George Dyson is a science historian as well as a boat designer and builder. He is also the author of Baidarka, Project Orion, and Darwin Among the Machines.
“The best book I’ve read on the origins of the computer. . . not
only learned, but brilliantly and surprisingly idiosyncratic and
strange.”
—The Boston Globe
“A groundbreaking history . . . the book brims with unexpected
detail.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“A technical, philosophical and sometimes personal account . . .
wide-ranging and lyrical.”
—The Economist
“The story of the [von Neumann] computer project and how it begat
today’s digital universe has been told before, but no one has told
it with such precision and narrative sweep.”
—The New York Review of Books
“A fascinating combination of the technical and human stories
behind the computing breakthroughs of the 1940s and ‘50s. . . . An
important work.”
—The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Vivid. . . . [A] detailed yet readable chronicle of the birth of
modern computing. . . . Dyson’s book is one small step toward
reminding us that behind all the touch screens, artificial
intelligences and cerebellum implants lies not sorcery but a
machine from the middle of New Jersey.”
—The Oregonian
“Well-told. . . . Dyson tells his story as a sort of intellectual
caper film. He gathers his cast of characters . . . and tracks
their journey to Princeton. When they converge, it’s great fun,
despite postwar food rationing and housing shortages. . . . Dyson
is rightly as concerned with the machine’s inventors as with the
technology itself."
—The Wall Street Journal
“Charming. . . . Creation stories are always worth telling,
especially when they center on the birth of world-changing powers.
. . . Dyson creatively recounts the curious Faustian bargain that
permitted mathematicians to experiment with building more powerful
computers, which in turn helped others build more destructive
bombs.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
“The story of the invention of computers has been told many times,
from many different points of view, but seldom as authoritatively
and with as much detail as George Dyson has done. . . . Turing’s
Cathedral will enthrall computer enthusiasts. . . . Employing
letters, memoirs, oral histories and personal interviews, Dyson
organizes his book around the personalities of the men (and
occasional woman) behind the computer, and does a splendid job in
bringing them to life.”
—The Seattle Times
“A powerful story of the ethical dimension of scientific
research, a story whose lessons apply as much today in an era of
expanded military R&D as they did in the ENIAC and MANIAC era .
. . Dyson closes the book with three absolutely,
hair-on-neck-standing-up inspiring chapters on the present and
future, a bracing reminder of the distance we have come on some of
the paths envisioned by von Neumann, Turing, et al.”
—Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing
“No other book about the beginnings of the digital age . . . makes
the connections this one does between the lessons of the computer’s
origin and the possible paths of its future.”
—The Guardian
“If you want to be mentally prepared for the next revolution in
computing, Dyson’s book is a must read. But it is also a must read
if you just want a ripping yarn about the way real scientists (at
least, some real scientists) work and think.”
—Literary Review
“More than just a great book about science. It’s a great book,
period.”
—The Globe and Mail
Dyson's (Project Orion: The True Story of the Atomic Spaceship) history of the first computer is a compelling and readable narrative. Under the leadership of John von Neumann, researchers at the Institute of Advanced Study in New Jersey built the first working computer. The book details each of the principal scientists and their part in this grand scheme. Chapter by chapter, readers are introduced to more than 70 individuals, each of whom played a unique role in the project. Even Princeton University gets its own chapter. The novelistic structure of the book makes it more entertaining than a typical, chronological history text, though at times also more difficult to follow. Dyson often has newly introduced persons interact with other figures who do not appear until later chapters, which will make reading more difficult for those who are not already familiar with this topic. Verdict Recommended for readers interested in the history of computers, history of science during World War II, and modern American history.-Dawn Lowe-Wincentsen, Oregon Inst. of Technology, Portland (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Ask a Question About this Product More... |