Turing (A Novel about Computation) by Christos H. Papadimitriou (PDF)

Description

The world of computation according to Turing, an interactive tutoring program, as told to star-crossed lovers: a novel.Our hero is Turing, an interactive tutoring program and namesake (or virtual emanation?) of Alan Turing, World War II code breaker and father of computer science. In this unusual novel, Turing’s idiosyncratic version of intellectual history from a computational point of view unfolds in tandem with the story of a love affair involving Ethel, a successful computer executive, Alexandros, a melancholy archaeologist, and Ian, a charismatic hacker. After Ethel (who shares her first name with Alan Turing’s mother) abandons Alexandros following a sundrenched idyll on Corfu, Turing appears on Alexandros’s computer screen to unfurl a tutorial on the history of ideas. He begins with the philosopher-mathematicians of ancient Greece—”discourse, dialogue, argument, proof… can only thrive in an egalitarian society”—and the Arab scholar in ninth-century Baghdad who invented algorithms; he moves on to many other topics, including cryptography and artificial intelligence, even economics and developmental biology. (These lessons are later critiqued amusingly and developed further in postings by a fictional newsgroup in the book’s afterword.) As Turing’s lectures progress, the lives of Alexandros, Ethel, and Ian converge in dramatic fashion, and the story takes us from Corfu to Hong Kong, from Athens to San Francisco—and of course to the Internet, the disruptive technological and social force that emerges as the main locale and protagonist of the novel.Alternately pedagogical and romantic, Turing (A Novel about Computation) should appeal both to students and professionals who want a clear and entertaining account of the development of computation and to the general reader who enjoys novels of ideas.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I found it an interesting combination of textbook or popular science material on computer science and a novel.At times the popular science material becomes too dull and too long, but I managed not to skip a page to reach the novel part!It is not a classic novel and may come short of meeting the literary standards for it, but it is a worthwhile read in my view.

⭐This is a rather bland novel interspersed with a very rudimentary introduction to computer science, starting with the basic operation of semiconductors and working up to operating systems, applications, and AI, all at a very superficial and occasionally inaccurate level.

⭐Great book with an interesting plot and fantastic references to eminent computer scientists and philosophers.

⭐As a fictional book, I didn’t enjoy “Turing”; I’ve expected more of it, and I confess I was desinterested in the story and characters before I’ve reached half of the book.On the other hand, “Turing” is a novel about teaching Mathematics and Computer Science, and it does a fine job on it by presenting a good series lectures ranging from Logic to modern AI theories.Considering this, from now on I’ll treat this book as a good reference in those areas.

⭐This novel tried to imitate the famous “Sophie’s World” in computation. As long the pedagogy is concerned this novel passed the test favorably, but as the fiction is concerned it failed miserably. The story doesn’t flow at all. Too much vagueness everywhere. Its a story about too smart people, no place for average people – a weird juxtaposition. The idea of adding in appendix a blog that clarifies some of the ideas mentioned in the text is superb indeed. But overall it is a failed attempt to write a novel by a very accomplished textbook author.

⭐I loved this book, I first heard about it when Papadimitriou gave a guest-lecture at my school on the application of game theory to the study of the evolution of the internet. Much of the story involves tutoring sessions between Turing and Alaxendros while in the background a story evolves. There are some interesting aspects to this book that set it apart from most fiction I’ve read, for example, there are citations scattered about which point to transcripts from a fictional newsgroup discussion. I found this approach to be much more pleasing than footnotes explaining back story. (…)

⭐Turing is a wonderful tale of romance and discovery in a networked society.A clever and captivating story line guides the reader through centuries of human ingenuity and intellectual achievement. The carefully crafted characters become alive instantly as we assimilate their charisma, vulnerabilities and idiosyncrasies. The author’s expressiveness and attention to detail are uncanny, particularly when describing the interactions of the diverse personalities. The dialog is equally engaging and coherent, although somewhat less crisp in the middle section of the book.In one of its central themes, Turing explores the preservation of knowledge and ideas across life spans and generations. Specifically, the book excels at demonstrating the importance of preserving not only the core innovations but also the processes, thinking patterns, and personality traits that led to their discovery. Storytelling is used throughout the book as a key tool of disseminating intellectual capital.The successful fusion of history, economics, mathematics, computer science, and let’s not forget rock lyrics, is brilliant and original. Indeed, the book illustrates the intrinsic value of merging heterogeneous subjects, cultures, and viewpoints when solving Byzantine problems.The humorous undertone, together with a crystal clear presentation of modern scientific thoughts, make this book both educational and enjoyable.

⭐A dot-com princess vacationing in a greek island meets a left-wing intellectual: Sex, web jargon, rock lyrics, post-politics, nude beaches, more sex. A bisexual, drug-addicted, HIV-positive hacker is biding his time in the Far East. Archimedes is about to discover how to use math and gears to run the economy of ancient Italy. And in the middle of all this a program named “Turing” (the name being the only stupid thing about it) inflicts upon anybody who would listen a heretical, irreverend, computer-obsessed account of Man’s quest for the truth through the centuries — in a cocky, funny, cursory monologue, often quite insighhtful and original, that fills about half of the pages and leaves too little for the thin, yet engaging, plot. Finally, a bunch of raving lunatics (you wonder how many of them are real) respond to the book in a newsgroup excerpted in an appendix.Overall, a delightful little book, which works against all odds and despite its many oddities.

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