Artificial Intelligence Books

This is a recommended book to read for people who would like to read about statistics and maths. People with few knowledge about these sciences will find it a bit difficult to read.

This is the best book I have found for a general study of the of neural networks. I found this particularly useful when looking at how to write my own NN frameworks. The depth of the mathematics allowed me to easily answer questions like: 'what if I replaced function abc with xyz'. I have found other texts failed to show key mathematical derivations, or to explore the subtleties of what the maths imply.

The book covers a plethora of topics from simple gradient descent through second order techniques and conjugate gradient, through to the use of 'bayesian techniques' (basically confidence intervals on network outputs), monte carlo techniques etc. Similarly error functions, non-linearities (sigmoids, softmax etc.) and data preparation are all treated.

The extensive bibliography also provides excellent references for further study, (a whos who of the field, as well as actual titles). My copy is now dog earred from frequent reading.

The theories of NN and PR are quite difficult to understand. But this book makes them much easier. The author can explain the concepts without using too much formula. If other authors could follow his step then the life is much easier!

If you want a very good, intermediate introduction to pattern classification this book must be on your bookshelf. It even does a very nice job explaining the EM algorithm in a few pages! Basic calculus is all you need to understand the book. A must read.

Mr Bishop's book is very well written and contains a lot of useful information on neural networks. It is outlined well and progresses in a logical form. If, however, you are looking for a book that gives discussions with concrete examples of neural networks applications or set ups, you will be sorely disappointed. The mathematical treatment is universally generalized with very few specific concrete examples shown. Even the exercises will not serve you well. The term 'graded' is used; however, that simply referes to the description of difficulty. There are no answers to these exercises, so unless you have a teacher or are already firmly familiar with the material, you will not know if you have completed them correctly or not. Even worse, the exercises are in general not written to reinforce concepts in the chapter, but in most cases extend the chapter material into new regions.

In summary, this book should only be purchased by someone already familiar with neural networks and their mathematical basis. Anyone else will be wasting their money.

This is the story of a brilliant young man who seems to be always on the move, moving from one interesting city to the other.

At the beginning, the author leaves New Delhi for US, where he is awarded a fellowship to study at University of California, but he gets caught into culture shock, as well as an internal dilemma, seeking a deeper meaning of life. While he is most vulnerable, he manages to fall in love with one his student but is unable to express his feelings.

Then he seems to have gone through the roller coaster ride of the technology industry emerging as a winner, a successful technologist leading a group of innovators.

We end in beautiful San Diego, with a moving story about how the author and his family face the Inferno, the great wildfires of 2007.

I don't believe anyone has experienced living unless they have ventured around like the author has. It is in his narratives, his reaction to the challenges he faces and his observations of people and culture of various places that he truly shines.

It is my top read of the year!

Whether you ever wondered about meaning of it all, or you want to read something light amusing, or want to see places like Seattle, San Diego, and Nashville from the eyes of the writer, or vicariously live the life of a student at University of California, this book is for you!

This book combines elements from good humor, a memoir, a scenic travelogue, a touching love story, science fiction and philosophy.

The author, pretends to be an Artificial Imagination computer program simulating human creativity, describes the life/career journey of a modern nomad through the Hi Tech world of California and Washington (Settle). The book is clever, witty and obviously written by someone very intelligent but still manages to be very down to earth and funny! it's light reading, the author has a conversational style, you feel as if you are reading a letter from a close friend!!

As a travelogue, Welcome to the USA is pretty good, Kalpanik certainly made me think about wanting to go to San Diego, Seattle and Nashville.

as a character. Kalpanik seems simultaneously incredibly thoughtful and serious and yet someone who has a carefree attitude towards life, someone who handle life as it happens!

It's a light reading, and yet thoughtful; funny yet serious; conversational yet literary!

This book takes many life concepts expressed in different forms and combine them in a mishmash. He structures the 12 different personal essays, each highlighting a particular transitional period in his life or a specific experience in to a beautiful collage of experiences in this book very successfully. What a funny memoir!

