Description
Book SynopsisGeorge Dyson''s fascinating account of the early years of computers: Turing''s Cathedral is the story behind how the PC, ipod, smartphone and almost every aspect of modern life came into being.
In 1945 a small group of brilliant engineers and mathematicians gathered at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, determined to build a computer that would make Alan Turing''s theory of a ''universal machine'' reality. Led by the polymath émigré John von Neumann, they created the numerical framework that underpins almost all modern computing - and ensured that the world would never be the same again.
George Dyson is a historian of technology whose interests include the development (and redevelopment) of the Aleut kayak. He is the author of Baidarka; Project Orion; and Darwin Among the Machines.
''Unusual, wonderful, visionary'' Francis Spufford, Guardian
''Fascinating . . . the story Dyson tells is intensely human . . . a grippi
Trade Review
Riveting . . . conveys the electrifying sense of possibility that the first computers unleashed . . . a page-turner * New Scientist *
Brings to life a myriad cast of extraordinary characters, each of whom contributed to ushering in today's digital age * Daily Telegraph *
An engrossing and well-researched book that recounts an important chapter in the history of 20th-century computing -- Evgeny Morozov * Observer *
