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I found the book interesting because it does discuss a transformation that has occurred in my lifetime and which we now tend to take for granted without questioning. That is, the methods of many different 'sciences' (and probably many other non-science areas as well) were once done with pen and paper and hands-on experiments and now are often done by computer simulations and other 'in-direct' modeling/experiences. So actually discussing this transformation and what it has meant and why people have been pro or against was interesting and worth thinking about.
On the downside, the book often seems cobbled together from only very loosely related parts. At one point (I was reading the Kindle version), I thought I had finished it, only to discover that I was only half way through (the index etc are in the middle). Individually there are many interesting narratives - physics, mars missions, nuclear weapons, biology, architecture that are interesting, but they are only very loosely tied together under the underarching theme of is simulation good, and given that we are more or less stuck with it, what should we think about?
So it's interesting and worth reading and pondering, but it is very disjointed. However when I picked up a magazine this morning and found an article about robot scientists who will pose hypothesis and then test them and come up with results I thought perhaps the book was even more relevant than I had first thought... (It was a serious article).
- Series: Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life
- Hardcover: 232 pages
- Publisher: The MIT Press; 1 edition (April 17, 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0262012707
- ISBN-13: 978-0262012706
- Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.9 x 8 inches
- Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
- Average Customer Review: 5 customer reviews
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Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#267,826 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3812 in Computer Science (Books)
- #155 in Human-Computer Interaction (Books)
- #49 in Computer Simulation (Books)
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