More than a piece of research on the history of technology, this book is a story about one of the still enigmatic characters of science in the 20^th Century: Alan Turing.

The author reviews different stages of Turing’s life in a linear way, by linking them with the episodes happened in Europe mainly during the World War II. In fact, the majority of the book is devoted to the role that Turing played as a code-breaker at that time, especially at the site of Bletchely Park, in UK.

However, the author has also added some sections on the homosexual condition of Turing from his younger years to his infamous prosecution and sentence in the year of 1952. More than 50 years later, after a public petition, the then Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown, made a public apology for Turing’s treatment, saying “without his outstanding contribution, the history of the Second World War could well has been very different”. But at the time ministers also said it was not possible to overturn his conviction for gross indecency.

In general, the book is written in a light and easy to read way, using both short chapters and sections, in a very novel style. Neither footnotes and endnotes are used, nor references are included, just a final index and a recommended further reading list.

Available from Amazon.com in Kindle and Paperback (128 pages).