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The Age of Spiritual Machines : When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence
Author:
Book Type: Hardcover
4
Author:
Book Type: Hardcover
4
Review Date: 4/3/2007
This is a Tour de Force of the past, present and future. Kurzweil discussed the growth of the Universe from the Big Bang through from the first nanosecond through the first millenia up to the present, and then does the same with the evolution of life on Earth. He then goes on to the technological evolution of recent centuries, decades and years. He develops his "law of acccelerating returns," showing how scientific and technical knowledge builds on itself and is growing at a slightly greater-than-exponential pace, and that in just a few short decades a machine will be as smart (in every respect, not just playing chess) as a person, and shortly thereafter it will be smarter.
I also mention this book in my review of James Gleick's "Faster."
I also mention this book in my review of James Gleick's "Faster."
Review Date: 4/3/2007
The idea is a good one, but this book is missing something - there's a lot of writing about the annoying aspects of the acceleration of modern life, but little about why or what it all means, or what it holds for the future (other than things going Even Faster). Gleick is an excellent writer, and did an exellent job with "Chaos" from way back when, and the Feynman bio "Genius," but somehow missed the boat on this one. It's too bad, I do enjoy his thoughts, and I really wanted this book to "say something" to me.
I found Ray Kurzweil's "The Age of Spiritual Machines" from the sam time period to be a much better and more in-depth work on where the accelerated pace of life in general and technology in particular came from, as well as where it's going. I have little doubt I'll enjoy Kurzweil's earlier "The Age of Intelligent Machines" and his current "The Singularity Is Near" as well.
I found Ray Kurzweil's "The Age of Spiritual Machines" from the sam time period to be a much better and more in-depth work on where the accelerated pace of life in general and technology in particular came from, as well as where it's going. I have little doubt I'll enjoy Kurzweil's earlier "The Age of Intelligent Machines" and his current "The Singularity Is Near" as well.
Review Date: 11/6/2006
An interesting yet "light" read, describes the inventions and their inventors of three common objects in each of these rooms: bathroom (disposable razor, Vaseline, hair straightner), kitchen, foyer, office, garage, family room, and yes, the bedroom.
Review Date: 6/27/2010
SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING FOR EVERY HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR. While it has the history and boigraphy of mathematics and mathematicians, the vast majority of the focus is on the mathematics. It shows the development of algebraic concepts and proofs the Pythagorean Theorem through development and derivation of infinite series such as Newton's and others' formulas for pi, and into more recent and esoteric areas such as Godel's proofs of many infinities. Calculus is not needed and is mainly described in the controversies over its invention/discovery by Newton and/or Leibniz.
Okay, there was about four pages on the life of some guy who developed the generic cubic formula (the next step up from the quadratic formula taught in high school) - these pages have nothing about math, but are all about the hard, terrible, sucky, bad-luck life he lived. I'm not sure of the point of that, perhaps that one can suffer and still make a significant contribution to mathematics. But nowhere else in the book is there a run of four pages without substantial mathematics content.
But that's only one percent of the book, and I've learned a lot more about mathmathematics (and not just who did what, but in many cases exactly how they did what they did) than many other books on and about math. The only thing remotely comparable is a collection of James R. Newman books such as his "Mathematics and The Imagination" and his four volume "The World of Mathematics," but this book still has much that others don't.
I wish I had read something like this before my first year of college (which was a few years before this book was first published), as I might have looked for a school with a mathematics major program.
Okay, there was about four pages on the life of some guy who developed the generic cubic formula (the next step up from the quadratic formula taught in high school) - these pages have nothing about math, but are all about the hard, terrible, sucky, bad-luck life he lived. I'm not sure of the point of that, perhaps that one can suffer and still make a significant contribution to mathematics. But nowhere else in the book is there a run of four pages without substantial mathematics content.
But that's only one percent of the book, and I've learned a lot more about mathmathematics (and not just who did what, but in many cases exactly how they did what they did) than many other books on and about math. The only thing remotely comparable is a collection of James R. Newman books such as his "Mathematics and The Imagination" and his four volume "The World of Mathematics," but this book still has much that others don't.
I wish I had read something like this before my first year of college (which was a few years before this book was first published), as I might have looked for a school with a mathematics major program.
Review Date: 4/27/2010
It's not just "great theorems," it's about all the great discoveries. It's an excellent book on history/biography of mathematics and mathematicians. I give it really high marks. It covers Aristotle, Pythagoras and Erasthenes to Newton and Leibniz to Godel, and everyone you've heard of in between and their exact contributions to mathematics (or their most important contributions for the more prolific contributors), at detail I've not seen elsewhere, such as showing exactly how various infinite series for Pi were derived. Okay, there was about four pages on the life of some guy who developed the cubic equation formula, and these pages had nothing about math, but are about the hard, terrible, bad-luck life he lived. But that's only one percent of the book, and I've learned a lot more about math (especially who did what and how) than a lot of other books on math put together. Wish I had read something like this in college or high school.
National Audubon Society First Field Guide : Night Sky (Audubon Guides)
Author:
Book Type: Paperback
2
Author:
Book Type: Paperback
2
Review Date: 8/28/2006
Has a color photograph or color diagram on almost every page. It covers a large number of heavenly bodies - planets (even the former planet Pluto), moons, stars, clusters, many Messier objects, constellations and galaxies - in 160 pages. Includes index of objects.
Review Date: 11/16/2006
Helpful Score: 1
Yet another Crichton technothriller, this one featuring the "emerging" field of Nanotechnology. The main character is out of work and blacklisted in his field, but investigating the mysterious secrets and 'leaks' at his wife's company becomes a full-time job. The company develops microscopic robots which do wonderful medical diagnostics, but they get out of control and have a mind of their own...
Review Date: 12/5/2006
The classic text on digital logic. Has pinouts and descriptions of about 30 chips in the early 7400 family.
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