written by Janna Levin Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University, and published on August 22, 2006 - sounds really good. You can watch a video interview with Janna Levin on the The Colbert Report and download an mp3 file, to listen to on your iPod or computer, of a Janna Levin interview with the The Book Guys Allan Stypeck, Mike Cutbert and Nick Basbanes.The book is about the connection between brilliant minds and eccentric behavior and sometimes - complete insanity of two great thinkers - Alan Turing and Kurt Godel.
Alan Turing and Kurt Godel share some traits - particularly eccentric behaviour and brilliant minds, and diverge completely when it came to a philosophy of life. Alan Turing was an atheist who believed human beings were biological machines. Kurt Godel had little trust in the sensory world and believed in transmigration of the soul.
Alan Turing was a homosexual at a time when that was thought to be a mental illness and possibly a crime. He is thought by some to have had a form of autism known as Asperger's syndrome. In 1952 he was arrested for his homosexual behavior and forced to take estrogen for a year to reduce his libido. He died in 1954 after eating half an apple which he had laced with cyanide.
Kurt Godel suffered a number of nervous breakdowns, was paranoid to the point that he would not eat any food that was not prepared by his wife (who spoon fed him) and died in 1978 weighing 65 pounds as a result of self-starvation, after his wife became to ill to feed him. Kurt Godel was a friend of Albert Einstein and provided input to Einstein as he developed his General Theory of Relativity.
An Amazon book reviewer going by the name "bookish" says of the book "A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines" -
"I would have to say that it is the best book I have read in years. Let's put it this way, I have never felt impelled to write a review before. This book sent me reeling with so many ideas. I want other people to read it.Other books byJanna Levin
The writing is luminous. On the dust jacket the word "Incantatory" is used and I couldn't select a better descriptor myself. The language is incantatory. It is an extremely well crafted novel. There are passages so beautiful that I've found myself returning to read them long after I finished the book. As a former teacher of English, once involved in the publishing industry, I have to say she is an unusually skillful writer."
Continue reading the book review by Bookish
available on Amazon.comA wealth of information on Alan Turing, known as the founder of computer science and also as one of the key people in deciphering the encryption used by the German Enigma machine during WW-II can be found on a site maintained by Andrew Hodges, author of the book Alan Turing: The Enigma
and Turing (Great Philosophers)
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