Kalpanik S. is a fine writer with a lot to say about a lot of things and a unique way of making you laugh! I highly recommend her book.

ReKalpanik S. takes us through his arrival in USA as a student and subsequent travel to several places - San Francisco, Seattle, Nashville, and San Diego. In each places, he focuses on similar aspect of his life as a technologist and an immigrant - acceptance by local people, standing out as a ethnic minority and foreign born, life as a technology execuitve and family life. In addition, he covers local food, people, culture and sources of enjoyment, joy, and finally, and his quest for love and balance.


He adds so much meaning, passion and humor, he is so open with the readers that I felt like I was reading a private letter that someone would write only to their best friends.

The writing is refreshingly unexpected, humorous and meaningful. Great read!!

If you are new to Lego Mindstorms then you are also probably new to Lego Technics. This book not only covers how to program robots but also how to build them with Lego Technics parts and makes use of many well laid out and easy to follow diagrams. This book should be included with every lego Mindstorms set.

This "Unofficial" book is very good. David does a great job of showing exactly how to build each project with informative snapshots from the program Lego Digital Designer. The programming was missing a little of information on what to fill in the for each module, but his comments provided enough information to fill in the modules. I did have a question for David and he responded with the answer I was looking for.

This is a great beginner/intermediate level book for both kids and adults. The building section is excellent at explaining HOW to use the technic pieces. The programming section is a very good primer for those new to the NXT-G programming environment and language. It sets you up well for the building & programming projects found later in the book. As a middle school teacher running a robotics club, I set some of my more advanced 6th graders to work on whatever project they wanted to from the book. They jumped into taking on the guard-bot and the golf-bot which are the more advanced projects. With little guidance from me, they were very successful and had a blast. That shows how well written and designed the book is!

The Unofficial Lego Mindstorms NXT Inventors Guide

Author: David J. Perdue
website: http://www.davidjpredue.com ; http://www.nxtguidedavidjpredue.com
Strengths: Very nice schematics, parts listings and visuals to highlight or the parts for the machines. Easily readable. Good for novice robot builders but also advanced users will find it helpful as well.

Weaknesses: The book has black/white text.

Novice/Intermediate/Advanced

Rating: 5/5

reviewed by Dr. Eric Flescher, Olathe, KS: (dreric1kansas@aol.com)


Introduction

I have been working with robot kits for many years. I started with the Fischertecknik robot turtle which I built and was able to use with the logo interface with my Apple IIE. Later on I heard about Lego Mindstorms and bought a set to use. It was tough going and after much delay because of the programming and the light issues with the brick, I was able to get legos finally working. Since then, I have worked with several kits and working with PC and Macintosh interfacing. But I was still looking for more a more helpful guides to build more interesting robots. I think I found one in The Unofficial Lego Mindstorms NXT Inventors Guide.

This author David J. Perdue knows his stuff and Lego Mindstorms. He has been creating MINDSTORMS since 2001 and just won the NXT Camera Bot Building Challenge competition and is the author of Competitive MINDSTORMS (Apress, 2004). He has received three Special Mention awards for his creations on the official online MINDSTORMS and is a full time student, pursuing a degree in Management information Systems in Texas. So I opened the book to see what else I could find out and how I could use the book for my LegoMindstorms in the future.

In the beginning, it was difficult to use Mindstorms. For me the kit did not work at all. Working with Macintosh was not an option. There were minimal additional information for working with the robots beyond the parts, software and initial schematics. I had to use a PC. This version works with PC (needs Windows XP or higher and will or already have shipped Vista version) or Macintosh OSX (version 103.9 and higher). It was not until later that I learned from a Legos salesman that the light in the room could be an issue. Its little things like this that kept me and possible others, from doing more with robotics.

I was hoping that the book started with novice programmers and robot creators. This books has "novice " beginning information so this book can be used with those who are new to Lego Mindstorms or are upgrading to the NXT version. It is good to know that this advanced robotic author, is "down to earth" with his writing and when "speaking" the language of robots. I have not upgraded to the NXT version yet and so and wanted to see whether it is would be worth upgrading myself but if so how and what ways could the robots be used with this new version.

