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The Advent of the Algorithm: The 300-Year Journey from an Idea to the Computer 1st Edition

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David Berlinski (Author)
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David Berlinski (Author)
2.7 out of 5 stars 52 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0156013918
ISBN-10: 0156013916
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Harvest Books; 1 edition (May 3, 2001)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0156013916
  • ISBN-13: 978-0156013918
  • Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.9 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,253,643 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsA highly original guide to a foundational concept
By A Customer on March 24, 2000
Format: Hardcover
David Berlinski has delivered another fascinating tale of an underappreciated topic. What he did for the calculus he now does for the algorithm. The text preserves all of Berlinski's extravagant, quirky and sometimes difficult style, shifting between careful analysis, historical drama, insightful explanation, and obscure fictional aside. Readers will either love it or hate it. (I love it.)
Unfortunately, some readers misunderstand Berlinski's subtlety and insight. For instance, the official trade review of the book complains that Berlinski never really defines "algorithm." This is incorrect. The introduction concludes with an offset definition: "In the logician's voice: an algorithm is a finite procedure, written in a fixed symbolic vocabulary, governed by precise instructions, moving in discrete steps, 1, 2, 3,..., whose execution requires no insight, cleverness, intuition, intelligence, or perspicuity, and that sooner or later comes to an end." It doesn't get much clearer than that. But Berlinski doesn't ponder long over what he takes to be obvious, and he doesn't always speak in the logician's voice.
The Advent of the Algorithm demonstrates that a seemingly dull concept can have unimaginably profound implications. Those implications illuminate everything from computing and information technology to the nature of life and the universe. And ultimately (not to spoil the ending) Berlinski argues that the advent of the algorithm foretells the end of scientific materialism, suggesting nothing so much as a world permeated by the marks of intelligence and design. To paraphrase, we are shocked to discover information--something we had assumed was found exclusively in the domain of human activity--flourishing on the alien shores of biology.
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4.0 out of 5 starsFascinating Look at a Difficult Topic - But Eclectic
By Michael Wischmeyer on February 9, 2002
Format: Hardcover
First, symbolic logic is not an easy subject and requires attention to detail. Second, Berlinski's discursive style can require the reader to be accomodating and patient. Some may abandon Berlinski in frustration. But others will discover that Berlinski has created a rather unique work.

It is easy to be disoriented by Berlinski's eclectic mix of fiction, biography, essays, and mathematics. I would hunker down for some serious math, but be sidetracked to an unfamiliar Greek fable. Just as quickly I was being introduced - with surprising clarity - to propositional calculus, truth tables, and tautologies. Another sidetrack and I was privy to the delusional thoughts of some stranger.

At this point I fortuitously observed fine print on the copyright page: "This is a work of scholarship. The author has woven stories, involving imagined people and incidents into the text, the better to enable the reader to enjoy the technical discussions. Or to endure them." I relaxed and accepted that while my road might be a bit bumpy, I now had some understanding of Berlinski's itinerary.

I particularly valued the short biographies of the mathematicians and logicians that played key roles in developing symbolic logic and its protege, the algorithm. My attitude was more mixed regarding the playful stories (pure fiction) "woven"
into the text. Although some shed light on the technical discussions from unexpected perspectives,I found other stories to be more distracting than helpful.

Notwithstanding the occasional flights of fancy, "The Advent of the Algorithm" is indeed "a work of scholarship". Clarity characterizes most technical sections, but careful reading is still necessary. The technical sections include:

