"Alan Turing: The Enigma" by Andrew Hodges, published by Simon & Schuster, 1983, First American Edition, first printing as indicated by the publisher's "1" in the number line on copyright page.

Price clipped dust jacket in archival mylar cover, hard boards, brown cloth spine, gilt lettering, 6.1/4" x 9.1/2"; 587 pages including Index, a few text illustrations + 8 plates with monochrome photos, very good condition.

Alan Turing (1912-1954) was a British mathematician who made history. His breaking of the German U-boat Enigma cipher in World War II ensured Allied-American control of the Atlantic. But Turing's vision went far beyond the desperate wartime struggle. Already in the 1930s he had defined the concept of the universal machine, which underpins the computer revolution. In 1945 he was a pioneer of electronic computer design. But Turing's true goal was the scientific understanding of the mind, brought out in the drama and wit of the famous "Turing test" for machine intelligence and in his prophecy for the twenty-first century.

"On the face of it, a richly detailed 500-page biography of a mathematical genius and analysis of his ideas, might seem a daunting proposition. But fellow mathematician and author Hodges has acutely clear and often extremely moving insight into the humanity behind the leaping genius that helped to crack the Germans' Enigma codes during World War II and bring about the dawn of the computer age. . . This melancholy story is transfigured into something else: an exploration of the relationship between machines and the soul and a full-throated celebration of Turing's brilliance, unselfconscious quirkiness and bravery in a hostile age." [Sinclair McKay, Wall Street Journal]

Alan Turing: The Enigma formed the basis of Hugh Whitemore's 1986 stageplay Breaking the Code, which was adapted by for Television in 1996, with Derek Jacobi as Turing. The book was later made into the 2014 film "The Imitation Game" directed by Morten Tyldum, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing. The script for The "Imitation Game" won Graham Moore an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 87th Academy Awards in 2015.

"A brilliant book, beautifully written with meticulous and exhaustive research. It presents a portrait of Turing very different from the autistic-genius-scientist stereotype offered by the film "The Imitation Game," which claims to be based on this book. Quite how that basis worked I'm not sure as the film shows a Turing who doesn't know what a joke is and seems unable to grasp the function of humor at all, whereas this book is full of instances of his humor, often engagingly silly. It also does what no film could be expected to do, which is present his ideas in detail (too much detail for some, apparently.) The book gives readers a chance to get a handle on an extraordinarily intense and original intelligence which not only played a critical role in Britain's wartime history but was reaching into the future possibilities of maths in very strange ways - for example working out formulae to reveal the patterns that leads to the markings of animals such as zebras." [a private review]

Andrew Hodges (born 1949) is a British mathematician and author. Since the early 1970s, Hodges has worked on twistor theory, which is the approach to the problems of fundamental physics pioneered by Roger Penrose. He was also involved in gay liberation movement these times. Hodges is best known as the author of Alan Turing: The Enigma, the story of the British computer pioneer and code breaker Alan Turing. Critically acclaimed at the time- Donald Michie in New Scientist called it "marvellous and faithful"-- the book was chosen by Michael Holroyd as part of a list of 50 'essential' books (that were currently available in print) in The Guardian, 1 June 2002.

He is a Tutorial Fellow in mathematics at Wadham College, Oxford University. Having taught at Wadham since 1986, Hodges was elected a Fellow in 2007, and was appointed Dean from start of the 2011/2012 academic year.

US: Priority (c.2-4 days) ---------- $16.50
Canada: Priority (c.2-6 weeks) ---- $32.50
World: Priority (c.2-8 weeks) ----- $44.50