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4.31 AVERAGE
4.31 AVERAGE
I did not complete this book, Goodreads just doesn't have a great way to mark the status that this book is actually in.
After two years of this book sitting on my "reading" shelf (and on my nightstand), I'm giving up on it. Over those two years, I'd peek at it a few chapters at a time. While the content seemed clever, the insights seemed trite and boring after later review. Nothing compelled me to keep reading it other than the praise it got from friends and the desire to get it over with.
I'm not leaving a star rating because I don't feel right giving a review to a book I didn't complete.
After two years of this book sitting on my "reading" shelf (and on my nightstand), I'm giving up on it. Over those two years, I'd peek at it a few chapters at a time. While the content seemed clever, the insights seemed trite and boring after later review. Nothing compelled me to keep reading it other than the praise it got from friends and the desire to get it over with.
I'm not leaving a star rating because I don't feel right giving a review to a book I didn't complete.
Before Its Time
This was a very interesting book.
Filled with excellent ideas on things like programming, life, math, and of course - philosophy.
I actually found it quite "before its time".
Definitely a book to check out.
I recommend it!
4.2/5
This was a very interesting book.
Filled with excellent ideas on things like programming, life, math, and of course - philosophy.
I actually found it quite "before its time".
Definitely a book to check out.
I recommend it!
4.2/5
This was the second book I bought from Amazon when it launched in the UK: has taken me a decade (and a philosophy degree) to finish it.
It's not a quick read, then. Partly because it assumes nothing and happily digresses down to first principles, but also because you spend half the time staring into space and thinking about the ideas it raises.
(The digressions are something else, mind. Had to laugh about 4/5s of the way in when he says "now we can come to the main theme".)
It's not a quick read, then. Partly because it assumes nothing and happily digresses down to first principles, but also because you spend half the time staring into space and thinking about the ideas it raises.
(The digressions are something else, mind. Had to laugh about 4/5s of the way in when he says "now we can come to the main theme".)
challenging
informative
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Perhaps the single most creative work of art I’ve ever experienced. Bravo.
challenging
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Very math oriented, I thought it would be more philosophy of mind heavy
The book was extremely interesting, and put together (with the exception of a few chapters around the middle, in my opinion) for just about anyone. It is a book about [b:artificial intelligence|27543|Artificial Intelligence A Modern Approach (2nd Edition)|Stuart J. Russell|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167881696s/27543.jpg|1362] - what he believes is and is not possible for a computer to "learn". Before each chapter there is a Dialogue, which consists of multiple characters carrying out a conversation in such a way to illustrate the point he will be discussing in the chapter - this REALLY helps to set the scene and show what he means by a concept, or why a particular concept is important. I would highly suggest doing the mind problems he gives throughout the book, because otherwise the concepts may become muddled in your head... especially if you have not been aquainted with first order logic and predicate calculus in the past (these are the sections in the middle that I don't think he explains very well... or rather, he goes through them very fast). Also, if you get to the point in the middle and get hopelessly confused, don't give up hope! Skip ahead to the next dialogue and next chapter... or just read the dialogues and skip a few chapters. But the last 3 chapters are very interesting and should be read by everyone!
I read a couple of specific chapters of this in college when I was researching for a paper on naive set theory. This book is intensely meta; it's full of logic puzzles and poems and cultural references and self-referential humor and all kinds of bizarre synthesis between disciplines. I would love to take the time to read the entire thing... someday.