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Mathematician Alan Turing invented an imaginary computer known as the Turing Machine; in an age before computers, he explored the concept of what it meant to be computable, creating the field of computability theory in the process, a foundation of present-day computer programming.

The book expands Turing’s original 36-page paper with additional background chapters and extensive annotations; the author elaborates on and clarifies many of Turing’s statements, making the original difficult-to-read document accessible to present day programmers, computer science majors, math geeks, and others.

Interwoven into the narrative are the highlights of Turing’s own life: his years at Cambridge and Princeton, his secret work in cryptanalysis during World War II, his involvement in seminal computer projects, his speculations about artificial intelligence, his arrest and prosecution for the crime of "gross indecency," and his early death by apparent suicide at the age of 41.

Average Customer Rating:

Touring one of the most important computing science works

Customer Rating:

For those touring Turing's work, there's nothing better than a guide. Alan Turing's research in computing science form (along with works by Goedel, von Neumann, etc.) the a "must-see" tour for any serious computer scientist or discrete mathematician. Unfortunately, all such original works are very aged in writing style, terminology, and notation, making them very difficult to read. I have read Turing's work (in my professional work) several times, but this book still gives useful insights and illuminates key points that I'd missed.

If you are looking at this page, buy this book

Customer Rating:

I've posted a much more in depth review at http://vinull.com/Post/2008/07/21/review-the-annotated-turing-by-charles-.aspx so this one will be short, but this book is well worth your time. Simply put, Turing deserves much credit for inventing the programmable computer and he did as a side effect to solving a math problem. If you're like me, and not so good with the numbers, don't sweat - Petzold explains the math so even if you can't read the formula you know what it means. Anyone who has a passion for computers will enjoy this book!

The kind of book I wish I'd written

Customer Rating:

Some books entertain, some inform; some confirm what you already knew, some make you change your mind about something. But then there are some books that just make you think "wow! I wish I'd written that". For me, Charles Petzold's The Annotated Turing falls into that last category (as well, of course, as the informational category). It's a book worth reading not only for the topic itself but the way it's presented. Petzold provides the necessary background before working through Turing's famous 1936 paper "On computable numbers, with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem" with rich annotations at every stage, including biographical details. If you are interested in the foundation of mathematics, computability, Turing's work, or even just ways of explaining mathematics in a historical context, I highly recommend this book.