The black and white screenshots are integrated within the instruction. The visuals are large enough to read and decipher what you need to know. The lack of color does not really hurt. I really liked the screenshots and illustrations listings of the parts for assembly. However it would have been nice if they were in color (the parts are a multitude or colors. Tables do however include numbers, piece names and the place color however. When you need more information about the parts, they are all there listed and illustrated/ photographed.

Throughout the book, there are helpful ideas in the way of bold notes that are "peppered" throughout the tutorials. In addition, there are pointers that go along with the "balloons " which have text inside of them about related to the robot parts. Circles and arrows highlight the illustrated areas in the screenshots that the author is clearly targeting for his instructions. This makes the understanding of the parts even more explicit.

The introduction introduces Lego Mindstorms, NXT, building , programming and starting and working with robotic projects. Here is an outline of the chapters and what is in store for you.

Part I in entitled "Introduction to LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT". In the Chapter 1, LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT starts off with building robots, the programming of robots, activating robots and what can you do with robots and NXT. Chapter 2 is includes solid but easy to understand information about starting with the NXT robotic set.

Part II illustrates the building with 4 chapters. There is electronic pieces, understanding the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT pieces, the need and building sturdy structures, and working with and building with gears

Programming section is in Part III . Chapter 7 introduction has a nice introduction to the NXT-G system. Later 3 chapters involve advanced NXT-G programming a. There is also more in the form of unofficial programming languages for the NXT.

Part IV involves 6 robot projects and that is where your in-depth robotic education really begins. You are taught the author's Mindstorms method, and working with 6 nice in-depth but easy to understand projects.

Appendices are good resources. Appendix A has LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT piece library. The Appendix B NXT-G has nice quick reference guide section that includes information for advanced programming to perform more intricate tasks. The author details a lot of the complexity, not only with words but also visually illustrates how to and in what ways to to complete the array of blocks, sensors and programming information. While it is not easy to learn, this section takes you "once step at a time". Appendix C informs with other internet resources.

Conclusions

I recommend this book highly for its in-depth tutorials, the visual schematics and the quality of the reading that makes the information well understood. No one said building robots was easy but with this book, you will learn and go further than you thought you could achieve. What I like about this book and the way the author has crafted this book is that he actually invited you to build robots in a none intimidating way. The in-depth information, the visual assemblies and tables, and the easy to read information along with the tutorials will allow you not only start but develop your skills in robot building. You will learn to be creative but at the same learning the logic of the machines and how to build robotics. I know there are many books that teach Lego Mindstorms out there but I am glad I chose this one first.

I'm a coach of a FIRST LEGO League team and I bought this book to help my son "get to the next level." I am making this book mandatory for every team member next season! It is informative, yet easy to read. It covers all the bases from good robot design to programming explanations. I can't recommend it enough!

The only thing I can say is I bought it for my 16 year old grandson and he said it is awesome.

If you read the first book this is an excellent followup to help you increase you understanding of how to build a robot of your own. If you did not a good place is start with the first book Robert Building for Begginers. These books help get you in the thought process needed to build decent robots wather small or big.

This review is by my ten year old Robot fanatic:

This book introduces the most common parts (in a beginner type robot) step by step by defining them properly. So far I have made a line following robot almost from scratch. This book sets you up with many different options. It starts with safety and where to obtain parts then moving on to introducing parts. After that you are shown how to setup a solder-less breadboard.

This book (and it's prequel, Robot Building for Beginners by the same author) is extraordinarily good. It picks up where the previous book (which is the best book in existence for the beginning roboticist, in my opinion) leaves off, getting into details of milling parts, microcontroller circuits, and such. A truly wonderful book. If you read the previous book, and then read this book, you will have an excellent grounding in robotics, and have a very entertaining time doing it. Highly recommended!

I am a novice robot builder. I appreciate the thoroughness and practical approach of this book. I have understood and implemented several circuit ideas from this excellent book.

Books like this are refreshingly down-to-earth after reading the usual college text books.

