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JON AGAR, Turing and the Universal Machine: The Making of the Modern Computer. Revolutions in Science. Duxford: Icon Books, 2001. Pp. iv + 153. ISBN 1-84046-250-7. L5.99, $9.95 (paperback).
DOI: 10.1017/S0007087402264882
This inexpensive paperback is a member of the `Revolutions in Science' series edited by Jon Turney for Icon Books. These are short works intended for a general readership. Jon Agar is one of the most engaging writers in the history of science and this book is outstandingly readable and accessible.
Despite its short length and easy style, Turing and the Universal Machine contains some powerful insights and an original perspective on the development of computing. The reader's interest is sustained by the biographical strand of Alan Turing, the brilliant British mathematician, code-breaker, computer designer and gay icon who died by suicide in 1954 following a conviction for homosexual behaviour. The book is, however, more than a life of Alan Turing,...