Books
Bernstein, Jeremy. “A Portrait of Alan Turing,” chapter 7. In Cranks, Quarks, and the Cosmos. New York: Basic Books, 1993.
A short, capably written biographical portrait of Turing, address-ing, among other topics, Turing’s homosexuality, a fact, combined with a stringent law still on the British books at the time, that filled his life with complications and tragedy.
Copeland, B. Jack, ed. Alan Turing’s Automatic Computing Engine: The Master Codebreaker’s Struggle to Build the Modern Computer. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
A very detailed account of the work of Turing and his colleagues on the early British computer project that developed many ideas used in today’s machines.
———. The Essential Turing: Seminal Writings in Computing, Logic, Philosophy, Artificial Intelligence and Artificial Life plus the Secrets of Enigma. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
The editor’s detailed and helpful introductions to each topic put Turing’s papers in context, and bibliographies for each section point toward later work that developed from Turing’s pioneering efforts in computing and AI.
Crevier, Daniel. AI: The Tumultuous History of the Search for Artificial Intelligence. New York: Basic Books, 1993.
Describes the key pioneers and programs and their role in the development of AI from its formative years through the 1980s, with clear explanation of concepts.
Garreau, Joel. Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies—and What It Means to Be Human. New York:
Doubleday, 2004.
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In light of Alan Turing’s deep interest in the human as machine and as “spirit,” this book offers cutting-edge speculations on how technology such as AI, robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech-nology may transform human nature.
Henderson, Harry. Artificial Intelligence: Mirrors for the Mind. New York: Chelsea House, 2007.
Uses biographies of 10 key scientists to tell the story of the devel-opment of artificial intelligence from Turing’s work in the 1940s and early 1950s to today’s Internet “bot” programs and beyond.
Hinsley, F. H. British Intelligence in the Second World War. London:
Stationery Office Books, 1996.
Abridged edition of a multivolume work that provides important background and perspective on the achievements of Bletchley Park.
Hinsley, F. H., and Alan Stripp, eds. Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Contains oral histories by 30 people who worked on the break-ing of German ciphers durbreak-ing World War II. These interestbreak-ing accounts became possible when secrecy restrictions were finally lifted in the 1970s.
Hodges, Andrew. Alan Turing: The Enigma. 2d American ed. Foreword by Douglas Hofstadter. New York: Walker & Company, 2000.
A revised and expanded American edition. Further amplified by an updated Web site maintained by Hodges. Available online: URL:
www.turing.org.uk/book/update. Accessed September 19, 2007.
———. Turing. New York: Routledge, 1999.
Part of a series of short biographies of “great philosophers,” this account provides a different perspective on how Turing’s work relates to age-old philosophical questions such as the nature of mind and the limits of knowledge.
Kahn, David. Seizing the Enigma: The Race to Break the German U-Boat Codes, 1939–1943. New York: Basic Books, 2001.
Tells the gripping story of the race to break the German naval codes so British ships could avoid confrontation with German U-boats and successfully carry supplies to the island nation.
Leavitt, David. The Man Who Knew Too Much: Alan Turing and the Invention of the Computer. New York: W. W. Norton, 2006.
This shorter biography raises questions whether Turing committed suicide—or was it assassination? Unfortunately, the police closed
the investigation quickly under the presumption of suicide. True, there was no suicide note, but there also was no evidence found (or looked for) that indicated otherwise.
Millican, Peter, and Andy Clark, eds. Machines and Thought: The Legacy of Alan Turing. Vol. 1. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Essays by various contributors who continue Turing’s exploration of the nature and limits of computation and intelligence.
Levy, Stephen. Artificial Life: the Quest for a New Creation. New York:
Pantheon Books, 1992.
Describes how ideas about genetics, evolution, and ecology were combined with software to produce programs that could simulate the development of life forms, representing an interesting legacy of Turing’s work on computational biology.
McCorduck, Pamela. Machines Who Think: A Personal Inquiry into the History and Prospects of Artificial Intelligence. 2d ed. Natick, Mass.: A.
K. Peters, 2004.
Revised edition of a classic, engaging account of the people and achievements that have shaped artificial intelligence. Includes interviews with many of the field’s pioneers.
Petzold, Charles. The Annotated Turing: A Guided Tour through Alan Turing’s Historic Paper on Computability and the Turing Machine.
Indianapolis, Ind.: Wiley, 2008.
Presents Turing’s seminal paper with background and step-by-step explanations; accessible to readers with some basic background in mathematical logic and a willingness to follow the intricate steps by which the Turing machine reaches its conclusions.
Smith, Michael. Station X: Decoding Nazi Secrets. New York: TV Books, 1999.
Smith, a former member of the Intelligence Corps in England, writes authoritatively about the team effort required for breaking the German codes.
Strathern, Paul. “Turing and the Computer.” In The Big Idea. New York:
Quality Paperback Book Club, 1999.
A breezy account of Turing’s life and key contributions to the con-cepts that together enabled digital computing. Includes an account of the history and chronology of calculating and computing machines.
Teuscher, Christof, ed. Alan Turing: Life and Legacy of a Great Thinker.
New York: Springer, 2003.
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A collection of articles by computer scientists and others reflecting on the significance of Turing’s work as well as papers presenting new developments such as ways to pass the Turing test and the building of quantum computers. Some writers speculate on how Turing’s career might have progressed and contributed to the development of artificial intelligence in the 1950s and beyond.
Whitemore, Hugh. Breaking the Code: A Play. Garden City, N.Y.:
Fireside Theatre, 1987.
The story of Alan Turing—from his wartime successes as a code breaker to his tragic death—written for the theater.