Turing's Cathedral

Turing's Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe  401 pp.

I have to admit that while I thought this was a very interesting albeit tedious book, there were sections of it that I didn't understand at all. George Dyson documents the development of the computers that we now can't seem to live without, from the early mathematical theories, through the first early machines that only did simple calculations, on through the development of the ENIAC, MANIAC, and early IBM computers. The government's use of the computers for bomb calculations during World War II and the Cold War nuclear buildup helped spur on the development of new and better systems. The book focuses on many of the people who were instrumental in this work and the contributions they made. Alan Turing, John Von Neumann, Stan Ulam, Jule Charney, Julian Bigelow, Robert Oppenheimer,  the author's father, and others are featured in this book. The objections of the "pure" mathematics people to the inclusion of engineers to the Institute of Advanced Studies at Princeton was amusing to me as was Bigelow's penchant for driving old cars that were always breaking down and Von Neumann's insistence on staying only at fancy hotels when traveling while Turing stayed in hostels. An Amazon reviewer said the inclusion of a timeline would have been helpful and I agree. The book is not presented in a linear fashion but jumps back and forward in time is rather confusing. The title is misleading also, as Alan Turing is only featured in a section of the book. Von Neumann is the main focus.