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

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

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

References

  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.
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