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Alan Turing: The Enigma

By: Andrew Hodges
Narrated by: Gordon Griffin
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Editorial reviews

Alan Turing: The Enigma is written by Mathematician Andrew Hodges and is narrated in this biographical audiobook edition by Gordon Griffin. The book went on to be inspiration for the 2014 Academy Award-nominated film The Imitation Game. This is the tragic story of a genius whose profound contributions were doubted for decades and whose personal life was utterly persecuted. After an official public apology from the UK Prime Minister in 2009 and a posthumous pardon from the Queen in 2013, the life of Alan Turing has finally been honoured. This book provides the telling of Turing’s life story that he so rightly deserves history to remember. Available now from Audible.

Publisher's Summary

Listed as one of the essential 50 books of all time in The Guardian

Inspired the Academy Award-nominated film, The Imitation Game

It’s only a slight exaggeration to say that the British mathematician Alan Turing (1912-1954) saved the Allies from the Nazis, invented the computer and artificial intelligence, and anticipated gay liberation by decades--all before his suicide at age forty-one. This classic biography of the founder of computer science, reissued on the centenary of his birth with a substantial new preface by the author, is the definitive account of an extraordinary mind and life.

A gripping story of mathematics, computers, cryptography, and homosexual persecution, Andrew Hodges's acclaimed book captures both the inner and outer drama of Turing's life.Hodges tells how Turing's revolutionary idea of 1936--the concept of a universal machine--laid the foundation for the modern computer and how Turing brought the idea to practical realization in 1945 with his electronic design. The book also tells how this work was directly related to Turing's leading role in breaking the German Enigma ciphers during World War II, a scientific triumph that was critical to Allied victory in the Atlantic. At the same time, this is the tragic story of a man who, despite his wartime service, was eventually arrested, stripped of his security clearance, and forced to undergo a humiliating treatment program--all for trying to live honestly in a society that defined homosexuality as a crime.

©2012 Andrew Hodges (P)2012 Audible Ltd

Critic Reviews

"A first-rate presentation of the life of a first-rate scientific mind...it is hard to imagine a more thoughtful and warm biography than this one." ( NYT Book Review)
"A superb biography. . . . Written by a mathematician, it describes in plain language Turing's work on the foundations of computer science and how he broke the Germans' Enigma code in the Second World War. The subtle depiction of class rivalries, personal relationships, and Turing's tragic end are worthy of a novel. But this was a real person. Hodges describes the man, and the science that fascinated him--which once saved, and still influences, our lives." (Margaret Boden, New Scientist)
"One of the finest scientific biographies I've ever read: authoritative, superbly researched, deeply sympathetic and beautifully told." (Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind.)
"One of the finest scientific biographies ever written." ( Jim Holt, New Yorker)
"A first-class contribution to history and an exemplary work of biography." (I. J. Good, Nature)
"An almost perfect match of biographer and subject. . . . [A] great book." ( Ray Monk, Guardian)

What listeners say about Alan Turing: The Enigma

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    5 out of 5 stars

Unlike the movie, but a great, deep read.

Let me introduce you to Alan. He is a quiet and shy man, but one who mainly gets along with his colleagues. He is determined to tackle large questions and finds that his understanding of mathematics and logic can be applied to aspects of the universe around him, especially in areas that people would deem too messy and without any logic. He is a great proponent of going back to first principles when approaching problems also.

This book has been on my radar for years now. I found it after one of those tipping points where you finally hit the nth reference to a person or idea and you find your ignorance about it embarrassing. By the way, I find that these instances only increase with the more you act upon them. Ignorance really is bliss. Anyway, along comes the film starring Sherlock himself and I found myself highly entertained by the story and wanting to know more. So it was time to tackle this volume and I chose to tackle it by audiobook.

Firstly I want to cover the book and it's difference to the movie, because looking at the words on the print cover, "The Book That Inspired the Film 'The Imitation Game'", it leads you to a sense that a biopic from a biography should be fairly accurate. It seems that the movie took a lot of liberties and while there were not many huge outright lies, there were plenty of distortions, simplifications and exaggerations. There is a little part of me that is offended, but there is another larger part of me that is not surprised. Alan Turing was not a stereotypical genius nerd in a world that did not appreciate him. He did have a huge battle to overcome adversity due to his work being outlandish and misunderstood. It seems like Hollywood latches onto the 'Beautiful Mind' + Sheldon Cooper cookie cutter a little too much. I feel that I should also say that I did enjoy the movie. As far as movies go it was entertaining and also a bit educational. But I guess going into this book I expected a bit more continuity. Cumberbatch's Turing is not Hodge's biography Turing.

