Books

This was a terrific read. I read it out of curiosity as a follow-up to the Oppenheimer book, and it was such a treat.

fiction, code, techno-optimism •• essays: https://doomless.com

It’s much more technical / science-focused than the Oppenheimer book — less focused on von Neumann’s personal life (he was a complex but arguably a less complex person than Oppie) and more on his scientific achievements.

And boy, it’s truly humbling what von Neumann managed to achieve — & think up! — in a single lifetime. Expect to read about the maths and physics of the nuclear bomb (he was at Los Alamos), the birth of the modern computer, game theory — in economics and warfare, self-replicating machines, and more, more, more.

At times, it reads like the author is writing an ode rather than an account of a human’s life, but frankly, it’s understandable — Johnny von Neumann was of a rare breed, a true titan of science.