This blend of fact and fiction makes me uneasy, we would all be far more uneasy if this was spoken. If Melville had the view that we should learn while we read, would Labatut’s view the other side of the coin — facts, history, technology, but appreciating the emotional depth beside them? He does a great job of not glorifying von Neumann but I’m not sure how well he connects it to the present day and the end of the novel.