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New Turing Omnibus (New Turning Omnibus : 66 Excursions in Computer Science) Paperback – January 1, 1993
| Price | New from | Used from |
- Print length480 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherComputer Science Press / W. H. Freeman
- Publication dateJanuary 1, 1993
- Dimensions1 x 6.5 x 9.25 inches
- ISBN-100716782715
- ISBN-13978-0716782711
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Product details
- Publisher : Computer Science Press / W. H. Freeman; First Edition (January 1, 1993)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 480 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0716782715
- ISBN-13 : 978-0716782711
- Item Weight : 1.57 pounds
- Dimensions : 1 x 6.5 x 9.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #4,019,997 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #46,268 in Mathematics (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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The 66 excursions cover a lot of ground, but often return to Turing machines, finite-state machines, and NP-completeness problems. I might have enjoyed more on algorithm analysis, computer languages, and game analysis. Additionally there are new topics since this 1992 publication, such as quantum computing, Bioinformatics, Internet related topics on virus and encrypting, and a raft of social questions including privacy. I hope the "Turing omnibus" refuels for another update.
Really love this book, highly recommended. Some essays are easy and can be casually cruised through in 5 minutes, others are very tech heavy and you'll need external research books to be able to get through the barely explained equations (esp. Art of Computer Programming), but they are all very interesting to learn about.
The chapters are ordered haphazardly. For example, it introduces the concept of minimal complete basis before showing Boolean logic, so if you don't already know about Boolean logic, you will not really see the purpose of a complete basis.
Often the topics are not properly motivated. The worst example is the chapter on Fast Fourier Transform. It gives only the vaguest idea of what a Fourier transform is before jumping into a bunch of equations showing how a computer can calculate it. You will be left wondering why it matters. (It says that the Fourier transform is used for data and image processing, but it never actually explains what it is or how people use it. If I hadn't already known about the FT I would be under the impression that it is just some obscure equations, when it is in fact a very useful way of finding patterns in data).
It's not a bad book--I enjoyed several of the chapters. It's just not good for anything. If you've already studied computer science, you know at least 90% of what's in the book. If you haven't studied CS, you won't be able to keep up with its fast pace and tedious examples.
I will say - it is not for the layman. I think you would have to have a CS background, or at least a good math background to grasp many of the concepts.
I was hoping for short, but complete, overview of a number of topics. Something I could share with my teenagers to try and spark an interest in computer science (given that when I was their age to use a computer you had no choice but to dive in and understand how the machine worked, so it was a giant puzzle which begged to be solved). However, to keep the subject count high and the page count within reason, it feels like some necessary detail was left out, making it much harder to fully grasp or appreciate the content of each chapter.
For example, Chapter 3 (Systems of Logic) starts off easily enough but quickly jumps off to complete bases, relying on the reader to fill in gaps that they may be unable to do without having more information available. Figure 3.1, "Structure of the complete bases" would benefit from more exposition. Certainly my 14 year old had trouble making sense of the diagram.
In rereading the author's introduction, it is clear that he does not intend this book to stand on its own. I feel, however, that it would be more useful for autodidacts to pull ten or so of the excursions and add more sites to the remainder.
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Now that I've finished a computer science university degree, I can say that I'd have a somewhat easier time reading this, but would still find it incredibly dense and difficult to understand every detail.
Oh, and of course it does absolutely nothing to make the field of computer science feel interesting, which is an obvious prerequisite for a beginner's book.
2 stars because it is impressively detailed and wide ranging, and I'm sure it's enjoyable reading for some theoretical computer scientists who want the field summarised in one book. But if you're a true beginner interested in computers, 0 stars - avoid like the plague.
For those who are already versed in computer science and mathematical concepts such as formal proof, this book still fails to be a worthwhile read. Difficult concepts are often explained in a rushed or poor manner and the writing is often dull, to say nothing of various mistakes that appear throughout. Some of the chapters are so short that they may as well tell the reader to buy a dedicated book on the subjects covered just so that they can gain an understanding.
This book may have redeemed itself through the offering of problems in each chapter that an interested reader can use to gain a greater understanding of the subjects covered were it not for the fact that the author somehow forgot to include answers, completely preventing the reader from learning anything by doing these problems and therefore defeating the point of their inclusion entirely. This is not helped by the patronising tone that often comes through in the text, with words such as ‘obviously’ used frequently to the point of insulting the reader’s capacity to understand the contents of the book.
In conclusion, The New Turing Omnibus offers very little to computer scientists and nothing whatsoever to the computer science newcomers it claims to be aimed at, and I would recommend spending your money on a more accessible, worthwhile read.
Questions can't teach anything at all if you have know way of knowing if you got them right or wrong!
£20 just to be irritated by mystery questions.






