{"product_id":"the-maniac-9780593654491","title":"The Maniac","description":"\u003cb\u003eNamed One of the 10 Best Books of 2023 by \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e- \u003c\/i\u003eOne of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2023\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e- A National Bestseller - A \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003eEditor's Choice pick \u003cb\u003e- Nominated for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Captivating and unclassifiable, at once a historical novel and a philosophical foray . . . Labatut is a writer of thrilling originality. \u003ci\u003eThe MANIAC \u003c\/i\u003eis a work of dark, eerie and singular beauty.\" --\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"Darkly absorbing . . . A brooding, heady narrative that is addictively interesting.\" --\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003eFrom one of contemporary literature's most exciting new voices, a haunting story centered on the Hungarian polymath John von Neumann, tracing the impact of his singular legacy on the dreams and nightmares of the twentieth century and the nascent age of AI \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBenjamín Labatut's \u003ci\u003eWhen We Cease to Understand the World\u003c\/i\u003e electrified a global readership. A Booker Prize and National Book Award finalist, and one of the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e' Ten Best Books of the Year, it explored the life and thought of a clutch of mathematicians and physicists who took science to strange and sometimes dangerous new realms. In \u003ci\u003eThe MANIAC\u003c\/i\u003e, Labatut has created a tour de force on an even grander scale. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA prodigy whose gifts terrified the people around him, John von Neumann transformed every field he touched, inventing game theory and the first programable computer, and pioneering AI, digital life, and cellular automata. Through a chorus of family members, friends, colleagues, and rivals, Labatut shows us the evolution of a mind unmatched and of a body of work that has unmoored the world in its wake. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe MANIAC\u003c\/i\u003e places von Neumann at the center of a literary triptych that begins with Paul Ehrenfest, an Austrian physicist and friend of Einstein, who fell into despair when he saw science and technology become tyrannical forces; it ends a hundred years later, in the showdown between the South Korean Go Master Lee Sedol and the AI program AlphaGo, an encounter embodying the central question of von Neumann's most ambitious unfinished project: the creation of a self-reproducing machine, an intelligence able to evolve beyond human understanding or control. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA work of beauty and fabulous momentum, \u003ci\u003eThe MANIAC\u003c\/i\u003e confronts us with the deepest questions we face as a species.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/cacorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=AUTH-16592906\"\u003eBenjamin Labatut\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Penguin Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/01\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 368\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.65lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.00h x 5.30w x 0.90d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780593654491\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0593654498\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBISAC Categories:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/cacorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-FIC\"\u003eFiction\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/cacorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-FIC019000\"\u003eLiterary\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/cacorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-FIC\"\u003eFiction\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/cacorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-FIC014050\"\u003eHistorical | 20th Century | World War II \u0026amp; Holocaust\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/cacorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-FIC\"\u003eFiction\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/cacorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-FIC037000\"\u003ePolitical\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBenjamín Labatut\u003c\/b\u003e is a Chilean author born in the Netherlands in 1980. He was raised in The Hague before settling in Chile, where he lives and works. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eAntarctica starts here\u003c\/i\u003e (2009), a short story collection; \u003ci\u003eAfter the Light\u003c\/i\u003e (2016), a series of scientific, philosophical, and historical notes on the void; \u003ci\u003eThe Stone of Madness \u003c\/i\u003e(2021), a diptych on madness, chaos, and modernity; and \u003ci\u003eWhen We Cease to Understand the World\u003c\/i\u003e (2021), a book that explores the ecstasy and agony of scientific breakthroughs and has been translated into over thirty languages.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44380227109003,"sku":"9780593654491","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0626\/5100\/7115\/files\/img_a455a9e5-c8a9-4426-ac71-c2e33f5c1509.jpg?v=1760537909","url":"https:\/\/cacorrectionsbookstore.com\/products\/the-maniac-9780593654491","provider":"CA Corrections Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}