Wednesday, March 02, 2005

The New York Times > Science > Books on Science: A Brilliant Mind and an Anguished Life

The New York Times > Science > Books on Science: A Brilliant Mind and an Anguished Life: "Dark Hero of the Information Age: In Search of Norbert Wiener, the Father of Cybernetics,' by Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman. Basic Books, 423 pages, $27.50.
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Over the years, Wiener has been described again and again as a great mathematician, gifted with imagination and insight that soared over the artificial boundaries that divide disciplines in science. Recent findings in neuroscience, for example, confirmed his early hunches about the workings of the brain, and he is still revered at M.I.T.
But in the prosaic realm of real life, he was often disappointed, discouraged and downhearted. His may have been one of the great minds of the 20th century, but in reading this book one can only feel sorry for him."

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