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Obras por Norman Macrae

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Data de nascimento
1923
Data de falecimento
2010-06-11
Sexo
male
Nacionalidade
UK
Prémios e menções honrosas
Order of the Rising Sun, with Gold Rays, 1988
Commander, Order of the British Empire, 1988

Membros

Críticas

The first two chapters of this are fantastically inspiring. The first talks in detail about how von Neumann looked at the world, and approached problems. The second describes his unusual upbringing, and it's something I plan to reread when I'm expecting a child. Five of out five stars for this first bit.

Unfortunately, the rest of the book isn't able to keep up. Unlike Feynman, von Neumann turns out to just not have been a very interesting character. Sure, he was brilliant, but the author is quick to remind us that he (the author) isn't nearly smart enough to help you understand von Neumann. Despite this, he is clearly and unequivocally in love with von Neumann.

Often the book will meander into "von Neumann thought this. Other people said he was wrong. But they didn't actually understand what he was talking about." Like, at least five times. But the author reminds us that *he* also doesn't understand what von Neumann was talking about. So, how can he be so sure that von Neumann *wasn't wrong?* I'd be willing to let this slide once or twice with the proper citation, but none are given and the author continually apologizes for von Neumann. Genius he might have been, but never being wrong isn't a part of genius.

Along similar lines, a big chunk of this book is the history *around* von Neumann---things like the Manhattan Project and the origin of electronic computers. For the most part, von Neumann doesn't play much of a part in these histories, and in each section the author tells us "this story is better told in book X." I found myself wondering why not just read those books instead?

In all, von Neumann comes off as a Mary Sue. He can do no wrong in the author's eyes, and whenever he comes close, the author is sure to quote someone who says how lovely and brilliant Johnny was. It's boring as a historical read, and boring as a character study.

Read the first two chapters and then skip the rest.
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
isovector | 2 outras críticas | Dec 13, 2020 |
While this was full of interesting information, the author's voice intruded a bit much. Definitely a popular treatment, not a history.
 
Assinalado
encephalical | 2 outras críticas | Jan 4, 2019 |
If you are looking for a detailed scientific biography of von Neumann, as I was, be sure that this is not it. At best, it is overly effusive, almost entirely non-technical and ideologically slanted imitation of what his real scientific biography should be.

Macrae was an economics journalist, who joined the staff of The Economist in 1949 and eventually rose to the ranks of Deputy Chief Editor by the time he retired in 1988. The book's style and content strongly reflect right-leaning political and free-marketeer economics ideologies that must have also colored his career. Obviously, von Neumann's contributions to economics and his role as a scientific advisor to US government and military, in the years spanning from WW2 to his death in 1957, are at the forefront in much of the book. Von Neumann's numerous contributions to other areas of mathematics, of physics and of the then emerging discipline of computing were definitely discussed at length (simply because of their sheer number), but only at the level of usual popular science literature and, in my opinion, were overshadowed by the aforementioned focus.

Macrae seems to take great pride in the fact that his subject's political leanings matched well his own and were more to the right of many of von Neumann's scientific colleagues. However, the reasons for why these opinions were held were often taken for granted or self evident. On the other hand, whenever left-leaning, pacifist or areligious beliefs of other scientists or scholars came up, they were invariably dismissed with only an aspiring-to-be-witty quip and as often as not simply ascribed to personal character flaws. Here's an example:

"[...] Johnny's intellectual path crossed that of two brilliant men who were shattering examples of the danger of not having witty troubadours like Max [von Neumann] as their father. Although Johnny had real affection for one of them, he saw in both the passions that can turn great mathematicians practically nuts. [...] While Johnny got his steady and witty and stimulating upbringing under Max in troubled and war-defeated Hungary in 1903-21, the other two were reared in what should have been the calmer atmospheres of England and America. Through their lives they were recoiling from exactly the wrong sort of childhood, which had put their powers for doing greater good in emotional twist. It is right to be brutal in analyzing this, even at the risk of annoying their many admirers and pupils and friends, because similar great minds are being ruined in upbringing now. The handicap does not always lie in financial underprivilege in youth. Our two examples of geniuses turned emotionally too dotty had as their childhood guardians a right-wing former British prime minister and a left-wing Harvard professor. They were Britain's Bertrand, third Earl Russel (1872-1970), and America's Norbert Wiener (1894-1964)."

Despite the distracting attempts at wry wit, the book does cover the biographical details of von Neumann's life fairly extensively. It was also interesting to read of personal anecdotes related to the author in interviews with people who have known von Neumann rather well. However, I can't shake the feeling that even that part could have been done much better, especially when it came to portraying von Neumann as an unattainable genius.

Genius is a very slippery concept, especially when examined under a microscope. The achievements, that to an outsider would appear as the work of pure genius, invariably loose their mysticism, while only gaining in their significance, when examined in more technical detail and within the scholarly context of their time. The excellent scientific biographical and historical works of Abraham Pais and Silvan S. Schweber do exactly that. It is a pity that this book fails to live up to that standard.
… (mais)
½
 
Assinalado
igor.kh | 2 outras críticas | Feb 8, 2015 |

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Estatísticas

Obras
12
Membros
224
Popularidade
#100,172
Avaliação
½ 3.6
Críticas
4
ISBN
16
Línguas
4

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