One of the few guides that covers the newer Google analytics ga.js code. I found chapter 11 an immeasurable help for guidance in monetizing a non-ecommerce website. Well laid out with useful screenshots and comprehensive scope, this is the one guide you will turn to everyday. I am always getting more ideas and finding different ways to get the most out of Google Analytics with the insights provided in this book.

Brian did a fantastic job in his book "Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics". The material was very easy to follow and was very well structured.

Web Analysts who are involved in Google Analytics configuration and implementation will find the book very useful. The book covered basic setup and implementation tips as well as best practices and advanced techniques that will allow you to get the most out of Google Analytics.

If you are on the marketing/analytics consulting side, you'll find the book extremely useful as well. I liked the way Brian "segmented" the stakeholders into categories such as webmaster, marketing manager, etc. and recommended metrics and KPIs to address the concerns and needs for each of the stakeholders.

Whether you are on the marketing side or on the technical you'd definitely have an appreciation for the chapter on "Real-World Tasks".

If you are thinking of using Google Analytics, I highly recommend you read this book prior to any implementation work. Or, if you are using Google Analytics already, you definitely want read this book to get the most bang out of what the tool offers.

In our agency, we have added this book to our "must read" list for our Google Analytics technical Specialists and Analytics Consultants!

This book could be titled the Manual for Google Analytics that should've been released when it was launched.

It has a lot of tips to help you get the most out of GA and has Brians own insight and knowledge on how to use the data in an actionable manner.

I was very impressed with Brians technical knowledge of the tool and some of the things he explains in detail such as how to track outgoing links, page load times and how to customize the javascript will be useful to anyone using GA seriously.

Brian also explains the importance of KPIs and how to make sense of the data from different business perspectives which is key to making website improvements.

Overall, it's technical (it needs to be) and very comprehensive, a great one to keep as a reference when you're stuck with something about implementing or using Google Analytics.

Steve Jackson
International Co-Chair
Web Analytics Association

I just finished reading Brian's book and want to let you all know that this is by far the best book I have ever read on web analytics. I now have over 10 pages of notes and ideas to apply to my work as a result. No combination of blog posts, speakers or articles can provide this kind of comprehensive, actionable knowledge. I have yet to come across anything even close to as helpful as this book for both Google and general analytics strategy and techniques.

I work in the search marketing / analytics field in a digital-centric agency setting and will be recommending this book to everyone I work with. This is a must read for any person or company involved in digital media, analytics, usability, web design or any other online field.

The book is rightly named Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics-- Advanced because this is about understanding how to manipulate GA and Javascript to achieve a desired result; Web Metrics because this is about analysis, not reporting; Google Analytics because... well that's pretty obvious.

I just completed the UBC-WAA certificate in Web Analytics,and I am starting my first analysis project -- using Google Analytics. This book has been a wonderful assist in helping me understand how to use the software to get what I want. I'm sure that I will go back to it again and again!

David Fogel has done a painstaking job of examining the historical record of Evolutionary Computation (EC) and recording both early and seminal papers in field. As a lecturer on EC, I have found the book to be an important, intriguing and insightful supplement to the course.

I think the book's strengths are twofold. First, that the important ideas in EC "popped up" in many earlier guises. I find it fascinating to discover concepts like "schema theory" and "bloated programs" addressed in at least a primitive form in papers going back to the 1950's. EC may be a "new science" but it clearly has deep roots. Second (and a more general point), that ideas themselves are not all that is required to do science. Timing and other factors play a role in how ideas get pushed forward and recognized by other researchers. It is a point that would be well taken by young researchers in any field.

There are some things that could be improved. One could quibble about the selection of papers, though I think Dr. Fogel's selections are well justified. For readability's sake I think the formatting of some of the papers could have been redone. Furthermore some papers might have been better presented in an abridged format. Overall, however, I think the book's minor flaws are far outweighed by its contribution to the field. Serious students in EC should definitely look at this book.

