Monday 16 February 2009

Books from my latest library adventure

Silicon Psychosis: Derangement in the Global Network
By Geoffrey Leslie Simons
Published by Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1989
ISBN 0710813074, 9780710813077
245 pages

006.3S611s

The following is the first paragraph from the introduction.
This age, like any other, is an evolving matrix. More and more, our attention is drawn to such matters as technology (computing and communications in particular), the new emphasis on the vital nature of information as a resource, the increased globalisation of technology, finance, trade, political and military strategy, culture and so on. And it is clear that such considerations are not isolated but mutually interdependent. For example, the newly emerged world financial system would have been impossible without computer-based communications systems. It is within the framework of a technologically-rooted globalisation that we can detect the seeds of tomorrow's global computer intelligence.



Neural Network and Fuzzy Logic Applications in C/C++
By Stephen T. Welstead
Published by Wiley, 1994
ISBN 0471309745, 9780471309741
494 pages

006.3W463n

The following is from the back of the book.
Many books discuss the theory of neural and fuzzy systems, but this is the only one that gives you everything you need to actually design and implement neural and fuzzy programs for real-world scientific, engineering, and financial applications. Each chapter is self-contained and takes the reader through all the steps - from data preparation to the presentation of results - necessary to develop a complete working application, many of which feature interactive graphics. In addition to basics such as backpropagation for feedforward networks, the book also covers a number of advanced methods, including genetic algorithms, simulated annealing, and conjugate gradient methods.

I like this book because it presents the algorithms in code which makes it easier for me to follow.


Artificial Neural Networks: Theory and Applications
By Dan W. Patterson
Edition: illustrated, reissue
Published by Prentice Hall, 1998
ISBN 0132953536, 9780132953535

006.3P317arbgen

p7, 9, 338, 409

The following is from the back of the book.
This comprehensive tutorial on artifical neural networks covers all the important neural network architectures as well as the most recent theory--e.g., pattern recognition, statistical theory, and other mathematical prerequisites. A broad range of applications is provided for each of the architectures.

I like this book because it has a review of mathematical and statistical concepts.


Recent Developments in Biologically Inspired Computing
By Leandro N. De Castro, Fernando J. Von Zuben
Edition: illustrated
Published by Idea Group Inc (IGI), 2005
ISBN 159140312X, 9781591403128
439 pages

006.3R295bgen
Recent Developments in Biologically Inspired Computing is necessary reading for undergraduate and graduate students, and researchers interested in knowing the most recent advances in problem solving techniques inspired by nature. This book covers the most relevant areas in computational intelligence, including evolutionary algorithms, artificial neural networks, artificial immune systems and swarm systems. It also brings together novel and philosophical trends in the exciting fields of artificial life and robotics. This book has the advantage of covering a large number of computational approaches, presenting the state-of-the-art before entering into the details of specific extensions and new developments. Pseudocodes, flow charts and examples of applications are provided so as to help newcomers and mature researchers to get the point of the new approaches presented.

I found this book difficult to understand.


Artificial Intelligence: Structures and Strategies for Complex Problem Solving
By George F. Luger
Edition: 4, illustrated
Publisher: Addison Wesley; 4 edition (July 30, 2001)
ISBN 0201648660, 978-0201648669
880 pages

006.3L951at2002bgen

pages 419, 444,798

The following is from the back of the book:
Artificial intelligence (AI) began as the quest to create machines that could think for themselves and (perhaps) out-think humans: the holy grail of computing! Over the years, while still exploring the mechanisms that enable thought, AI has evolved into a more pragmatic discipline. AI uses different strategies to solve the complex practical problems that present themselves wherever computing technology is applied. And intelligence itself is now known to be too complex to be described by any single theory - instead, a constellation of theories characterize the subject from different levels of abstraction. At the lowest levels, neural networks, genetic algorithms and other forms of computation aid understanding of adaptation, perception, embodiment, and interaction with the physical world. On a more abstract level, designers of expert systems, intelligent agents, stochastic models, and natural language understanding programs reflect the role of knowledge and social processes in creating, transmitting and sustaining knowledge. Further, logicians propose deduction, abduction, induction, truth-maintenance, and other models and modes for reasoning.

In this fourth edition, George Luger touches on all these levels of structures and strategies for complex problem solving, as well as conveying excitement for the study of intelligence itself. He shows how to use many different software tools and techniques for addressing the complex problems that challenge the modern computer scientist.



Neural Networks: A Comprehensive Foundation
By Simon Haykin
Edition: 2, illustrated
Prentice Hall; 2 edition (July 16, 1998)
ISBN 0132733501, 978-0132733502
842 pages

006.3H419n1999bgen

pages 724, 828

The following is a product description from the publisher.
Provides a comprehensive foundation of neural networks, recognizing the multidisciplinary nature of the subject, supported with examples, computer-oriented experiments, end of chapter problems, and a bibliography.

I like this book because it briefly mentions excitatory-inhibitory networks.


