Name: Tanishq Khandelwal's review of The MANIAC by Benjamin Labatut
Item: The MANIAC
Rating: 3.5
Author: Tanishq Khandelwal

Benjamin Labatut

From 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 Benjamín Labatut’s When We Cease to Understand the World electrified a global readership. A Booker Prize and National Book Award finalist, and one of the New York Times’ 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 The MANIAC, Labatut has created a tour de force on an even grander scale. A 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. The MANIAC 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. A word of beauty and fabulous momentum, The MANIAC's unique blend of fact and fiction confronts us with the deepest questions we face as a species.

The MANIAC

Noreen Farsai

so utterly rational that it bordered on the psychopathic

As someone forced to used AI or lose my job, I felt things. 

y✦

AlphaGo had lost the game... People felt helplessness and fear. It seemed we humans are so weak and fragile. And this victory meant we could still hold our own. As time goes on, it'll probably be very difficult to beat Al. But winning this one time ... it felt like it was enough. One time was enough

oskar morgenstern chapter wins by a mile. this is like that van gogh goes to the louvre doctor who scene but instead of our favorite painter, it's evil genius johnny von neumann

THAT or von neumann's worst nightmares have yet to unfold

Taking all of this into consideration, it’s no wonder that Johnny was convinced that humankind would not survive the many wonders of industrial society, but I’m sure that if he were alive, he would be relieved by the fact that his worst nightmares have not come true, and that our theory of games blossomed far beyond the hothouse of politics and is used in everything from computer science and ecology to philosophy and biology, where our equations model how cancer cells grow, spread, and communicate. Some of our terminology has even seeped into common vernacular, with people referring to many aspects of social life as “zero-sum games.

Was there any way I could have warmed his heart? Could I have swayed his will, strong as it was, or just planted a tiny seed that might have sprouted and saved some part of his soul? But I did nothing, said nothing, not a word. I did not even try, because I was so afraid for myself.

Tanishq Khandelwal

A gripping blend of early AI history, war, and the strange brilliance behind it all. Introduced me to the Game of Go, ended up watching the entire documentary because of this book. Very nice read.

"Fiction based on fact" makes for propulsive writing! Loved and learnt a ton.

The way he gives space and weight to single sentences across multiple pages is glorious.

Reading the back of the book after I finished and seeing the note about the cover created by man and DALL-E 2 is quite the bookend.

c0up

"Fiction based on fact" makes for propulsive writing! Loved and learnt a ton.

The way he gives space and weight to single sentences across multiple pages is glorious.

Reading the back of the book after I finished and seeing the note about the cover created by man and DALL-E 2 is quite the bookend.

Benjamin Labatut’s The Maniac is a fascinating exploration of the blurry line between genius and madness, history and fiction. This novel presents a rich tapestry of characters, events, and ideas that delve into the profound impact of scientific and mathematical discoveries on our understanding of the world—and ourselves.

Labatut masterfully blends actual historical figures like John von Neumann with imaginative storytelling, creating a compelling narrative that feels simultaneously grounded in reality and eerily surreal. He writes, “The human mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions.” This sentiment captures the novel’s essence: a meditation on how groundbreaking ideas reshape humanity’s course and collective psyche.

The book’s prose is sharp and evocative. Labatut’s descriptions of von Neumann’s life and his contributions to quantum mechanics, game theory, and computing are interspersed with existential musings. These reflections make the book more than just a recounting of history; it becomes a philosophical inquiry into the consequences of knowledge.

The Maniac stands out because it blurs the boundaries between fact and fiction. Labatut infuses historical truths with speculative elements, forcing readers to question what is real. This approach mirrors the uncertain nature of the scientific discoveries the book discusses.

For example, Labatut writes with chilling precision about the creation of the hydrogen bomb, yet the emotional weight of the scenes comes from his fictionalized portrayal of its creators grappling with their invention’s destructive power.

While its intricate themes might overwhelm casual readers, the novel is a rewarding journey for those willing to ponder the profound intersections of science, morality, and human ambition.

Labatut’s The Maniac is a cerebral and haunting novel that feels unsettlingly close to reality.

Erwin Lemuel Oliva

Benjamin Labatut’s The Maniac is a fascinating exploration of the blurry line between genius and madness, history and fiction. This novel presents a rich tapestry of characters, events, and ideas that delve into the profound impact of scientific and mathematical discoveries on our understanding of the world—and ourselves.

