The Annotated Turing: A Guided Tour through Alan Turing's Historic Paper on Computability and the Turing Machine

Book Review

Charles Petzold's book «The Annotated Turing» has been highly praised by critics for its ability to make complex ideas accessible to a wide audience. Petzold masterfully explains Alan Turing's work, his famous paper «On Computable Numbers», and the concept of the Turing machine. Critics note that the author not only thoroughly examines the mathematical and logical aspects of Turing's work but also places them in historical context, helping readers better understand the significance of these ideas. Petzold uses annotations and commentary to make the text more comprehensible and engaging, making the book a valuable resource for both specialists and enthusiasts of computing history. Some reviewers highlight that the book requires some background in mathematics and logic, but overall it remains accessible and interesting to a broad audience.