Freeman Books

Totally useless as a reference to today's standards of Artificial Intelligence know-how, this book is a fascinating look into the 1976 cutting edge knowledge and a glimpse of what academics were striving for. Covering such classic topics as ELIZA and the various simple algorithms of AI of the time - with examples of 'current technology' that would make any geek smile. I love this book.

A text that provides good reading to anyone who loves to reminisce or explore the path our technical scientists took to bring us to today's AI systems. Well worth having a dog-eared copy on your bookshelf.

wow i loved this book and could not put it down one well written book

I first read about the wacky antics of Tilly Eps Witch when I was in the first grade. Tilly Witch and its companion Space Witch are two of my all time favorite children's books by Don Freeman.The wacky antics of the irrepresable Tilly witch are truly entertaining and thought provoking for the young reader. Tilly Witch has an unusually sweet personality for a witch but this does not stop her from having all sorts of fun! I read these two books over and over as a child, never tiring of how Tilly Witch forgets how to be mean and has to go back to witches school! A must read for all youngsters! Lawrence Hunter (the BIGGEST FAN of Tilly Witch!)

This book is another great collection of problems, discussions, and mathematical curiosities from Martin Gardner - and one of his best.

In this book, Martin Gardner has assembled an absorbing discussion on the theoretical aspects and possibility of time travel, including the many paradoxes that may arise; two problem collections to give to try out yourself and give to your friends; two chapters on tangrams and tiling each; along with 15 more chapters on interesting topics such as the melody-making machines, anamorphic art, block packing and more.

Particularly interesting are the chapters "Six Sensational Discoveries" and "Dodgem and Other Simple Games." The former is a collection of six April Fool's jokes he published in April of 1975. The latter is an extensive and occupying discussion of simple games that one can play with friends, along with winning strategies for some and just mathematical theories for others.

I strongly recommend this book for those interested in mathematical curiousities and the likeness. It is especially interesting for children of ages 6-12; they may not understand everything, but certain chapters they will remember and revisit forever!

The master machinator is at it again, explaining computer science in ways that are offbeat, understandable and exciting. Yes, it is true that a functional computer was built by students at M. I. T. using Tinkertoys, and it played a mean game of tic-tac-toe. While fun to think about and look at, this idea contains much that is deeply significant. As those exposed to Turing Machines know, located in chapter six of this book and found in Dewdney's other works, computer computations are built using very simple base models. There is no theoretical distinction between the actions of a Tinkertoy computer and the fastest supercomputer. The ultimate capabilities of computers, if such things really exist, are not a function of the complexity of the base operations.
Which leads to the discussion of a heated debate taking place in and around the Artificial Intelligence (AI) community. Arguers against the notion of true machine intelligence use the underlying simplicity of computer computations to refute the idea that machines can ever develop self-awareness. Which is now becoming the irrefutable proof of true AI, supplanting the Turing test. Dewdney handles this philosophical discussion very well, posing his own questions. Such as, will we ever truly know what thinking really is?
Chaotic music, neural networks, programming Star Trek and golf games; computers that "passed" the Turing test and computer sculptures are just some of the additional material covered. The number of ways Dewdney finds to further explain computer science is nothing short of amazing.
Another in a growing list of superb primers in computer science by this author, one can only hope that they keep coming. Each essay is a jewel to be treasured and pondered.

Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.

A wonderful and enlightening book with many auguable points and issues. Please read this if only to satisfy me!

Touched by Angels is one of those rare books that includes, rather than excludes readers. It isn't polemical or designed to criticize views of angels other than the author's. The author asks important questions like Why are we so interested in angels these days, and Why are the angels so interested in us? and she answers them very cogently. The stories of angelic intervention reflect the experiences of people of all religions and no religion, of white and black and hispanic, of men and women and kids, of people in danger or not. She writes in an easy conversational style that doesn't require a dictionary to understand! The book is great. I recommend it highly.

I first read this book in 2001 and recently picked it up again. It is a sea of sanity in our insane material world. If our leadership had the capacity--and the curiosity--to learn from the essays in this book, we would all be the better for it. I have marked many ideas in this book with multi-color tags at the edge of the pages. The result is a rainbow of color. For those who have an interest in making the world a more livable place, this is your type of book.

Especially for an actor, this is a great first folio edition to work with. It inserts all of the changes throughout the different editions in footnotes so that the reader has a better picture of what has been altered and what is truly original. A great script to go from, I'll definately be looking at the different plays they offer.

this package includes the condensed version of the larger textbook, genetics as well as the solution manual. it's pretty good for the price.