Geoff Simons
Born1939 Edit this on Wikidata
Died31 August 2011 Edit this on Wikidata (aged 71–72)

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]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Simons, Geoff (1984). Are Computers Alive?: Evolution and New Life Forms. Corgi Books. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-552-99093-6.
  2. ^ Simons, G. L. (1982). Computers in engineering and manufacture. NCC Publications. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-85012-347-0.
  3. ^ Letter: Iraqis killed by sanctions, The Independent, 1 August 1997
  4. ^ Letters Archived 4 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Global Dialogue, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Autumn 2000)
  5. ^ Letters to the editor of The Times, 23 February 2004, 13 March 2004, 19 September 2005.
  6. ^ Letter to the editor of the Sunday Times, 7 September 2003.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ Letters to the editor of the Morning Star, 7 January 2006, 22 March 2006, 6 April 2006.
  11. ^ "Geoff Simons - Greater Manchester Humanists (Manchester, England) - Meetup". 4 October 2013. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
International
National
Other
Categories