[jgrahamc]

My recommendation when anyone asks this.

1. Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges http://www.amazon.com/Alan-Turing-Enigma-Inspired-Imitation/...

Definitive and detailed biography.

2. Alan M. Turing by Sara Turing http://www.amazon.com/Alan-M-Turing-Centenary-Edition/dp/110...

Deeply personal biography of her dead son.

3. The Annotated Turing by Charles Petzold http://www.amazon.com/Annotated-Turing-Through-Historic-Comp...

Turing's famous 1936 explained in detail.

[willvarfar]

These recommendations are spot on.

As so much of Alan's posthumous fame is for cracking the naval enigma in WW2, I'd recommend starting out by first reading "The Code Book" by Simon Singh for general background.

Personally I find Alan's work on ACE the most fascinating. Sadly I can't really find much about it beyond Hodge's biography. Anyone got any good leads re ACE?

[jgrahamc]

Alan Turing's Automatic Computing Engine by Jack Copeland http://www.amazon.com/Alan-Turings-Automatic-Computing-Engin...

[scorpioxy]

If someone already read The Enigma, would you recommend them reading any of the other books on that list?

I already feel like I had an intimate look at his life from that book so not sure if the others would add anything to my life.