The MANIAC

After a long long time, I came across a book that had me hooked like this. Part facts, part fiction, it explores the evolution of science through life of Von Neumann - a mathematical genius. But for me, the book shines the best as it talks about the evolution of AI and clash of AI with best players of this game called Go. Using the historical facts and a brilliant narrative to back them up, the author Benjamin Labatut plays with readers' minds making it difficult to separate fact from fiction. But in the end, what results is a highly entertaining read. Must read for anyone interested in science and it's evolution.

good

This is one of the most remarkable books I have read. It simultaneously falls into many categories. It reads like a biography creates a feel of a thriller at the end but is actually a work of fiction. As it is based on facts there is plenty to learn. You learn about some commonalities that afflict geniuses, about how different people can have different views of the same person, how genius has levels, how mathematics can influence many fields and the disruptive power of AI. Highly recommended.

Excellent read if you're interested in topics of mathematics, research and AI. The first and major part of the book is a fictionalized biography of one of the titans of science - von Neumann, about whom I knew little outside of my Engineering textbooks. The story felt more fact than fiction and Labatut is a genius for how he could make such a topic a compulsive page-turner. The last part of the book is about the 2016 Go match between Lee Sedol and Google DeepMind's Alpha Go which will go down in history as one of the cornerstone moments of AI development. 10/10 read IMO.

Much like Benjamin's Labatut's previous work- 'When we cease to understand the world', 'The Maniac' too fiddles with notions of science, technological advancements, complexity, the geniuses behind them and most importantly, the fine line between that and madness. It is a bewitching read which offers anecdotes strung together with a thread balanced on facts and fiction and offers a gaze into the greatest minds which once lived. Breathtaking and dazzling. I will be in awe for many months to come.

This book by Benjamin Labatut is interesting. As in his last book, it is a work of fiction based on facts. What makes the book compelling, are the stories and the links - no matter how tenuous between genius and depression. This link comes through strongly in the first section about mathematicians. The second section concerns the development of computers and the atom bomb. And in the last section, AI. The link between mania and genius is weakest in the last section. The book is sometimes difficult to follow, especially in the second section, where he keeps jumping around.

Must read

The book is a gripping account of the development of artificial intelligence from the early part of the twentieth century to modern times. It is a fascinating account of John von Neumann, a mathematical genius bordering on madness. A fiction based on fact. It is a racy novel that I couldn't put down.

Strange but great book. The Maniac is a work of fiction though interwoven as a story about the life of Von Neumann and eventually a picture of the early development of theories of AI alongside a broader biographical look at the man. I am not sure what I was expecting from this when I bought it as it was more just popping up as a recommendation but I haven't read a book quite like this before. For a while I was unsure of whether what I was reading was actual testimony from people in Von Neumann's life but the author notes that the book is a work of fiction. The Maniac is primarily a biography of John Von Neumann, the Hungarian mathematician/polymath involved in the formalizing of quantum mechanics, game theory, an important participant in the Manhattan project, the designer of the modern computer architecture and early student of self-replicating structures. He was an extraordinary mind that the author describes through a series of fictitious interviews with people in his life. It is an effective buy mystic way to tell the story of his life but such a style was highly engaging. The author weaves in the "perspectives" of several renowned mathematicians and physicists as well as his former spouses. The book describes Von Neumann's astounding genius for being able to solve problems with an unparalleled focus, his breath of expertise coupled to a juvenile maturity on many other matters of day to day living. Among the characters detailed in the book one hears from both Feynman and Wigner (a school friend of Von Neumann who travelled to the US as well with him), Oscar Morgenstern (his game theory co-author). The author gives time to his two wive's perspective (not sure where he got all his sources), which highlight how Von Neumann was in many ways completely incompetent but also unbelievably brilliant, both had significant eccentricities themselves. The book morphs from a description of his unparalleled mathematical abilities to his lack of sympathy or empathy for the consequences for his work. In some sense the author implicitly makes the point the authors theory of zero-sum games comes out in his policy beliefs for things like dropping the bomb. Von Neumann was carried by his goals for finding solutions rather than taking a higher perspective on what he thought about the merit of the rules. The book moves on to computation and weaves in the modern story of Deep Mind and alpha go. It goes back and forth from the story of Von Neumann and how his interests shifted to the biological domain. I never read the Computer and the Brain, but I am assuming the author is weaving a story around this later part of Von Neumanns obsession once computing was getting off the ground. Obviously this field has made enormous leaps in the last decade due to neural networks and the scale of compute and so the author highlights how yet again Von Neumann was way ahead of his time. The story of alpha go and Lee Sedol through his experience is a nice conclusion to the book and one is left with a lot to think about and the new world we are now in where our computing solutions are paralleling tasks we thought solely in the domain for humans. Of course since this book has been published we have only gone further and though one comes to respect the brilliance of Von Neumann, one also hesitates on the idea that such minds should lead people given their lack of human perspective on what objectives serve humanity's interest. This issue is much at the forefront of AI today and in some regards this is the biggest takeaway from the book and the development of the H-bomb a rhyming example of a development that serves no benefit for any person, and yet was developed for its potential to increase power rather than welfare. Highly recommended book, creatively written and served a valuable purpose of entertaining the reader while informing us of what brilliance can deliver and what its blind spots can be.

This new theme of fictional biography is too creative. Would definitely suggest to read if you like to read about scientific minds.

Interesante

ben scritto, un po' difficile per fare esercizio di inglese

Bought this book on a whim. Ended up being absolutely blown away by it. The storytelling and writing still is gripping and chilling at the same time. Lots of the historical facts seem to line up with reality and a great story is told around it. Read this!