Engines of Logic: Mathematicians and the Origin of the Computer
A thoroughly enjoyable mix of biographical portraits and theoretical mathematics...full of well-honed anecdotes and telling detail.  --Publishers WeeklyAnyone who works with computers today, who seeks to look into the electronic future, can profit greatly from reading [this].  --John McCarthy, Stanford UniversityDelightfully entertaining and most instructive!  --Raymond Smullyan, author ofThe Riddle of ScheherazadeandFirst-Order LogicErudite, gripping and humane, Martin Davis shows the extraordinary individuals through whom the groundwork of the computer came into being.  --Andrew Hodges, author ofAlan Turing: The EnigmaMartin Davis speaks about logic with the love and touch of a sculptor speaking about stone.  --Dennis Shasha, New York University[A]n elegant history of the search for the boundaries of logic and the machines that live within them.  --Wired, Peter Wayner, December 2000