The MANIAC

This is a one of a kind book, and might be a bit confusing at the beginning. Labatut tells the story of how mathematicians and physicists created the foundations of modern-day computing, and now even artificial intelligence. He starts with Paul Ehrenfeld, who loses his mind as the Nazi Regime rises: He sees the irrational, the monstrous, coming. The center piece tells the lifestory of John von Neumann. Each chapter is told from the perspective of another acquaintance of von Neumann. The last part of the book is about AlphaGo, and how it won against Lee Sedol. With a writing style that is anything but moderate - an extravagant, almost otherworldly cascade of extremes - Labatut casts his characters in a surreal light. By blending (made up) internal monologues with historic events, he blurs the line between fact and fiction. This is his story of history, and how he wants to tell it.