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Geoff Simons
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Born
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Died
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(aged 71?72)
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British freelance writer (1939?2011)
Geoffrey Leslie Simons
(23 November 1939 ? 31 August 2011), best known as
Geoff L. Simons
was a British freelance writer. In the 1980s, he was chief editor at the
National Computing Centre
in Manchester. A prolific author of non-fiction, he wrote books about sex,
computers
and politics, particularly the history of the Middle East.
Career
[
edit
]
Geoff Simons was born in
Stockport
, and lived in or around
Greater Manchester
throughout his life. He worked as an Information Officer at several companies, as well as working as a technical author and editor.
[1]
He wrote hardware and software manuals at
Ferranti
and
ICL
. As Chief Editor at the NCC, he established
Computer Journal Abstracts
and wrote summaries for over 20,000 computer articles.
[2]
Simons was a critic of
US foreign policy
, regarding
sanctions against Iraq
in the 1990s as
genocide
,
[3]
and the United States as "a
plutocracy
that shapes foreign policy in the cynical calculation of elitist commercial advantage".
[4]
In later life he was a frequent correspondent to newspapers, seeing his letters published in
The Times
,
[5]
the
Sunday Times
,
[6]
The Independent
,
[7]
The Guardian
,
[8]
the
New Statesman
,
[9]
and the
Morning Star
.
[10]
He died on 31 August 2011. He was survived by his widow, Christine, children, grandchildren and great-granddaughter.
[11]
Skepticism
[
edit
]
Simons was an
atheist
and
skeptic
. He was a member of Greater Manchester Humanists. In his book
Is God a Programmer?
, he defended atheism and criticized the
argument from design
.
Works
[
edit
]
- Sex in the Modern World
, 1970.
- A History of Sex
, 1970.
- Sex Tomorrow
, 1971.
- Does Sex Make You Feel Guilty?
, 1972.
- Pornography Without Prejudice: A Reply to Objectors
, 1972.
- A Place for Pleasure: The History of the Brothel
, 1973.
- The Witchcraft World
, 1974.
- The Simons Book of Sexual Records
, 1975.
- Introducing Microprocessors
, 1979.
- Robots in Industry
, 1980.
- The Uses of Microprocessors
, 1980.
- Introducing Word Processing
, 1981.
- Women in Computing
, 1981.
- The Illustrated Book of Sexual Records
, 1982. Second ed., 1985.
- Privacy in the Computer Age
, 1982.
- Computers in Engineering and Manufacture
, 1982.
- The Book of World Sexual Records
, 1983.
- Sex and Superstition
, 1983.
- Are Computers Alive? Evolution and New Life Forms
, 1983.
- Automating Your Office
, 1984.
- Computer Bits and Pieces: A Compendium of Curiosities
, 1984.
- Expert Systems and Micros
, 1985.
- Towards Fifth-generation Computers
, 1986.
- Is Man a Robot?
, 1986.
- Introducing Artificial Intelligence
, 1984.
- The Biology of Computer Life: Survival, Emotion and Free Will
, 1985.
- Silicon Shock: The Menace of the Computer Invasion
, 1985.
- (with R. T. Doswell)
Fraud and Abuse of IT Systems
, 1986.
- Eco-computer: The Impact of Global Intelligence
, 1987.
- What is Software Engineering?
, 1987.
- Introducing Software Engineering
, 1987.
- Evolution of the Intelligent Machine: A Popular History of AI
, 1988.
- Is God a Programmer?: Religion in the Computer Age
, 1988.
- Silicon Psychosis: Derangement in the Global Network
, 1989.
- Viruses, Bugs and Star Wars: The Hazards of Unsafe Computing
, 1989.
- Robots: The Quest for Living Machines
, New ed., 1994.
- Robots and Robotics
, 1992.
- Libya: The Struggle for Survival
, 1993. 2nd ed. (with foreword by
Tam Dalyell
), 1996.
- Iraq: From Sumer to Saddam
, 1994. Foreword by
Tony Benn
. 2nd ed., 1996. 3rd ed., 2003.
- The United Nations: A Chronology of Conflict
, 1994.
- Korea: The Search for Sovereignty
, 1995, Reprinted with foreword by
Tony Benn
, 1999.
- UN Malaise: Power, Problems, and Realpolitik
, 1995.
- Cuba: From Conqistador to Castro
, 1996.
- The Scourging of Iraq: Sanctions, Law, and Natural Justice
, 1996. 2nd ed., 1998.
- Vietnam Syndrome: Impact on US Foreign Policy
, 1998. Foreword by
Tony Benn
.
- Saudi Arabia: The Shape of a Client Feudalism
, 1998.
- Iraq ? Primus inter Pariahs: A Crisis Chronology
, 1999.
- Imposing Legal Sanctions: Legal Remedy or Genocidal Tool?
, 1999.
- Indonesia: The Long Oppression
, 1999.
- UN Reform: Addressing the Reality of American Power',
Global Dialogue
, Vol. 2., No. 2 (Spring 2000)
- Targeting Iraq: Sanctions and Bombing in US Policy
, 2002.
- Future Iraq: US Policy in Reshaping the Middle East
, 2003.
- Colombia: A Brutal History
, 2004.
- Libya and the West: From Independence to Lockerbie
, 2004. Foreword by
Tony Benn
.
- The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine,
2006 pub by Palestinian Return centre
- Iraq Endgame?: Surge, Suffering and the Politics of Denial
, 2008.
- Time to be Rational: Darwin, Demons and Sex
, 2009.
- Nuclear Nightmares
, 2009.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Simons, Geoff (1984).
Are Computers Alive?: Evolution and New Life Forms
. Corgi Books. p. 3.
ISBN
978-0-552-99093-6
.
- ^
Simons, G. L. (1982).
Computers in engineering and manufacture
. NCC Publications. p. 2.
ISBN
978-0-85012-347-0
.
- ^
Letter: Iraqis killed by sanctions
,
The Independent
, 1 August 1997
- ^
Letters
Archived
4 October 2013 at the
Wayback Machine
,
Global Dialogue
, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Autumn 2000)
- ^
Letters to the editor of
The Times
, 23 February 2004, 13 March 2004, 19 September 2005.
- ^
Letter to the editor of the
Sunday Times
, 7 September 2003.
- ^
Letters to the editor of
The Independent
, 18 October 1993, 19 January 1996, 7 February 1997, 1 August 1997, 14 August 1997, 2 September 1997, 15 October 1998, 14 January 2002, 27 March 2002, 6 April 2002, 5 September 2002, 21 August 2003.
- ^
Letters to the editor of
The Guardian
, 6 July 1994, 8 January 2008, 3 March 2009, 7 April 2009, 25 April 2009, 19 August 2009, 4 September 2009, 21 September 2009, 23 July 2010, 27 July 2010, 23 April 2011, 3 May 2011.
- ^
Letters to the editor of the
New Statesman
, 28 February 2005, 6 June 2005, 19 September 2005, 7 November 2005, 6 February 2006, 21 December 2009, 4 January 2010, 18 February 2010.
- ^
Letters to the editor of the
Morning Star
, 7 January 2006, 22 March 2006, 6 April 2006.
- ^
"Geoff Simons - Greater Manchester Humanists (Manchester, England) - Meetup"
. 4 October 2013. Archived from
the original
on 4 October 2013
. Retrieved
30 April
2023
.
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