Alan Turing's notebook sold for $1M | Hacker News Reader

Alan Turing's notebook sold for $1M

bbc.com

52 pointssimas20 comments

Slightly less of a garbage link:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-32294655

I feel deeply outraged that this precious scientific artifact was simply auctioned, instead of given to TNMoC, the British Museum, or really any institution committed to studying it and presenting it to the public.

Paraphrasing the article: "It was given to someone else by Turing, who kept it for their lifetime (as it contained a personal note), whilst everything else of his they possessed WAS handed to a museum."

It seems the heirs of the owner were less interested in preserving history for the masses and more concerned with a free 500k. I'm not sure I can blame them terribly much. I can't help but be curious as to the message though.

I enjoyed 'Alan Turing: The Enigma' by Andrew Hodges.

Could anyone recommend any books about Turing's life and works?

My recommendation when anyone asks this.

1. Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges http://www.amazon.com/Alan-Turing-Enigma-Inspired-Imitation/...

Definitive and detailed biography.

2. Alan M. Turing by Sara Turing http://www.amazon.com/Alan-M-Turing-Centenary-Edition/dp/110...

Deeply personal biography of her dead son.

3. The Annotated Turing by Charles Petzold http://www.amazon.com/Annotated-Turing-Through-Historic-Comp...

Turing's famous 1936 explained in detail.

These recommendations are spot on.

As so much of Alan's posthumous fame is for cracking the naval enigma in WW2, I'd recommend starting out by first reading "The Code Book" by Simon Singh for general background.

Personally I find Alan's work on ACE the most fascinating. Sadly I can't really find much about it beyond Hodge's biography. Anyone got any good leads re ACE?

Alan Turing's Automatic Computing Engine by Jack Copeland http://www.amazon.com/Alan-Turings-Automatic-Computing-Engin...

If someone already read The Enigma, would you recommend them reading any of the other books on that list?

I already feel like I had an intimate look at his life from that book so not sure if the others would add anything to my life.

I stopped reading the "Alan Turing: The Enigma" by Andrew Hodges yesterday. It's extremely detailed, like reading an encyclopedia more than a novel. I think that large chunks of the book are absolutely impossible to understand for people who do not have at least some familiarity with cryptography and mathematics.

But if you are interested in the ins and out of Turin's life it's a very good reference.

I don't remember it having any difficult parts, but I did read it over 10 years ago so maybe I am mistaken.

I'd encourage you to go on with the book; it's a beautiful book. You can skip over the overly science-y parts I guess. The beauty of that book in my opinion is how the author didn't focus solely on his homosexuality or achievements but tried to show how his personality, including his sexual preferences, played a part in everything that he was able to achieve.

Not a book but I would recommend watching 'Breaking the code' a BBC play from the mid 90's about Alan Turing starring the ever excellent Derek Jacobi. It can be watched for free on youtube here [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S23yie-779k]

And if you potentially enjoy fiction featuring Turing, read Cryptonomicon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptonomicon

Slightly off topic. If you're ever near Washington, DC, there's a working enigma machine and a non-working USA version of the enigma cracking bombe at the National Cryptologic Museum near the NSA HQ. I was there yesterday, and thought it was pretty interesting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Cryptologic_Museum

I can't find any information as to whether the contents of the book have been scanned anywhere - anybody know?

Having watched the imitation game recently, I thought notebooks weren't around in his lifetime. Then I remembered Apple decided to rename their laptops to "notebooks" after people started burning their laps.

Does it run Linux? ;)

Humor on HN? You should know better.

This was considered humor on Slashdot about 10-15 years ago.

Doesn't qualify as such today.

Nah, legacy driver issues.

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