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Lots of good material here, but I was annoyed how the author chose to keep calling Von Neumann "Johnny". That's a bit like a biography of Richard Feynman in whi

by rsj_hn 5y ago

Lots of good material here, but I was annoyed how the author chose to keep calling Von Neumann "Johnny". That's a bit like a biography of Richard Feynman in which the author almost always refers to him as "Dick" or "Ricky". I get that if you quote someone referring to Von Neumann by a nickname, you wouldn't change the quote to the name the public knows him by, but "Dick Feynman" or "Al Einstein" just seem odd to me, and "Johnny Von Neumann" is just as jarring for this reader.

justin66 5y ago
> Lots of good material here, but I was annoyed how the author chose to keep calling Von Neumann "Johnny". That's a bit like a biography of Richard Feynman in which the author almost always refers to him as "Dick" or "Ricky". The funny thing is, Richard Feynman often referred to him as "Johnny von Neumann." See "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" for examples.