Customer Reviews

Turing and the Universal Machine: The Making of the Modern Computer (Revolutions of Science)

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This brief "history" is more of a thought-provoking analysis of the idea of computing than a recital of the crucial events leading to what we currently think of as a modern computer. Though it does provide some fascinating historical tidbits not found elsewhere, the power of this work lies in its discussion of the underlying theory of computing. For example, Mr. Agar's initial take on Babbage, i.e. that in designing the analytical engine he was merely recreating a manufacturing center, with which he was intimately familiar, is just the first of many profound observations that seem to be tossed off without further comment. Portraying Bletchley Park as a computer itself with the various huts being distributed processors was also a sound analogy and would be a tremendously effective segue into a story about the Internet. The story of Mr. Zuse's machine is likewise a fine example of Mr. Agar's thesis that the increase in computing power merely reflects the increasing complexity of our world. He raises a brilliantly multi-faceted what came first--chicken or egg--argument. Did complexity give birth to the computer or vice-versa? However, I think his ideas go well beyond that premise--though the comments on modern bureaucracy and corporate management were rather cryptic, isn't it true that in the world of "google" we are all distributed processors in a gigantic Universal Machine?

I am surprised that the author didn't fully develop the swiss knife analogy with which he began the book. In a real sense any stand-alone computer is a special purpose machine because it is limited by its user. It is only when programming is universally understood or, better yet, a transparent part of using the machine that we have a truly universal machine. And that is developing right under our noses--the internet has in just a few short years completely changed the educational experience (given the power of the internet my kids have never had to worry about not being able to find the right books in the local library), it has dramatically changed the marketplace (the most obscure books or materials are but a click away), it continues to redefine modern media (Drudge?) and to churn out innovation. But is the latest step towards a truly universal machine--the Internet--the result of society's changes or the cause?

We are blind to the significance of the computer because we are surrounded by its effects. Something huge is coming--the machine envisioned by Turing is still being developed--will we be ready for it, will we be able to understand its power, will we even recognize it when it arrives?

This curious little book is a pleasant read for those with a knowledge of the history of computers -- heaven knows what others will make of it! It begins with a brief survey of Charles Babbage, which is generally accurate. Followed by some excellent information on Hollerith and the history of punched cards. Agar then covers Konrad Zuse in much more detail than I've seen elsewhere. (Zuse is one of those computer pioneers who was lost to history for a bit and now rediscovered. He built computers in his living room to help design Nazi airplanes.) There follows a whirlwind tour of early American efforts by Aiken, Atanasoff and Mauchly.

Then things get strange as Agar jumps to an in-depth explanation of the basis of modern mathematics (way over my head) with a discussion of Hilbert, Godel, Riemann, Cantor, etc. The book then winds up with a discussion of Turing's contributions to mathematics and code breaking, with an overview of British code-breaking efforts and post-war computer development. All of this overlaid with some peculiar attempts to philosophize on the nature and future of computers.

Whew! You can't do justice to all this in a 150 page paperback, and he doesn't. But the book is well-written and travels down some less-traveled roads, so it's a fun read for computer folk.

I picked this book up randomly at the library between classes. I only got about half way through before I had to leave but I made sure to tuck it away and finish it later that night. Excellent read for one sitting. Even if the author doesn't accurately present the true intentions and motivations behind Babbage and Turing's breakthroughs, he still manages to establish that computer science was an evolution of thought not some spontaneous stroke of brilliance. By the end of the book you feel a little starved for information but that is what makes this book such an excellent primer for additional reading on a number of subjects. This book really is a primer, don't read it if you have PHDs in history and computer science. I don't want to see Dr. whats his face giving this book half a star. It's a good book period.

This book presents a credible history of the development of the modern computer, albeit through deeply-tinted, rose-colored spectacles. The treatment, though, is rather superficial, and this volume reads more like a juvenile history than a work for adults.

The author filters his story through the lens of a Dickensian view of industrial development. It would seem that the nineteenth century was a hellish world of alienated workers slaving like drones in chaotic, out-of-control facories that cried out for organization and control. This despite the fact that the nineteenth century saw the greatest increases in standards of living in history.

Curiously, the author confuses the nineteenth century quest for a universal computing maching with the eighteenth century quest for The Longitude. It would seem that the development of the computer was spurred on by the need to keep the Royal Navy off the rocks at the Isles of Scilly, a problem which had been resolved in the mid-eighteenth century by John Harrison's method of determining longitude, which required only relatively simple navigational computations. There is precious little discussion of the insurance industry, whose growth during the nineteenth century created a need for detailed and lengthy actuarial tables was the original impetus behind Charles Babbage's efforts to build a 'difference engine' in the nineteenth century.

The material on Turing and twentieth century work towards a universal computing machine is better. But even here, the author's biases show through. The material on the Nazi engineer Konrad Zuse isn't always covered in works of this sort. Yet Zuse is portrayed as "only a young engineer, in a lowly position in a large company..." (p. 45). This sort of thing has long since grown tiresome. One wishes the author would simply get on with the story.

Perhaps the most bizarre aspect of this history is the author's penchant for describing people as if they were computers. Right off the bat, the author characterizes us as living in a "two-tier modern world of general-and special-purpose humans...built in the nineteenth century." (p. 11) Or later, when the British civil service is described as being comprised of "generalist 'intellectuals' and rule-following 'mechanicals'..." (p. 143)

And therein lies the true theme of this book. We live in a two-class society, made up of intellectuals who think for us and the rest of us, who follow the rules they create. And we are all quite happily managed by the electronic computer. This thesis would be laughable if the author set it up as a straw-man, to then attack in moral outrage. But incredibly, Professor Agar seems to view it as the natural and desirable order of things. It makes for very interesting, if somewhat naive, reading.

If you have never read a history of computing and are interested in the subject, thenthis isn't really a bad book. It's just that there are so many books out there that are better than this one. I'd suggest a search on "computer history" here on Amazon. You will get a list of a dozen or so histories that tell the story with more distance and less bias than this volume.

I was really hoping for a more detailed time line of the events leading upto the ENIGMA and what eventually lead to the first commercial computers during the late 50s and mid 60s. The author spent a great deal of time detailing the mathematical advances and controversies that spurred the technological advances we see today. Overall the book was mildly interesting, but probably not for the average reader. On the other end of the spectrum it was too much of a primer for anyone with some historical knowledge of mathematics and its part in developing computers.

I would rather term this book as The Making of Modern Computer rather than Turing and the Universal Machine.
It covers whole lot of stories right from the analog machine to modern computer. I expected lot about how Turing and how he made the Universal computer. It is worth reading about the whole history of computer.
Very less information about Turing and his work.

I read this book cover to cover on the train from Manchester to London. I really liked the accessible style of the book, leading you into discussion of a complex story and some of the theory behind the personal stories, without trying to obscure or gloss over the facts. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to quickly get a good grounding in the history of the computer.