4 ms·
Anyone have recommendations for a good biography of von Neumann?
by bryan0 5y ago
Anyone have recommendations for a good biography of von Neumann?
- dgs_sgd 5y agoI found "John von Neumann and Norbert Wiener: From Mathematics to the Technologies of Life and Death" excellent, if you don't mind learning about Norbert Wiener as well :).
- bobcostas55 5y agoThere aren't any, though there's a new one coming out very soon which might be good.
- e4325f 5y agoPrisoner's Dilemma
- kryptiskt 5y agoThere's a fairly old book by William Poundstone "Prisoner's Dilemma: John von Neumann, Game Theory, and the Puzzle of the Bomb". I can't vouch for it, as I read it long ago and don't remember just how much of a biography it was. It's very readable though.
- biofox 5y agoI can recommend the one published by the AMS.
- bryan0 5y agosounds like you are referring to this: https://bookstore.ams.org/pspum-50 https://bookstore.ams.org/pspum-50
- csbartus 5y agoA short one can be found in The Computer And The Brain written by his wife as foreword. https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300181111/computer-and-brain https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300181111/computer-and-b...
- clint 5y agoTuring's Cathedral has a lot about Neumann
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- mjreacher 5y agoFor non mathematical topics "John Von Neumann: The Scientific Genius Who Pioneered the Modern Computer, Game Theory, Nuclear Deterrence, and Much More" by Macrae is reasonably well sourced although the author's self admitted lack of mathematics does show. A biography reasonably covering mathematical topics too doesn't really exist yet given the wide range of von Neumann's work but if you're more interested in mathematical legacy there was an AMS symposium on him in 1988 whose proceedings are available online https://bookstore.ams.org/pspum-50 https://bookstore.ams.org/pspum-50 and other various smaller papers on his technical legacy over the years.