Alan Turing: The Enigma
  • Published: 1 December 2014
  • ISBN: 9781784700089
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 768
  • RRP: $27.99

Alan Turing: The Enigma

Formats & editions
Paperback
1 Dec 2014
EBook
30 Nov 2012
Paperback
15 Jun 2012
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The official book behind the Academy Award-winning film, The Imitation Game, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley

The official book behind the Academy Award-winning film The Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley

Alan Turing was the mathematician whose cipher-cracking transformed the Second World War. Taken on by British Intelligence in 1938, as a shy young Cambridge don, he combined brilliant logic with a flair for engineering. In 1940 his machines were breaking the Enigma-enciphered messages of Nazi Germany’s air force. He then headed the penetration of the super-secure U-boat communications.

But his vision went far beyond this achievement. Before the war he had invented the concept of the universal machine, and in 1945 he turned this into the first design for a digital computer.

Turing's far-sighted plans for the digital era forged ahead into a vision for Artificial Intelligence. However, in 1952 his homosexuality rendered him a criminal and he was subjected to humiliating treatment. In 1954, aged 41, Alan Turing took his own life.
  • Published: 1 December 2014
  • ISBN: 9781784700089
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 768
  • RRP: $27.99
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About the author

Andrew Hodges

Andrew Hodges was born in Suburban London in 1949. Since 1972 he has been working on the theory of twistors - the new approach to the problems of fundamental physics pioneered by the mathematician Roger Penrose. His interest in the mysterious figure of Alan Turing developed partly from his mathematical background, but also from his participation in the gay liberation movement of the 1970s. In 1977 he decided only a full-length biography of Turing could do justice to the issues involved, and this, his first full-length book, appeared in 1983. His classic text has been translated into several languages. He has since returned to mathematics and is a Research Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford University. See www.turing.org.uk for further material.

portrait photo of Andrew Hodges

Praise for Alan Turing: The Enigma

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

Douglas Hofstadter, New York Times Book Review

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 I’ve ever read: authoritative, superbly researched, deeply sympathetic and beautifully told

Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind

Andrew Hodges' book is of exemplary scholarship and sympathy. Intimate, perceptive and insightful, it’s also the most readable biography I’ve picked up in some time

Time Out

Andrew Hodge’s book is of exemplary scholarship and sympathy. Intimate, perceptive and insightful, it’s also the most readable biography I’ve picked up in some time

Time Out

A first-rate presentation of the life of a first-rate scientific mind

New York Times Book Review

One of the finest scientific biographies ever written

New Yorker

One of the finest scientific biographies ever written

New Yorker

Save your money for the forthcoming new edition of Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges, regarded by many as one of the greatest biographies of anyone, let along Turing

Robert Matthews, BBC Focus Magazine

This book stands the test of time. It is a labour of love…compelling

Energy and Technology

Authoritative biography

BBC online

Hodges's biography is sensitive, sympathetic and uncompromisingly intellectual. The maths is extremely hard work – but helps the lay reader to appreciate the scale of Turing's achievements

Brandon Robsaw, Independent on Sunday

A rich and fascinating portrait of a genius whose life was tragically ended before its time

Gay Times