A review by zfeig
Turing's Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe by George Dyson

informative medium-paced

3.5

A really interesting read, the book focuses on the simultaneous development of the computers and nuclear technology. It makes the argument that the advancement of computers is inextricably tied to the modeling needs of hydrogen bomb design and testing. It follows a Von Neumann and a few other key computing and weapons researchers that moved from the Manhattan Project to Princeton to push the limits of computing after WW2. The book makes it's claims by leaning on newly released archives from Princeton concerning Von Neumann's work, which shows much closer links between academic and defense research. It is interesting, but I didn't get a lot of new information from reading this book. A hidden gem was learning about the work of Nils Barricelli, who pioneered using algorithms to model evolution.