"Alan Turing: The Enigma" by Andrew Hodges: Review

While formerly probably mostly known to people who have some background knowledge in the fields of mathematics and computer science, the name Alan Turing is now widely known around the globe. All thanks to the Academy Award nominated movie The Imitation Game starring Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) and Keira Knightley (Pirates of the Caribbean). Though neither any of the actors have won an Academy Award in their respective categories, nor the film itself Best Picture, writer Graham Moore received one for Best Adapted Screenplay. I had seen the movie before and Mr. Moore winning this award made me want to read the book even more, to see, how the film had been adapted.

The book by Andrew Hodges has been released in various editions, first in 1983, and revised in the later ones. At first I was a bit vary of reading it, since I am definitely not on the strong side when it comes to maths and considering that Andrew Hodges is a mathematician himself, there was the risk of the book being too theoretical for me. But I can gladly say that, while maths does obviously play an important role in it, the book focuses mainly on the person that was Alan Turing and explains the technical things so well that even I could understand it.
Although usually he is not exactly mentioned as the inventor of the computer as we know it today, Turing did actually design and build the forerunners for our computers. He also invented the so-called Turing Test which is basically supposed to be able to differentiate between a human and a computer and has highly influenced research in terms of artificial intelligence.
One of the best known achievements of Turing, which is also the main focus of the book and the film is, that he helped to decode the German Nazi code known as the Enigma and therefore helped England win the war. This has been kept a secret even after the war had ended and therefore nobody knew what an important service Turing and his colleagues had done to their country.
Unfortunately this did not save him from being arrested for "gross indecency", which was the term for homosexuality and which was illegal at Turing's time. Not wanting to go to prison Turing chose a hormone treatment prescribed by the government which was supposed to "cure" him of his homosexuality. One year into the therapy Alan Turing committed suicide.It is a very sad end of a very complicated man.
Hodges writes about Turing's life and the struggles he had with a lot of understanding. As far as biographies go it is definitely one of the best and the most intimate I have ever read. I especially liked that although admiring Turing, Hodges does tell the whole story and does not present him as a misunderstood hero, but as a brilliant, nevertheless very difficult man.
I know that Biographies are not for everyone, but I definitely recommend this, because it is brilliantly done.

"Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro

Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro is a noel that paints a dystopic image of the world as we know it. The story is told by the main character Kathy, who narrates her life basically in three different acts. 

In the first part she remembers her childhood at a boarding school called Hailsham for us. Those seem to be her best memories, although it is already hinted early on that this fictional place is not an ordinary boarding school and that the students who have been there all their lives are not ordinary either. 

The students (and the reader) learn soon that they are very special indeed, because they are clones, created to be organ donors when they're grown up. Kathy talks about how every donor is to give as much as possible, but that they usually only get to donate 4 times maximum before they reach their "completion", meaning before they die. 

Already in her memories from Hailsham Kathy tells the reader about her friends Ruth and Tommy, who later on engage in a romantic relationship, although it is always hinted that Kathy is actually the one who has feelings for Tommy and vice versa.

The second part revolves around the characters being around 16 years old and their time after they've left Hailsham and are to live together in huts. In their time at the huts they even try to track down the woman after whom Ruth was created, to find out if there is any likeness in character at all. Disappointingly they find none and begin to wonder whether their creation was actually important at all. 

They also find out later on that Hailsham does not exist any more, because it was only an experiment to try and give the clones a good life and not raise them under inhuman circumstances. Unfortunately the funding for that project has stopped and Kathy, Tommy and Ruth were lucky to have been raised there and have a relatively good childhood.

In the last act we learn that Tommy and Ruth have already become donors and that Kathy is a carer. Carers are clones who take care of others when they have their donations. In those last years Kathy is a carer for both, Tommy and Ruth at some point, before their completion.

I think the book is absolutely brilliant, but it's hard to say that I "enjoyed" reading it, because, while I find the topic it is dealing with highly interesting, it is also very gloomy. The idea of clones as a kind of human spare part boxes is not new, but as opposed to, for example the movie The Island by Michael Bay, which is a typical Hollywood blockbuster with lots of action and motorcycle/car chases, Never let me go approaches the topic very calmly and therefore, makes it seem all the more realistic. Nevertheless, it was a great book and definitely one of my favourites from author Kazuo Ishiguro. I'd also recommend to watch the movie with the same title, which is maybe even a tad darker than the book but otherwise very well adapted to  the screen and with Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield as the main cast it assembles some of Britain's finest young actors.