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"Two ideas lie gleaming on the jeweler's velvet. The first
is the calculus, the second, the algorithm." Thus begins David Berlinski's
new book. The calculus is the idea that made modern science possible. The algorithm,
which Berlinski brilliantly limns here, is the idea of an effective procedure
that has made the modern world possible. Following his
enormously successful A Tour of the Calculus, The Advent of the Algorithm
completes Berlinski's monumental task -- explaining for the general reader the
ideas that have created our world. And while calculus is a subject that has intimidated
generations of students, the algorithm is a relatively new idea, virtually unknown
except to the computerati. Now, for the millions whose
lives are regularly changed, enriched, and regulated by computers, here is the
story of the search for and eventual discovery of the algorithm, the set of instructions
that drives computers. An idea as simple as the first recipe and as elusive as
the quark or the gluon, the algorithm was discovered by a succession of logicians
and mathematicians working alone and in obscurity during the first half of the
twentieth century. These men are the patriarchs of computers. Their story, so
elegantly told, and their discoveries, so clearly explained, make The Advent
of the Algorithm the book of Genesis for the computer revolution. Leibniz,
Gödel, Hilbert, Turing, some of these names you may be familiar with; but
after reading The Advent of the Algorithm, you will know these men, understand
their genius, and appreciate the theoretical as well as the practical greatness
of the algorithm. David Berlinski is the author of
three novels and five works of nonfiction, most recently the best-selling A
Tour of the Calculus. Berlinski received his Ph.D. from Princeton University
and is a regular contributor to Commentary; his essays on Darwinism and
the Big Bang have become famous. He also writes for Forbes ASAP. He lives
in Paris. |