Hodge's biography offers a traditional chronological look at Turing's life, from a short section on his lineage to his cremation on the last page. But there is a lot more in here than what you would bargain for. Turing's work and the work leading up it is is explained in great detail. Using the term 'in depth' may be a gross under- exaggeration. There is also a large section focused upon the laws concerning 'perversion' at the time, which Turing was convicted for. If you were to remove the sections concerning math, engineering and law you'll find a book that weighs only a small percentage of the original.

I guess what I am trying to say is that this book is not for the layman. I can only imagine that there will be a lot of copies of this book abandoned on planes, trains and bookshelves because a fan of the movie picked this book up wanting to know more, just like I did. The large sections on mathematical logic I did follow the gist of somewhat, helped along by my greater understanding of maths than the average person. Large sections of this book would only be completely understandable by people with degrees in mathematics. I chose more mathematics subjects in my science degree than the norm, so I have some sense of what is going on in these passages. I pity anyone trying to make it through without some knowledge of this type of maths. If you are a person who hates 'info-dumps' you are going to loathe this book.

But on the positive side, this was the right book at the right time for the right person. I have often found that there is no better way to learn about a person than to find the highest rated biography of that person on Goodreads that is at least 500 pages long. I have been stung with too many shorter biographies that leave me unsatisfied and finding out more information on the person's Wikipedia page. I wanted to know more about Turing and my god I found out a whole lot more.

Of course it's not all about volume. Both the writer and narrator kept me entertained for just over 30 hours. The writer was sympathetic to his subject and yet portrayed his great failings also. I really do feel that I met a person who I can call a hero (I hate that word and I am sure that there is a far greater compliment). Turing had great determination, a high regard for the truth in his work and personal life, and a scientific approach to everything he undertook. He may be known as being a mathematician, but he was an even greater scientist who straddled fields in a time when fields were clearly defined. He often found that there was no perfect audience for his papers and that some fields would only appreciate some aspects, while other parts would not be understood at all. He was converging the sciences with mathematics.

So despite all the negatives that I noted earlier, for me not only a book to be treasured, but an introduction to a man that is greatly misunderstood and hugely under-appreciated. I want a portrait of him up on my wall alongside my Darwin portrait. I am going to get my hands on some of his writing and try to get my head around more of the maths.

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10 people found this helpful

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Really technical

While Alan Turing had an inspiring and awfully interesting life, this book is very technical. Unless you like to hear for a whole minute straight of hearing nothing but numbers, then this book is not for you. Reading is done very well but with the technicality of the book, it's very hard to grasp an ordinary reader.

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Well Researched, Hard Work but Worth It

I appreciated the depth of information in this biography though even with a good degree in Applied Mathematics I found it difficult to follow all the mathematical discussions. I did not need Wikipedia to realise that the author was a mathematician. I read this over some months as I needed to turn away from it from time to time and listen to something lighter.

Certainly a reader may choose to skip the maths and computer related parts of this book and read mainly for biographical details, but the ideas presented are a critical part, I suspect, of who Alan Turing was.

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  • 03-08-2017

Different but Good.

Very interesting and insightful into Alan Turing's life and very different from the film. My only complaint would be that unless you're very into your maths and engineering there will long stretches of content that just go over your head. Or perhaps it was just me since maths was never my thing. Wonderful voice, interesting content (number crunching aside) and I would recommend to anyone who enjoys computers or the lesser explored areas of WW2.

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Enigmatic

A very interesting and enjoyable story. It highlights the true (if flawed) brilliance of AT, and how poorly he was treated despite his contributions to the planet: a terrible waste of a brilliant mind. The story does go into quite detailed (and for me) difficult to understand mathematical explanations. Setting that aside the overall story is truly fascinating and enjoyable. If only AT’s detractors and prosecutors had passed the Turing Test a brilliant and world changing intellect could have made a real difference. Yes the narrator is rather quaint and eccentric sounding but I’ll definitely listen to this one again ;-D

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Tedious

I wish there was an abridged version.
The story or Allan Turing is worth knowing but the author rambles on often and the reader / listener is lost.
It is good that the author goes into the details of the mathematical theories etc and it gives a good understanding of Turing’s genius. However, there are times when you just want the book to end ☹️

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