towering intelligence and important contributions, he led a tragic life. He was a homosexual (which was punishable by law in 1950s), and when this fact was discovered, he was deemed a security threat by the authorities, his security clearance was revoked, and he was forced to undergo a course of estrogen injections (intended to cure him) which was effectively chemical castration. Humiliated, he took his life by biting into a cynaide laced apple in 1954.
The book is a good read, but it is not extensive. The 'computable numbers' paper (in which Turing proposed the 'a-machine') is well explained, but I found the description of Enigma breaking a bit confusing (read Simon Singh's Code book if you really want to know). Also there is a theory that the 'Computing machinery and Intelligence' paper (in which the 'imitation game' was proposed) has a parallel meaning as describing Turing's feelings regarding his sexuality, which I found rather amusing. Now maybe I should go and read The biography of Turing.
Enjoy!
2 comments:
Glad that you're back to reading :)
I want to see all those piles completed :D
Even I want to..
Someday.. Someday.. :)
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