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- A book that you just have to read
- "Turing's Man. Western Culture in the Computer Age"
- article written by Trophy
- ----------------------------------------------------- ---- ---- ------- --- - -
-
- It's not the newest bestseller and maybe many of you have already read it. But
- this book is very interesting especially for all kind of computer freaks.
- Programmers will feel this beautifull feeling of importance while reading many
- of the chapters. Coders will also feel satisfied - because of standing on a
- lowest level - much closer to the computer. Others will feel inspired by
- Bolter's thoughts.
-
- It's a book for all the people from computer society - from philosophers thru
- programmers to hard-coders, from graphicians painting their digital signs of
- our times - as they're the descendants of Cro-Magnon artists. The musicians ?
- Yes they also should have a look at this book because they're using the most
- abstractive material to compose their songs - they also are the builders of our
- computer-community. Everyone interested in the wide area of 'active computer'
- living - creating, should read it closely.
-
- Yes. I know what some of you are asking. It's not a book about the Internet,
- 'global villages' or 'information society'. It has the more universal idea to
- show the historical context - how much do the computers and their users change
- the human culture ? Is the Turing Man as a human equal with computer the next
- step in evolution of living stereotypes in our culture? such as the philosopher
- of ancient times, the ideal knight, lover or king in the middle ages or the
- Erasmus kind of humanists in the Renesaince and so on...
-
- Who is David Bolter ? He graduated both in Computer Science and Classic
- Philology. The first faculty gives him a strong knowledge as an expert on
- computers, the second can help him in comparing a lot of things from our past
- to these days to help build the synthetic image of culture evolution. Where are
- the computers in this book ? Everywhere. The author has amazing points of view
- on a lot of problems, when he is talking about a programming job, when he sees
- a creator in a programmer and compares him to the poet translating reality in
- his poems, just like the programmer (or coder) is the one that can translate
- the computer logic, taken from the world of digital reality to the codes easly
- understanded by ordinary people - the users. And many, many more...
-
- The book is a written journey from the ancient past, Greek and Roman philosophy
- thru middle-ages to the age of computers. Our age. And that is why we should
- read this book. We just have to know who we are and what is the human condition
- in this special moment we are living. The book has some answers for us.
- And it's inspiring.
-
- But remember. It's not a historical or technical account. It's rather culture
- oriented so if you're an expert in computing please don't blame Bolter for his
- writing, because sometimes he is trying to talk to readers that are only users.
- But he does it with a quite unique elegance. So, Turing's people - read about
- world of computer culture or culture of computers and ask yourself:
-
- "Do you agree that you're Turing's men ?"
-
- Personally I think - I am !
-
-
- I don't want to tell any more because the readers should have their own
- interpretation. But please believe me it's worth losing a few hours reading it
-
- Where can you find this book ? In the libraries I think. The orginal is in
- English but I'm 100% sure that this is translated to Polish (I have one).
- There's a big chance this book is also translated to your own national language
- but you can always try the following:
-
-
- English original:
-
- Bolter David, "Turing's Man. Western Culture in the Computer Age",
- The University of North Carolina, 1984
-
- Polish translation:
-
- Bolter David, "Czlowiek Turinga. Kultura zachodu w wieku komputera", Warszawa,
- 1990
-
- By the way. If some of your friends don't see the sense with your fascination
- in computers you have to read this book. You will have very strong arguments in
- discussion and maybe you will explain to them that you're not a kind of 'maniac
- or 'technocrat'. To be a Turing's Man means to be a descendant of all this
- beautifull ideas from the past. It's the same quality now, like being the
- Humanist in the Renesaince, a knight in middle-ages or the philosopher/or poet
- in ancient Greece or Roma. Don't belive me ? Read the book.
-
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- CHOSNECK team contact us:
- people faithful 2 da roots! atarimsb@wp.pl
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