George Dyson's fascinating account of the early years of computers: Turing's Cathedral" is the story behind how the PC ipod smartphone & almost every aspect of modern life came into being. In 1945 a small group of brilliant engineers & mathematicians gathered at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton determined to build a computer that would make Alan Turing's theory of a 'universal machine' reality. Led by the polymath emigre John von Neumann they created the numerical framework that underpins almost all modern computing
- & ensured that the world would never be the same again. George Dyson is a historian of technology whose interests include the development (and redevelopment) of the Aleut kayak. He is the author of " Baidarka"; " Project Orion"; & " Darwin Among the Machines". " Unusual wonderful visionary". (Francis Spufford " Guardian"). " Fascinating...the story Dyson tells is intensely human...a gripping account of ideas & invention. Fascinating...the story Dyson tells is intensely human...a gripping account of ideas & invention." (" Jenny Uglow"). " Glorious...as much a story of the personalities involved as of the discoveries they made & you do not need any knowledge of computers or mathematics to enjoy the ride... a ripping yarn". (John Gribbin " Literary Review")."