The Essential Turing cover

The Essential Turing

by Alan Mathison Turing

"Alan Turing, pioneer of computing and World War II code-breaker, was one of the most important and influential thinkers of the twentieth century. The astonishing output of his tragically short life included the universal Turing Machine (the theoretical foundation of all modern computing), the electro-mechanical 'bombes' used at Bletchley Park to decipher the Enigma code, his ground-breaking design for an electronic stored-programme computer, and work on artificial intelligence and artificial life so revolutionary that he can claim to be the founding father of these disciplines. In this book, Turing's key writings in all these subjects are made easily accessible for the first time. Lectures, scientific papers, top secret wartime material, correspondence, and broadcasts are introduced and set in context by Jack Copeland, Director of the Turing Archive for the History of Computing."--Jacket.

Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?