Summary of Alan Turing: The Enigma (Essay Sample)

The book Alan Turing: The Enigma centers on the life of Alan Turing, an acclaimed mathematician who deciphered the communication system of Nazi Germany by inventing a computer-esque machine. It focuses on his personal and professional life, his deviance and nonconformity, and his tragic death.

Turing was born in 1912. A scion of an upper-middle-class family, he was derided for his tendency for sequestration and loneliness, characteristics that were ungentlemanly. He was abused at school by classmates and teachers, and was an outcast through most of his early adulthood. 

His penchant for mathematics and his ingenuity were evident since his teenage years, and when he attended college his exceptional talent became more and more visible. Not only did he exhibit sheer perspicacity, but he was creative to the point of obstreperousness. 

When World War Two broke, Turing was called upon by a top-secret intelligence unit to help decipher the Enigma - Germany’s encoded communication system. Despite his indisputable talent, he was at odds with his superintendents, as he refused to obey their orders. But this had not lasted long. He was promoted and ultimately took the helm, being the commander of the whole unit.

Until his appointment to this revered position, Britain’s efforts yielded only limited success. Turing, however, aspired to create a machine that could computationally decrypt the rapidly-changing Enigma within minutes, paving the way for a military victory. He, therefore, redirected all his crew’s efforts to achieve this purpose.

After countless failed attempts, his team was finally able to build this machine. In retrospect, the author notes, his invention was not only a prelude to the modern computer, but it also saved millions of lives during the devastating war. 

Unfortunately, Britain had not acknowledged his invaluable contribution, and forced him to undergo chemical castration to treat his homosexuality. He committed suicide because of his medications’ side effects. It was not until the last decade that he was exonerated.

This is a brief summary of the book’s plot. The main difference, perhaps the only key difference, between it and the movie The Imitation Game is the way they depict Turing’s personality. Both of them cast him as an outcast, but the movie also shows his passion and love for what he explored. The book mainly hails his successes, but the movie also presents him as a fragile person, yearning for approval in a world that is unwilling and unable to accept him.