The collection of papers included in this book not only serves to explore the origins of evolutionary computation, but also shows some contributions that could had been turning points in the field but that somehow never received enough attention. The comments of David Fogel preceding each chapter are refreshing and show a deep and extensive knowledge of the field. His meticulous work of selecting, editing and commenting this valuable collection of papers certainly deserves my highest admiration. I have decided to use some of the papers contained in this book for my Graduate courses and seminars on evolutionary computation because I think that these early attempts (either successful or not) to simulate evolution in a computer must be studied by any serious EC researcher.

This is not your ordinary volume of collection of papers, this is a treasure chest for all those who truly want to understand the "evolution" of the ideas behind contemporary Evolutionary computation. David Fogel's thorough knowledge of the field and his passion for>tracking down the origins of the key ideas are evident in his introductions to each group of papers. Each time I have opened the book I have made delightful and often quite unexpected discoveries for myself. I wish to thank David Fogel for this outstanding work.

Evolutionary computation techniques (i.e., techniques based on the metaphor of natural evolution) constitute one of the most fascinating areas of computer science. Despite a long history of research spanning over several decades, evolutionary techniques are still of increasing interest because of their applicability to many real-world problems in science and engineering. However, many recent discoveries have their roots in the past (this is probably true in any discipline of science), and perforce, it is important to "look back" at some of the early developments in this field. Apart from the interesting ideas that emerged many years ago (e.g., artificial life, co-evolution, evolving computer programs, etc), a number of papers in this volume contain latent ideas that have not been fully exploited.

David Fogel accomplished a great feat by searching, reading, and selecting a collection of papers that constitute "the fossil record of evolutionary computation." This volume contains almost 30 important research articles that establish the foundations of evolutionary computation, including seminal articles written by Ingo Rechenberg, Lawrence Fogel, John Holland, Hans Bremermann, Nils Barricelli, Alex Fraser, Michael Conrad, and John Koza. All the articles were grouped carefully into meaningful units, each prefaced by an introduction written by David Fogel.

Researchers will find this volume to be an extremely interesting guide to the background of concepts of evolutionary computation. It is appropriate for anyone who is in search for such answers as: where did these techniques come from? where are they going? and what is their potential? But, above all, the book provides a unique experience of addressing the most fascinating question: "how is an idea born"? For this reason alone, this book is a must for any researcher in this or any other related field.

A rare piece of scholarship by one of the leading scientists in the field. Evolutionary Computation has only recently matured to the point of being a separate discipline. The Fossil Record is a remarkable compilation of foundational research. Fogel does an excellent job of placing each work in its historical context. In many cases, he was fortunate enough to interview these pioneers of computer science, artificial intelligence, mathematical biology, engineering, cybernetics, and evolutionary theory. As such, he provides unique insights into the motivations, methodologies, and philosophies of some of the most original thinkers in science.

Russell W. Anderson, Staff Scientist, HNC Software, and Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation

It's rare to find an advanced computer science textbook that's both so engaging and so informative. I've only read the first seven chapters so far, but when I sat down to write my first genetic algorithm (for real research use), the book had already prepared me well.

It's hard to imagine a better introductory textbook for this topic.

This book is a great introduction to genetic programming and should be a model for textbook authors in other fields. Knowing little about genetic programming to begin with, this book guides the reader through the various topics and problems associated with genetic programming in a very logical and understandable way. Highly recommended! I wish more technical books were like this!

I skimmed the Koza books (GP: I & II) and this one at the store. Using the layout, chapter names, and the introductory chapters as my guide, I decided to buy this book to introduce me to the current state of the art in GP. The strengths of this book are its textbook format and the informal exercises that are presented for the reader at the end of every chapter. There is also a great deal of compilation from other relevant gp works presented in a localized, intra-chapter basis. The book is thus highly digestable to a newcomer, and is a far less time-consuming way to learn about GP than through the "expert" papers on the web. Having now almost finished the book, I feel that I am ready and able to author and apply GP techniques in a wide variety of applications and languages, having spent less than 20 hours in study time. A terrific achievement by Banzhaf and company, highly recommended.

This book is good for getting a general view of genetic programming. Nevertheless, I think it neglects many details. For example, it is very hard to from the book how a simple selection strategy (tournament selection) works in practice.

