Customer Reviews

Computers and the Imagination-

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"Computers and the Imagination," Clifford A. Pickover, NY, St. Martin's Press, 1991 ISBN 0-312-06131-5, HC 424 pg., includes 5 pg. Preface, 7 pg. Index, 4 pg. Glossary, 10 pg. Biblio., & 40 pg. Appendices. 9 1/2" x 6 1/4"

This unabashed, seasoned author's enticing colorful cover created by CGI promises to reveal fractals, B. Mandelbrot & (Gaston) Julia sets, a grueling exegesis on computerization & poetry, gene sequencing, visualization of (more-or-less) complex equations including continued (nesting) roots, chaos theory, Lissajous figures, the Gleichniszahlen-Reihe Monster, palindromes, Connell sequences (far out), Lute of Pythagorus, etc. Author's message: facilitate & promote readers to conceptualize mathematical transmogrifications. There is a certain beauty to this madness.

So, what's the book really about? It explores potential & predicted changes made possible by present-day computer technology in all spheres of our life: manufacturing, robotics, communications, arts & sciences, war & speculations on just about everything. Of great interest to me were the many amusing highly-detailed cartoon drawings accompanying every chapter and tongue-in-cheek whimsical stories --especially "The Twenty-Fourth Annual Meeting Of the Chaos Society." Pickover provides the reader with many challenging puzzles & problems to solve.

The book has been edited & assembled with profound attention to minute details to provide & provoke interest even to those readers without strong background in mathematics. The author is reminiscent (to me) of MARTIN GARDNER (Scientic American) who appropriately provided a positive introductory review for this book. If you are uncomfortable with numbers, take a pass & try Pickover's rambling "Sex, Drugs, Einstein, & Elves" (2005).