The Maniac

Labatut is such a tremendous writer; with just the two books of his I've read he has so intelligently weaved different subjects together in a way that is nothing short of mind-blowing. Whereas When We Cease to Understand the World was awe-inspiring, this one inspired sheer terror in me– if there's one common thread, it's of some of humanity greatest minds being shaken to their core, often to the point of mental breakdowns, by stunning “progress” in the worlds– top mathematicians who are stunned by the very foundations of maths being questioned; physicists broken by the developments of the second world war and the advance of the impossible-seeming, now taken-for-granted computer; and the greatest minds of chess and Go having their entire goals and existence put into question by AI opponents. It's a magnificent read, but it instills a small terror.