categorical syllogism (pg.Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsI understand the mixed reviews...
By P MARTIN on May 9, 2000
Format: Hardcover
I understand the mixed reviews this book has received on Amazon.com. The style is definitely not that of the standard popularizing text of mathematical or scientific concepts that we are so used to seeing today. And I think it's a lot better for that! Even readers who do not have the time, energy or (dare I say it?) mental capacity to understand this book in its entirety (I'm in the latter camp)should find this a pleasurable read. There's much in here of great historical and biographical interest and Berlinski's prose style is original, often unexpected, usually fun and just occasionally very moving. And the concepts are well developed, if complex in nature.
I'm going to buy his book on calculus because I enjoyed this book.
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2.0 out of 5 starsIn case you don't know HOW bad the prose is...
By James Brust on December 16, 2004
Format: Hardcover
First of all, I somewhat liked A Tour of the Calculus, and found it much easier reading than Advent of the Algorithm. Especially considering that the prose here is so annoyingly affected, that I couldn't get farther than a couple of chapters. I have tried in good faith to finish the book, but I really could not, and I do have to apologize for any incompleteness of my review as a result.

Also, I consider some of the earlier digressions--in the part of the book I was able to get through--to be okay, as far as content goes. However, these and everything else in the book seem to just be marred by the crippling excesses of this guy's prose.

So many people have said enough about this guy's writing that it would seem to speak for itself, so at first I wasn't going to weigh in. However, there have been a few people writing to claim that Berlinski's writing style is refreshing, and more approachable than the dry, prosaic style of a textbook. I MUST set the record straight here, for those who have not tried this book out.

I can understand the frustration some people have when "popular" books on science or mathematics might not be as interesting as we'd like to hope. But Berlinski's style is NOT poetic, and it is NOT refreshing. It is NOT like some chap at a pub explaining something to you, because most likely the "some chap" is not going out of his way to speak in an artificial, over-poetic (to the point that it is NOT poetic) way, often using unnecessarily obscure words. Other reviewers have cited examples--though some examples are more telling than others.

Have you ever known somebody who speaks or writes in an unnecessarily affected way, in order to appear smarter than he really is? Berlinski writes like that.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

ALGORITHM is a concept Berlinski relates well. Book arrived just as described.

Published 14 months ago by Rob W.
4.0 out of 5 starsDon't Believe The Title

Berlinski's title suggests that this book will be mainly a piece of intellectual history, charting the development of computer programs from the advances in mathematics made in... Read more

Published on July 15, 2013 by Andrew Begrady
1.0 out of 5 starsGood only for massive "skip" reading

Most boring, confusing and appalling book with all those dramatic and romantic story sections. May be if it was an audio book, I would have given some half star extra. Read more

Published on May 4, 2010 by N. Ramanathan
5.0 out of 5 starsthey don't get him

David Berlinski, like God, is under-appreciated. He is too subtle, too wonderful, and mostly beyond us.

Published on April 18, 2010 by Marianne Bacon
5.0 out of 5 starsThere is a time and a place for everything

I think I have had a normal relationship with this book. The first time I had a copy in my hands, I quit reading it. That was around 2000.

Tonight, it is brillant. Read more

Published on February 18, 2010 by Anthony Knape
2.0 out of 5 starsOver-written

I admire an author's clever use of words as much as anyone, but there is undoubtedly a point where the clever use of words becomes "mannerism:" the author calls attention to... Read more

Published on November 23, 2009 by Geoff Puterbaugh
5.0 out of 5 starsDavid Berlinski on Science and Things Beyond Science

(I wrote this review of Berlinski's The Advent of the Algorithm, A Tour of the Calculus, and Newton's Gift in 2001 but could find no one to publish it; so I am posting it here. Read more

Published on November 7, 2009 by Raymond C. Togtman
4.0 out of 5 starsGood Read

Berlinski is trying to make us feel the conceptual twist that percipitated the algoritm out of the failed project to produce a secure foundation for mathematics. Read more

Published on July 21, 2009 by S. G. Harris
1.0 out of 5 starsVirtually unreadable

"The Advent of the Algorithm" tries much too hard to be "Gödel, Escher, Bach", without any understanding whatsoever of the whimsical appeal of the latter, and wastes all its... Read more

Published on May 30, 2008 by C. Russell
5.0 out of 5 starsI adore Berlinski

Not for the faint-hearted, this is my most favorite math read of all times. It should be, since it's been a difficult companion for more than five years. Read more

Published on February 9, 2008 by Sunny Wallace

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