I do not think this book is useful for someone intending to code a genetic programming algorithm.

We all know that kind of books where the author likes to show how much he knows making things intentionally complex....well...this is the opposite side of the spectrum.
The book is very complete and detailed yet easy to read, even after a day of work.
The first part of the book contains introductory information on background areas like probability, biology and computer science as a general discipline.
Getting into the topic, it clarifies some of the differences between evolutionary systems and genetic algorithms and shows how all this contributes to the theory of genetic programming and the evolution of computer programs.
It explains how things are done with different types of individuals (tree, linear, graph, etc) and gives valuable insight about the implementation process.
Although you may need other sources for formal treatment of some topics, this book is a very good acquisition.

This is a great "how to" book loaded with examples of how to implement genetic algorithms. The two main points this book makes is that many seemingly different problems can be reformulated as problems of program induction and that the genetic programming paradigm described in this book provides a way to do that program induction. No prior knowledge of conventional genetic algorithms is assumed. Thus the first three chapters are introductory material. In particular, chapter three describes the conventional genetic algorithm and introduces certain terms common to the conventional genetic algorithm and genetic programming. If you are already familiar with genetic algorithms you can skip ahead.

Chapter 4 discusses the representation problem for the conventional genetic algorithm operating on fixed-length character strings and variations of the conventional genetic algorithm dealing with structures more complex and flexible than fixed-length character strings. Since this book assumes no prior knowledge of the LISP programming language, section 4.2 describes LISP and section 4.3 outlines the reasons behind the choice of LISP for the implementation of solutions in this book. Chapter 5 provides an informal overview of the genetic programming paradigm and chapter 6 provides a detailed description of the techniques of genetic programming. Some readers may prefer to rely on chapter 5 and hold off on reading the detailed discussion in chapter 6 until they have read chapter 7 and the later chapters that contain examples.

Chapter 7 provides a detailed description of how to apply genetic programming to four introductory examples thus laying the groundwork for all of the problems to be described later in the book. Chapter 8 discusses the amount of computer processing required by the genetic programming paradigm to solve certain problems. Chapter 9 shows that the results obtained from genetic programming are not the fruits of a random search. Chapters 10 through 21 illustrate how to use genetic programming to solve a wide variety of problems from varying disciplines and are defined by the table of contents. The examples in these 12 chapters make up the heart of the book.

The final eight chapters discuss aspects of genetic algorithms common to all implementations. Chapter 22 discusses the implementation of genetic programming on parallel computer architectures. Chapter 23 discusses the ruggedness of genetic programming with respect to noise, sampling, change, and damage. Chapter 24 discusses the role of extraneous variables and functions, and chapter 25 presents the results of some experiments relating to operational issues in genetic programming. Chapter 26 summarizes the five major steps in preparing to use genetic programming while chapter 27 compares genetic programming to other machine learning paradigms. Chapter 28 is an interesting one in which the spontaneous emergence of self-replicating and self-improving computer programs is discussed. Chapter 29 attempts to wrap up the book with a conclusion.

This book is best used for its examples and practical viewpoint. There are certain matters, such as how to program in LISP, for which you will need dedicated books since the amount of detail in this book is not enough. I do highly recommend this book as a uniquely practical one on how to implement genetic algorithms via computer programs. I haven't found another with so much practical information.

If you are someone who plans to study Genetic Programming, or are already doing so and feel kind of lost about it, then you must read this book. It starts from the very top and brings you through all the steps of Genetic Programmin with tons of very useful examples.

This book is great!

Yeah, its a big book...weighs a ton. However, only the first few chapters are concerned with the basic mechanisms of GP (should be familiar to anyone with a background in genetic algorithms or evolutionary computation). The rest of the book is chock full of examples on how to apply GP. These examples are essential and very welcome. I've found that I can usually find a solved problem in Koza that is similar to what I'm after, then I adapt it to my needs. This is a great reference, but don't be fooled into thinking this book is a tutorial. Think of it more as an exposition of GP with examples. For a tutorial, look somewhere else.

