Customer Reviews

Ai: The Tumultuous History of the Search for Artificial Intelligence

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It's a great pity that this book is out of print. Daniel Crevier has written an excellent history of AI, which is also insightful in its analysis of the field. It is that rare creature in AI literature, something that is written clearly and objectively for the layperson, but that also conveys the complexity of AI. AI would find a lot more use in our workplaces and homes than it already has, if more people would communicate its strengths and weaknesses as lucidly as Daniel Crevier, and focus on its practical applications rather than speculating on spiritual machines. He would do a great service to the field to bring it up to date and have it republished.

AI Tells the bumpy story of the search for artificial intellegence from the eyes of the people who were there. The stories start in the 1950's and include present day research. It is well written and captures the reader with a touch of philosophy, asking such questions as "are computers really smart?"

As this book demonstrates, you can learn a lot from what doesn't work. The history and politics of AI are as interesting as its successes and failures to date. There's not a lot of technical detail here, but the author does manage to weave the thread of a pretty good story through this history.

I thought this was a great book on Artificial Intelligence. It would be a good book for anyone interested in the subject at all because it is written in a way to give just enough technical detail for the enthusiast, while keeping the casual reader interested. The author does a very commendable job in his interpretation of the history of this subject. He uses personal experience as well as good research on the subject to give us a great story as well as the cold hard facts.