Reddit reviews Alan Turing: The Enigma

If you read his biography, you’ll find that he fell in love in college (aka UK high school) with another boy, Christopher Morcom, who died of bovine tuberculosis (from drinking raw milk) when he was on school holiday. Turing kept the memory of his first love alive, dedicated many of his triumphs to him, and the idea of recreating Christopher in a computer program surely led him to devise the idea of the Turing Test.

If anyone still reads books, the Andrew Hodges bio is one of the best all round studies on both Turing's life and his work.

I grew up in a small midwest town in the 70s where homophobia was "normal". My first exposure to homosexuality was a pedophile teenager that tried to diddle me when I was a pre-teen. Even without that experience, I'm sure I would have been homophobic given the environment.

I felt a great deal of empathy for Turing because of similarities in our lives. I was a CS major and a nerd with no social skills. I've also been afflicted with clinical depression most of my life. The fact that he was a genuine war hero and was treated as he was really made me realize the injustice of homophobia.

Here's the book.

I have only read one full biography of him, "Turing: The Enigma", but I did some research before selecting it. It is a touching and astounding portrait of the man and his accomplishments. I also found it to be a stark indictment of his treatment as a homosexual at the hands of the British justice system. I think he ate the poisoned apple as a direct result of being placed on chemical castration. And, along with the devastating personal loss for his friends and relatives, the entire world lost many potential years of further innovation and ideas by one of the greatest minds of our century as a result. Unhindered, I had to think, what further vistas could he have uncovered if he had lived a full lifespan? What fundamental questions could he have asked? http://www.amazon.com/Alan-Turing-Enigma-Andrew-Hodges/dp/0802775802/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266456135&sr=8-1