Customer Reviews

Talking Nets: An Oral History of Neural Networks

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was always interested in the history of various ideas. Every time I read an interesting paper in neural networks it makes me think how this kind of idea came to the author. What was the motivation and how the idea evolved into a full fledged paper ? These and many other things have been explained by various legends likes Sejnowski, James Anderson and others.

Truly a remarkable book and it was very interesting to read. Most of the answers have been discussed elaborately.

Many authors also explain about how they shaped their career in this area. What motivated them to look in different parts of the brain and how they prepared for a long career in this area. All these information was very useful for me and will be useful for any aspiring researcher in this area.

When I was 13, I tried to build an artificial neuron in a test tube, storing the 'weight' of the neuron in electroplating of a mechanical pencil graphite rod. But, I burned myself badly with nitric acid and ended up in the emergency room. I unfortunately wasn't allowed to finish the project.

Reading this unique oral history of neural nets, I discovered that Benard Widrow did the same thing in 1959 (minus the burn part - he was 30 at the time and didn't have to sneak the acid of the science store room at school) and invented the 'Memistor' and Memistor Corporation.

I learned a million other details about neural networks and their history in this book and now feel like I know some of the people interviewed here personally.