I became interested in Genetic Programming after hearing one of the professors at our university lecture on it to a small group of students and other professors. I asked what book might be a good starting point and he pointed me here and i'm glad he did.

This first volume in the Genetic Programming series of books by Koza is very well organized and clear in its explanations. I have not tried the techniques presented yet, but I have some good ideas on how to proceed. The author uses LISP as the language of choice in the book, but practically any modern language should be sufficient.

If you have any interest in Genetic Programming, I encourage you to at least pick up this first volume and read through it. This technology is still relatively new and the application of the techniques seems virtually limitless.

The book was very large but enjoyable and made the subject very clear and easy to understand. It explained the genetic programming algorithm very well and showed the results of many experiments to show applicability, limitations, and characteristics of the method.

There was some repetition in places, maybe because the author wanted to emphasize some points and also to remain understandable to persons who may read selected chapters or examples rather than from cover to cover, page by page.

Although the book states that Genetic Programming does not depend on the LISP language or features, it uses LISP as its exclusive language of choice. I would like to implement these generally very computationally intensive Genetic Programming Algorithms in a very fast and efficient way, which for me implies assembly language, and although the author gives good tips about making the algorithm run faster the implementation shown is all LISP and nothing else. I am also interested in using the algorithm to generate efficient, parsimonious, code. The author described the additional problems of parsimony, but gave no information on generation of fast code from S expressions. I will have to refer to some compiler books and my own experiments to go further in this area.

I look forward to experimenting with the subject and reading some of Dr. Koza's other books on the subject.

... a horrible Prolog tutorial.

This is not a good first book on Prolog. If you are new to Prolog and Logic Programming, you should read 'Art of Prolog' first.

Prolog is quite different from other languages, and you'll need some time to get it. This book doesn't give you that time: after briefly introducing the basic concepts, Bratko dives at breakneck speed into recursion and list processing.

Don't get me wrong, this is a magnificent book on how to do AI with Prolog, but it shouldn't be your first Prolog book. It's an excellent second book.

I remember contacting with Mr.Bratko via mail as I was a university student and I couldn't beleive that this book came from such a modest personality.
The most challanging language, the most challenging programming book I have ever faced with.
Force your IQ with this one.

I find the book does not adequetly explain the more complex code examples. First of all the code is not adequetly commented. Secondly, it does not explain the code well for programmers. First when introducing a program like in the expert systems shell chapter it should first define an interface for the program, and explain each goal listed. It should adequetly explain what each goal and clause should hope to achieve. Also, for the more complicated programs it should draw some type of diagram, maybe a flow chart or something that explains the concepts involved. It leaves too much figuring out and guessing for the reader. It is not very user-friendly!
On the positive side, it does an adequate job of explaining concepts when complex code is not involved. I found that I could follow along on even the more advanced chapters mostly everything at least until code was suddenly introduced. Then it became a guessing game as to what it was trying to do.
The author does not seem to realize that it is more difficult to try to understand somebody else's program than it is to write your own program from scratch. As a consequence the reader wastes a lot of time trying to guess what his program is doing.
Note: this review is of the 2nd edition and does not necessarily reflect the 3rd. But, then again, every other review on this page prior to mine is about the 2nd edition as well!

Although this text is always mentioned in the same breath as other introductory textbooks on prolog, I don't think I've ever seen it described as "the best."
The book which usually takes the palm in such comparisons is "Art of Prolog." While "Art of Prolog" is an outstanding book, I think that now, in 2006, it has been eclipsed by the 3rd edition Bratko's book. Why?

Simply this: Bratko's textbook is (as far as I'm aware) the _only_ textbook on prolog which treats the language as a living, developing language! Other textbooks are great for their time, but they are unfortunately stuck in their time. Its as if nothing has happend to the prolog language since February 16, 1987. But this isn't true at all!

The biggest case in point: constraint logic programming! Bratko's text is the only introductory prolog textbook to even acknowledge the existance of CLP. And Bratko gives very lucid descriptions of it, along with very helpful examples and challenging exercises.

Another case in point: inductive logic programming! An entire new branch of machine learning theory has risen, based on logic programming, and NONE of the other introductory prolog textbooks cover it? Come on guys!

