The Man from the Future
The Visionary Life of John von Neumann
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- ¥1,200
Publisher Description
A FINANCIAL TIMES AND TLS BOOK OF THE YEAR
An exhilarating new biography of John von Neumann: the lost genius who invented our world
'A sparkling book, with an intoxicating mix of pen-portraits and grand historical narrative. Above all it fizzes with a dizzying mix of deliciously vital ideas. . . A staggering achievement' Tim Harford
The smartphones in our pockets and computers like brains. The vagaries of game theory and evolutionary biology. Self-replicating moon bases and nuclear weapons. All bear the fingerprints of one remarkable man: John von Neumann.
Born in Budapest at the turn of the century, von Neumann is one of the most influential scientists to have ever lived. His colleagues believed he had the fastest brain on the planet - bar none. He was instrumental in the Manhattan Project and helped formulate the bedrock of Cold War geopolitics and modern economic theory. He created the first ever programmable digital computer. He prophesied the potential of nanotechnology and, from his deathbed, expounded on the limits of brains and computers - and how they might be overcome.
Taking us on an astonishing journey, Ananyo Bhattacharya explores how a combination of genius and unique historical circumstance allowed a single man to sweep through so many different fields of science, sparking revolutions wherever he went.
Insightful and illuminating, The Man from the Future is a thrilling intellectual biography of the visionary thinker who shaped our century.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
John von Neumann (1903–1957) was one of the most important scientists of the 20th century and "probably the smartest man on Earth," contends journalist Bhattacharya in his knotty debut. Born in Budapest, von Neumann was a child prodigy who excelled at math and transformed the field: he was largely responsible for the architecture of modern computers, helped shape the present understanding of quantum mechanics, made important contributions to the Manhattan Project, was one of the founders of game theory, was responsible for the idea behind self-replicating machines, and was "name checked" in works by Philip K. Dick and Kurt Vonnegut. Bhattacharya's admiration for his subject is clear: "His thinking is so pertinent to the challenges we face today that it is tempting to wonder if he was a time traveler, quietly seeding ideas that he knew would be needed to shape the Earth's future." But von Neumann ends up something of a bit player in his own story—instead of focusing on what made him tick, Bhattacharya spends most of his time on von Neumann's ideas and discoveries and those who developed them further, and explanations of the underlying science remain fairly complex. Those with a strong grounding in the material will be entranced, though it's likely too daunting for more casual readers.
