Customer Reviews

The Sciences of the Artificial, 2nd Edition

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is one of the most thought provoking, challenging books I've come across in many years. Simon tosses off ideas like a Border Collie shaking off water. This is not a book to be skimmed, or to be taken lightly, but a slow careful reading will certainly pay off. I read this book for insights into product design, and it did not disappoint.

Although the language is a little stilted at times and difficult to read, the range and scope - and implications - of Simon's ideas are profound. The relationships he describes between thinking, computing, and human behavior are extremely interesting and provide a "look toward the future". And the fact that Simon has been working and researching in this area for, like, FOREVER (some of the citations of his work is from the 50's) lends a lot of credence to his ideas.

Explores economics, management, computer science, psychology and phylosophy to understand human being and artifacts, the work of human being. Ideas presented are highly philosophical but widely applicable to the real world, especially when designing organization or large projects.

This is not an easy read -- and I suspect that Simon was quite cognizant that such a challenge would indeed be the case for readers of this excellent book. For me, there seemed at first to be a disjointedness among the first three or four chapters; however, as I progressed from chapter to chapter, Simon's principle themes continued to unfold ever more clearly. The final chapter on the architecture of complexity ultimately pulled together Simon's thoughts and elaborations from all preceding chapters.

In sum, this book is both highly insightful and thought-provoking. Admittedly, I was at first skeptical, due mostly to the various negative reviews posted on Amazon.com; however, having taken the time to read Simon's seminal work, I am truly glad I did. Very highly recommended.

I am really enjoying reading this book. It is very well written. I understand all they are talking about because of my background in engineering, but also because I understand psychology and computer science. It's a very easy read, full of rich ideas. I really enjoy this author very much. It's not for everyone, but for people who understand the fields I mention here.

in 2008, this work is primarily of historical interest. simon suggests a scientific approach to design, claiming one has existed since the mid-1970's - in retrospect, a highly suspect if not thoroughly rejected claim

regardless, simon was a visionary and some of his insight is still relevant. the focus on the "outer environment" - the context of usage - to navigate the space of possible designs is a foundation of contemporary design dogma. similarly, attention to the natural cognitive capabilities of human beings (short term memory, importance/difficulty of interruptions, etc) finds a warm home in current human-centered design practices

otherwise, without notable exception, the "examples" are abstract, ridiculous and/or hackneyed caricatures. the language is abstract, wordy, repetitive, and difficult to follow. simon writes with a computer scientist's sensitivity to humanity, using identical terms to describe both a computer's information-processing and a human's intelligence (eg, p110, "a scientific account of human cognition describes it in terms of several sets of invariants. first, there are the parameters of the inner environment. then, there are the general control and search-guiding mechanisms that are used over and over again in all task domains..."). the work exhibits a techno-fetishist's faith in the power of computers and software - referencing them repeatedly (and unbelievably) to explain how human intelligence works

i only recommend this book to someone interested in the history of design and/or technology. for purposes of learning about design, i highly recommend something newer and better

This book is very slow moving. You must be truely concerned with the matter he is talking about to actually understand or even want to read it.