I would love to see a 4th edition of this book, because since this one has been published, logic programming has moved even further ahead. Constraint handling rules (CHR), logical functional languages (like Curry), using prolog for the semantic web, etc etc etc. It might be the best kept secret in computer science, but logic programming is really still one of the most exciting areas of programming, and Bratko's book does the best job of staying abreast of, and conveying the excitment of, this living and dynamic field.

Professor Bratko has done a tremendous job of putting all the fundamental concepts of Prolog and its applications in various areas of AI. Although this book is focused on Prolog, the concepts that he has discussed are so fundamental that they can be implemented in other languages like Java as well.

I recommend this book to everyone who wants to learn Prolog. I would also recommend the readers to use a Prolog system to work out the examples and exercises as s/he goes through every chapter. A DEC10 Prolog system (like SICStus Prolog) would probably be the best companion for this book.

This book is great for the self taught person with significant insignificant questions. In completing this book, all those questions answer themselves. None of that "cutsie" just great tutorial. Instruction is easily to understand and follow. I've gone through the book a couple of times and discovered something new each time. When I finished with this book, I knew what I was doing and why.

Money well spent on this book.

Straigh-forward writing with no pretension. Some knowledge of 3D graphics vocabulary is helpful but not necessary.

Book is one example from beginning to end; presumably the author. Starts with some pictures and, step-by-detailed-step, ends with an avatar.

The only fault I found is that he doesn't mention Poser in the list of 3D modeling programs for human figures.

If you want to learn how to model a detailed digital human,this is THE book for you! You start out with totally empty viewports,and if you follow the book you'll end up having created a model with an incredible amount of detail.

The author explains in great detail the process of modelling every body part (head,neck,arms,hands,legs,feet and torso) with anatomical references where they're most important.

I wanted a book which I could use as a definitive guide to model a detailed and anatomically correct human body or body part,and I'll look no further when I have to do so. It's also got a clever chapter about modifying the same model to create very different ones, and a good chapter about texturing and UVW unwrapping. Finally, it refers to cloth and hair (somewhat briefly) and,no,it DOESN'T cover rigging. But it does cover, extremely well, human modelling, which is what mr.Brilliant had set out to do,I assume. Very very good!

I used this as a class textbook and it worked fairly well. This is not a single program book so this will work well with whatever program you model with. Although, depending on what you model with, depends on if you need to go out and find plug-ins that will do what he does. The book is really good going through step by step. Although there are some occasions where he leaps forwards ahead with really telling you what to do. Also, sometimes when he gives instructions, there aren't any images to go along with them, so you have to end up guessing what to do.
This is modeling for realism/cinematics and if you want to use this book to model in-game characters, you are out of luck. The was he teaches you to model is extremely high poly (especially in the head). The CD doesn't do much for you, it mainly just has naked pictures of the guy he models on it so you can copy exactly what he does. The book does give good information on the differences between modeling men and women, although it is fairly brief. He does go into UV mapping pretty good as well as modeling hair. The book doesn't, however, go into modeling clothing fairly well, just a short chapter. The book also doesn't even mention rigging, which I think is a crucial part in character modeling.

Given that you are already familiar with some type of modeling software, this book is the best resource you could have! The non-software specific approach of the book keeps it focused on the concepts of creating a good model rather than the user interface. Every detail of the body is covered with step-by-step diagrams, and a lot of it focuses on creating a topology that is animatable and will subdivide correctly (ie the mesh is mostly in quads). It also covers texturing, rigging, facial animation, both modeled and simulated hair, and simple clothing. The book discusses anatomy to the extent that it is needed to create a realistic model, and uses those concepts to demonstrate how the male model you create can be changed into a female, or into a fantasy character that looks completely different.

One thing that did make it a little difficult to use was that in the screenshots, the mesh was transparent and therefore you couldn't tell whether vertices were at the front or the back of the model. More screenshots with an opaque mesh would have made it easier to see the topology.

Overall, the explanations are concise and makes the task seem efficient, easy, and fun.