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The Pattern On The Stone: The Simple Ideas That Make Computers Work (Science Masters) by [Hillis, W. Daniel]
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The Pattern On The Stone: The Simple Ideas That Make Computers Work (Science Masters) Kindle Edition

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4.5 out of 5 stars 16 customer reviews
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Length: 178 pages Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled Page Flip: Enabled
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Product Details

  • File Size: 2024 KB
  • Print Length: 178 pages
  • Publisher: Basic Books; Revised ed. edition (December 9, 2014)
  • Publication Date: December 9, 2014
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B00NP8ME30
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • X-Ray:
  • Word Wise: Not Enabled
  • Lending: Not Enabled
  • Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #316,461 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsAn Inspiration for Worn-Out Computer Scientists
By Joseph Wetterling on January 26, 2000
Format: Hardcover
Daniel Hillis has a unique view of technology that many have called "child-like". In his writing, there comes through not only a deep understanding of the subject, but also a genuine interest and excitment. And the best part? Its contagious.
I've been a computer science major for several years, and, after reading this book, I realized that I'd forgotten why I first chose this profession. This book reminded me about how much fun, how interesting, and how varied working (playing?) with technology can be. Thank you Mr. Hillis!
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5.0 out of 5 starsthe best CS0 book, but not free from problems
By Joshua G. on August 25, 2015
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Honestly, the best CS0 book out there. Not really any detail on binary or assembler programming, but the students will get that in Architecture and/or OS. Much more understandable than other CS0 books for the average incoming CS major (I've taught at several schools from regional comprehensives to small private liberal arts colleges to R2s & R1s), and it's an INCREDIBLE book for non-majors, because I teach a version of CS0 for them, too. There are some parts where Danny Hillis kind of goes off the rails, but they're minor:
- He asserts that the brain was "designed" by evolution, which is a gross misunderstanding of evolution, and I do worry about that kind of thing with impressionable college freshman
- He calls an infinite recursion an "infinite loop"
- He says things like "only one of the registers in the memory is access at a time, but that's PER CONCURRENT INSTRUCTION
- He refers to Alonzo Church as "one of Turing's contemporaries", rather than as Alan Turing's PhD advisor
Stuff like this is not really all that important to students, and correctness can be debated, but it's a symptom of the only problem with the book, which is that Hillis goes up and down in terms of level of detail with which he explains things, and he does so either randomly or with a pattern I don't understand.

Why am I giving it five stars if it has problems? Look at other CS0 books. They have more problems, and they're on average about TEN TIMES AS EXPENSIVE. Hillis gives so much bang for the buck that I don't care. When it's important, I note it in class.
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5.0 out of 5 starsThe kernel
By Stewart Brand on October 6, 1998
Format: Hardcover
The fundamentals of computing, in all their profound simplicity, have been overlaid by so much persoflage and technoflage that understanding is very difficult for newcomers. Also professionals who want to invent afresh from basics have a tough time finding those basics in reviewable form. Hillis fixes all that. This book could become one of the classics.
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5.0 out of 5 starsAn Excellent Theoretical Discussion!
By Peter Mccormick on June 29, 2015
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
This is written on a very abstract level. This is a wonderful introduction to the way computers work on a theoretical level, but you have to be prepared for the abstract discussion. Hillis is a big-time guy -- he really knows his subject.
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5.0 out of 5 starsRarely does a book on comutation rise to such a ...
By MR DAVID BREW on August 24, 2014
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Rarely does a book on comutation rise to such a level. This book unfolds and reveals the whole idea of computation rather than any particular technology. Hillis has joined the ranks of such thinkers as Turing and Shannon with his ground breaking practical work in the field; this gem of a book should be a must-read for not only everyone interested in computing but everyone interested in the future of civilisation as well.
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4.0 out of 5 starsA great �behind the scenes� look at computers.
By Amazon Customer on April 2, 1999
Format: Hardcover
Intriguing - describing how to build a computer from sticks - and wide ranging - from operating systems to quantum principles such as entanglement. I particularly like the analogies with evolution and it left me personally wondering whether some of the principles in the book could be applied to human systems such as team work and culture change. E.g. Restoring logic: why communications need to be amplified at each stage. Also provided are wonderful history lessons (the foundation of the words algorithm and abracadabra) in addition to the expected insights into heuristics, parallel processing, encryption and error detection.
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4.0 out of 5 starsfun little book
By Ein Kunde on July 22, 1999
Format: Hardcover
danny hillis is a great character and he infuese thi sbook with his childish sense of humor. while most if not all of the material is review for any electrical engineer or computer scientist, it is a fun review nonetheless and is so clear that I would give it to my mom to read so she understand what I do all day
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4.0 out of 5 starsWhether Vision or Primer: Worthy Introduction to Computing
By O. Kagan on December 22, 2007
Format: Hardcover
From my first examination of "The Pattern on the Stone..." I expected it to be a beginner's guide to understanding how computers work (read: not a how-to book, or manual, this is mostly "big-picture"/"theory" book). Through a lucid organization and several examples per chapter, Daniel Hillis indeed explains "the simple ideas that make computers work."

At 153 pages, this is not an all-inclusive journey into the micro-history and deep inner-workings of today's machines; instead Hillis's method was to pick several important points (Boolean Logic, the idea of Bits, algorithms, heuristics, to name a few) and give the computing novice a clear understanding and a general landscape of where the concepts stand in the engineer's world.

While Hillis does much (both in the text, and the diagrams) to make the concepts (and by extension, the examples) nice for the non-mathematical mind, a few parts may still be too left-brained. The quality that redeems the un-inspiring diagrams and harder portions is that the book's organizational fitness still allows the reader to achieve the goal of the book; one can read on only halfway "getting" the example and still come away with a grasp of the overall ideas.

The overall ideas in "The Pattern on the Stone" are part of what make the book fascinating; Mr. Hillis does not shy away from giving the reader his perspective (re: parallel processing, for example), on the topics covered. First published in 1998, Hillis's visions of the future are not uninteresting today, some have even occurred.Read more ›
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