Computers and Thought
By Edward A. Feigenbaum, Julian Feldman, Paul Armer
Contributor Edward A. Feigenbaum, Julian Feldman
Edition: illustrated
Published by AAAI Press, 1995
Original from the University of Michigan
Digitized Nov 15, 2007
ISBN 0262560925, 9780262560924
535 pages

001.535F297c1995

The following is from the back of the book:
Computers and Thought showcases the work of the scientists who not only defined the field of Artificial Intelligence, but who are responsible for having developed it into what it is today. Originally published in 1963, this collection includes twenty classic papers by such pioneers as A. M. Turing and Marvin Minsky who were behind the pivotal advances in artificially simulating human thought processes with computers.

Among the now hard-to-find articles are reports of computer programs that play chess and checkers, prove theorems in logic and geometry, solve problems in calculus, balance assembly lines, recognize visual temporal patterns, and communicate in natural language. The reports of simulation of cognitive processes include computer models of human behavior in logic problems, deciding on common stock portfolios, and carrying out social interaction. Models of verbal learning behavior, predictive behavior in two-choice experiments, and concept formation are also included.



Gods of Air and Darkness
By Richard E. Mooney
Published by Stein and Day, 1975
ISBN 0812818156, 9780812818154
191 pages

001.94M818g1997

page 94

The following is from the back of the book:
Did a distant Central Galactic Authority send mankind to colonize our world?

Is life on Earth the work of ecological engineers from another planet?

Were dinosaurs deliberately exterminated to make room for man?

Was there a fifth planet where the asteroid belt now circles the sun?

Could there have been a nuclear war in 5000 BC?

Was the damage to the moon done in a prehistoric space-age 'Battle of the Gods'?

Is Britain herself the lost continent of Hyperborea?

In Gods of Air and Darkness, Richard Mooney further develops his highly provocative theory that mankind originated from elsewhere in the universe. Drawing on material from archaeological, biological, religious and legendary sources, his research is both scientific and revolutionary.

I like having another option in addition to Creationism and Evolution.


In Search of Semiotics
By David Sless
Edition: illustrated
Published by Taylor & Francis, 1986
ISBN 0709933169, 9780709933168
170 pages

001.51S632ibgen

The following is from the start of chapter 1.
Semiotics occurs whenever we stand back from our ways of understanding and communication, and ask how these ways of understanding and communication arise, what form they take, and why. Semiotics is above all an intellectual curiosity about the ways we represent our world to ourselves and each other. It has always been a feature of human intellectual life, but what distinguishes contemporary work in semiotics, and makes it so exciting, is the ambition to transform this scattered and fragmented interest into a unified discipline.

Our written and spoken language, pictures, mathematics, film, television, dress, gesture, indeed all the elements that go to make up the communication environment which we create and in which we are immersed, offer a rich and sometimes bewildering variety, yet we suspect that in some basic way all these different things have something in common. Semiotics tries to define what it is they have in common and what distinguishes them from each other.

We consult linguist to find out about language, art historians or critics to find out about paintings, and anthropologists to find out about how people in different societies signal to each other through gesture, dress or decoration. But if we want to know what all these different things have in common then we need to find someone with a semiotic point of view - for semiotics is about all else a point of view, a vantage point from which to survey our world. It is too young to be considered a discipline, and there are reasons why it will never become a science. But to ask the above question of those diverse activities and to search for an answer is to embark on a bold intellectual adventure. It is a quest on a grand scale, an attempt to revoke the curse of Babel.

This book is written for the new student of semiotics and the student who has tried from other sources, got lost or become confused. There is a sad irony in the fact that a subject so profoundly concerned with communication should have managed to produce so many incommunicative works. ...

I like this book because it discusses semiotics in a simple way.


Tools of the Mind: Techniques and Methods for Intellectual Work
By VladimĂ­r Stibic
Edition: illustrated, reprint
Published by North-Holland Pub. Co., 1982
Original from the University of California
Digitized May 30, 2008
ISBN 044486444X, 9780444864444
297 pages

001S854t

The following is the abstract for this book.
Most professionals gained in their school years and university studies wide background knowledge and thorough training in their specific fields of science or technology, but were not taught on how to study and work efficiently. This book describes the basic techniques and methods of intellectual work: the organization of one's own workplace; the gathering, storage, management and retrieval of information for personal use; the traditional and modern methods of text processing, in particular the practical use of a word processor by a professional for more challenging tasks than simple typing of business correspondence; personal computing by means of pocket calculators, personal computers and terminals; some basic techniques and methods of graphical presentation, and techniques of communication by traditional and new means, including electronic mail and computer conferencing. Suggestions and recommendations of how to employ simple as well as sophisticated tools are demonstrated in a number of examples. The first chapter characterizes the basic principles of efficient personal work, the trends and prospects of development of technical means and their usage, and includes critical remarks and warnings concerning misunderstanding or misuse of the old and new 'tools of the mind'.



Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction
By Steve McConnell
Edition: illustrated
Published by Microsoft Press, 1993
ISBN 1556154844, 9781556154843
857 pages

005.1M129cc.2bgen

The following is the product description from Amazon.
"Code complete" is the phrase used by programmers to announce the completion of a software program. Drawing its examples from a variety of computer languages, this book focuses on programming technique rather than the requirements of a specific programming language or environment. Steve McConnell developed True Type and Windows for the Microsoft Corporation. Topics include: front-end planning, applying good design techniques to construction, using data effectively, using common and advanced control structures, secrets of self-documenting code, testing and debugging techniques, improving performance with code tuning, managing construction activities, and relating personal character to the development of superior software.

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