Title: Reflections of Alan Turing
Author: Dermot Turing
Type: Non-Fiction
Page Count/Review Word Count: 208
Rating: 3/5
Dermot Turing is Alan Turing’s nephew, and he’s also known for being something of an authority on the great mathematician’s life. That makes this book an interesting read, and one that’s packed full of information that the casual reader might not have been aware of, but some of it was a little too in-depth for me. For example, while Dermot argues that understanding the Turing family’s colonial history in India is important for grasping the background that Alan grew up in, it was also a little bit over the top.
Still, there was plenty of great stuff here about the father of modern computer science, and if you’re looking to learn more about Turing without having to read Andrew Hodges’ excellent but extremely dense biography then it’s a decent place to start. I came away feeling as though I know more about Turing than when I started, but I don’t know how much of it is just from family gossip.
Regardless, Turing is an extremely important man and someone who we all should know a lot more about. So this is still worth reading.
