Review of The MANIAC, by Benjamin Labatut -- thoughts on logic and the end of play

We recently read The MANIAC, by Benjamin Labatut in my AI Book Club. This was our first work of fiction, though much of the text is imagined biography, so not really traditional fiction. It reads more like a collection of short biographical facets, connected thematically but lacking a tighter plot coherence. The last third of the book barely resembles the first two-thirds of the book, mostly in narrative style, as it shifts from von Neumann to Lee Sedol. However, the author is constructing a larger critique about the acceleration of science/logic and AI towards an incomprehensible, horrific end. Despite the lack of a more coherent plot, thematically the book coheres quite well and is thought-provoking and deep. The core idea: Logic pushed to its limits results in madness.