Harmonies of disorder. Norbert Wiener: a mathematician-philosopher of our time (Q2360281)

Norbert Wiener is known for his work on cybernetics; a word he coined in 1948 in his work [Cybernetics or control and communication in the animal and the machine. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press (1948)]. In this book, Wiener's life is presented in four chronologically ordered parts: Part 1 is concerned with the years 1894--1918, Part 2 with 1919--1939, Part 3 with 1940--1945, and Part 4 with the time period from 1946 until Wiener's death in 1964. The author concentrates on Wiener's philosophical development, his works on the principles of computing (and computers), and on cybernetics. The whole book is very readable and gives important insights into the intellectual development of an outstanding thinker. Many links are discussed with respect to philosophy, social sciences, and physics and many well-known characters of the computer age like von Neumann and Wiener's contacts with them are discussed. The book comprises an important step in understanding Wiener's thinking. However, the purely mathematical achievements of Wiener fall a bit short.