Prof: Alan Turing decoded (Q2831328)

The author, nephew of Alan Turing, acknowledges relying heavily on \textit{A. Hodges}' [Alan Turing: the enigma. New York: Simon and Schuster (1983; Zbl 0541.68001)]. This newer, shorter biography includes virtually all of the same significant points in Turing's life covered by Hodges, but does not try to fill in as much detail or connect all of the events. Many of the same documents are used, but not always with the same parts quoted. Some sources used were evidently not available at the time of Hodges' work and became accessible after more official archival restrictions were lifted or personal estates were open. It also includes many illustrations and photographs with only a few of the latter duplicating those in Hodges. Thus this is a new contribution to the field of Turing studies. The author particularly wishes to present Turing as a more sociable and collegial person than some popular accounts have conveyed. Though the author did not meet his uncle, the picture of a solitary genius is mitigated by what his family and friends have said about him. There may be occasional exaggeration or oversimplification -- that Princeton in the 1930s, for example, was ``the greatest assembly of mathematical talent ever collected in one university'' (p.~81) is debatable (in view of Göttingen's former stature) -- but overall this serves as a reliable and, for many readers, probably more accessible introduction to Turing than Hodges. In spite of the ``Alan Turing decoded'' subtitle, the author recognizes that mysteries, appropriately, remain. Notes on the sources are, unfortunately, not supplemented by an index or bibliography.