The (new) turing omnibus

About the book

The New Turing Omnibus gathers short explanatory pieces on computer science, moving between programming, computation and the theoretical machinery that underlies both. Dewdney writes for an intelligent general reader rather than a specialist, so the book works as a guided tour of a wide field. Its organizing interest is the idea of computation itself: what a program specifies, what a machine can be asked to do, and where mathematical limits appear.

The pieces are self-contained in style, which suits browsing and repeated visits. A reader can move from a concrete topic to an abstract one without carrying a long chain of prior chapters. That design makes the book useful as a map of the discipline's classic questions, though it also means the treatment of any one subject stays compact. The writing favors explanation over formalism, with examples doing much of the work.

How to read it

Read it as a collection of short essays rather than a textbook to be finished in order. Pick topics that connect to something you already wonder about, then return for others. The compact pieces reward a slower pace: pause to work through an example or restate an argument in your own words before moving on.

Dewdney's explanations lean on analogy and concrete cases. Watch where an analogy clarifies a mechanism and where it starts to blur distinctions, especially in pieces touching mathematical limits or machine behavior. The difficulty varies by topic, so expect some sections to demand more patience than others. No programming background is assumed throughout, but comfort with abstract reasoning helps.

Who it suits

This suits curious readers from other fields who want a broad, readable orientation to computer science ideas, and students who want context beyond a single course. Readers who enjoy short, independent explanations and are willing to tolerate dated examples will get the most from it. It also serves as a browsing book for people who want to revisit foundational questions about computation without committing to a formal text.

Reading considerations

The book's examples and framing belong to the early 1990s. Technological references will read as historical, and the book cannot address developments since then. Its essay format means depth is limited per topic, so readers seeking rigorous treatment of a specific area should use it as a starting point and consult more specialized sources.