Labatut masterfully blends actual historical figures like John von Neumann with imaginative storytelling, creating a compelling narrative that feels simultaneously grounded in reality and eerily surreal. He writes, “The human mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions.” This sentiment captures the novel’s essence: a meditation on how groundbreaking ideas reshape humanity’s course and collective psyche.

The book’s prose is sharp and evocative. Labatut’s descriptions of von Neumann’s life and his contributions to quantum mechanics, game theory, and computing are interspersed with existential musings. These reflections make the book more than just a recounting of history; it becomes a philosophical inquiry into the consequences of knowledge.

The Maniac stands out because it blurs the boundaries between fact and fiction. Labatut infuses historical truths with speculative elements, forcing readers to question what is real. This approach mirrors the uncertain nature of the scientific discoveries the book discusses.

For example, Labatut writes with chilling precision about the creation of the hydrogen bomb, yet the emotional weight of the scenes comes from his fictionalized portrayal of its creators grappling with their invention’s destructive power.

While its intricate themes might overwhelm casual readers, the novel is a rewarding journey for those willing to ponder the profound intersections of science, morality, and human ambition.

Labatut’s The Maniac is a cerebral and haunting novel that feels unsettlingly close to reality.

Just like John von Neumann’s genius was overwhelming (I now know), this book is can be intimidating, given its hardcore focus on mathematics, logic, and (computer) science. But for anyone who loves technology and history, it’s an engrossing read.

Frederik De Bosschere

I didn’t think anything could match up to Labatuts other book When We Cease To Understand The World, but The Maniac is absolutely brilliant. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Katherine Kenny

In another easy 5-star read, Benjamin Labatut brilliantly fills the spaces between fact and fiction, right and wrong.

When We Cease to Understand the World is still one of my best reads to date, so I had insane expectations for The Maniac. I went straight to it, thinking it's gonna be another BANGER, and BANG it did.. it ruined me, rewired my brain chemistry.

The Maniac is another "non-fiction" novel composed of the stories of three great geniuses: Johnny Von Neumann who needs no introduction, Paul Ehrenfest, and David to AI's Goliath, Lee Sedol.

Labatut delivered the stories poetically and with such urgency, you'd think you were physically there; you're assisting in the creation of the atomic bomb or you're watching the intense man vs machine match.

The Maniac doesn't stay still, just like the people it was written about — men who made machines to push the world forward, regardless of the implications. And from a personal standpoint, as someone who had been forced to use AI or lose a job, Labatut's writing really did it for me:

"People felt helplessness and fear. It seemed we humans are so weak and fragile. And this victory meant we could still hold our own. As time goes on, it'll probably be very difficult to beat Al. But winning this one time ... it felt like it was enough. One time was enough."

In another easy 5-star read, Benjamin Labatut brilliantly fills the spaces between fact and fiction, right and wrong.

When We Cease to Understand the World is still one of my best reads to date, so I had insane expectations for The Maniac. I went straight to it, thinking it's gonna be another BANGER, and BANG it did.. it ruined me, rewired my brain chemistry.

The Maniac is another "non-fiction" novel composed of the stories of three great geniuses: Johnny Von Neumann who needs no introduction, Paul Ehrenfest, and David to AI's Goliath, Lee Sedol.

Labatut delivered the stories poetically and with such urgency, you'd think you were physically there; you're assisting in the creation of the atomic bomb or you're watching the intense man vs machine match.

The Maniac doesn't stay still, just like the people it was written about — men who made machines to push the world forward, regardless of the implications. And from a personal standpoint, as someone who had been forced to use AI or lose a job, Labatut's writing really did it for me:

"People felt helplessness and fear. It seemed we humans are so weak and fragile. And this victory meant we could still hold our own. As time goes on, it'll probably be very difficult to beat Al. But winning this one time ... it felt like it was enough. One time was enough."

Geetika 

Very well written and coherent in its facts. Love this sort of writing amalgamating science with fiction and psychology.
Looking forward to Benjamin's future work

Tanishq Khandelwal &
The MANIAC by Benjamin Labatut

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Tanishq Khandelwal &The MANIAC by Benjamin Labatut

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Tanishq Khandelwal &
The MANIAC by Benjamin Labatut