Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

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Twenty years after it topped the bestseller charts, Douglas R. Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid is still something of a marvel. Besides being a profound and entertaining meditation on human thought and creativity, this book looks at the surprising points of contact between the music of Bach, the artwork of Escher, and the mathematics of Gödel. It also looks at the prospects for computers and artificial intelligence (AI) for mimicking human thought. For the general reader and the computer techie alike, this book still sets a standard for thinking about the future of computers and their relation to the way we think.

Hofstadter's great achievement in Gödel, Escher, Bach was making abstruse mathematical topics (like undecidability, recursion, and 'strange loops') accessible and remarkably entertaining. Borrowing a page from Lewis Carroll (who might well have been a fan of this book), each chapter presents dialogue between the Tortoise and Achilles, as well as other characters who dramatize concepts discussed later in more detail. Allusions to Bach's music (centering on his Musical Offering) and Escher's continually paradoxical artwork are plentiful here. This more approachable material lets the author delve into serious number theory (concentrating on the ramifications of Gödel's Theorem of Incompleteness) while stopping along the way to ponder the work of a host of other mathematicians, artists, and thinkers.

The world has moved on since 1979, of course. The book predicted that computers probably won't ever beat humans in chess, though Deep Blue beat Garry Kasparov in 1997. And the vinyl record, which serves for some of Hofstadter's best analogies, is now left to collectors. Sections on recursion and the graphs of certain functions from physics look tantalizing, like the fractals of recent chaos theory. And AI has moved on, of course, with mixed results. Yet Gödel, Escher, Bach remains a remarkable achievement. Its intellectual range and ability to let us visualize difficult mathematical concepts help make it one of this century's best for anyone who's interested in computers and their potential for real intelligence. --Richard Dragan

Topics Covered: J.S. Bach, M.C. Escher, Kurt Gödel: biographical information and work, artificial intelligence (AI) history and theories, strange loops and tangled hierarchies, formal and informal systems, number theory, form in mathematics, figure and ground, consistency, completeness, Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry, recursive structures, theories of meaning, propositional calculus, typographical number theory, Zen and mathematics, levels of description and computers; theory of mind: neurons, minds and thoughts; undecidability; self-reference and self-representation; Turing test for machine intelligence.

Book Description

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, this book applies Godel's seminal contribution to modern mathematics to the study of the human mind and the development of artificial intelligence.

Customer Reviews:

Down the Rabbit Hole..........2007-05-18

This is a difficult book.

Difficult to read. Difficult to understand. And, I'm finding, difficult to review. What's it about? Good question. The author, himself, isn't very clear on this point, describing it as "a metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carroll." I'm not sure I can do better than that. I will tell you this, however: if the book has a "point," it does seem to be that man's consciousness is ultimately mechanical and, therefore, that there is no reason that machines cannot finally be intelligent in the same sense that man is. (And, in fact, be as man in just about every internal way.)

While I take issue with this conclusion, and some of Hofstadter's reasoning along the way, I don't think that my debating his points is the basis on which a prospective reader should decide whether or not to pick up this book. Instead, the prospective reader should know: that this is a lengthy and deep work. It will take a *long* time to read properly, and most readers should not read more than a chapter a day. Many of the sections, and especially the various dialogues that preface the chapters, are quite clever. (These dialogues are usually between Achilles and the Tortoise, of Zeno's paradoxes, and their friends.) Some of the chapters grow incredibly technical. The subject matters vary, wildly and rapidly, and there will be points in reading where you will question your investment.

In the end, you will feel good for having pushed through the hard bits. It will coalesce, more or less, into a whole. Whether you finally agree with Hofstadter's conclusions or not, you'll have learned much and thought about important topics you might otherwise not have.

A good book, certainly not for everyone... but, if you're the "right" audience--someone deeply interested in questions of intelligence, mathematics, computer science and free will, and possessed of a bit of an ironic sense of humor--then this book cannot be recommended highly enough.

Five stars, for the work it represents, and the doors it opens to the reader.

Come one, come all.......2007-05-16

As you can see from other reviews, people tend to walk away from this book with a variety of different impressions. Math, Art, Logic, Philosophy, Human Perception and Thought, it has it all. This is second to the Bible in my collection as a book I've read multiple times and can still come back to a read again for even more insight and perspective.

Bound with the "braid"?.......2007-05-14

Can someone tell me, in plain English, what this book is about? On the little matter of determinism--is he for it or against it? He does not seem to have come to praise Godel, Escher, Bach for their strangeness but rather to bury strangeness and its resistance to materialism. He seems to be saying that strangeness is hardwired and can be programmed into a formal system by someone who sees it for what it is--in short, that computers will some day rise to the level of consiousness and self-reference. But wouldn't such a system be curved in upon itself and lack strangeness? If strangeness could be hard-wired into AI, would it still seem strange? Nothingness annihilates strangeness, but then the absense of strangeness is the actual limit of the theories of value seen in those who follow Heidegger. In order to eliminate the difference between soul and matter, they must give up the resistance of soul to the limitations of material existence; at which point "strangeness" becomes a matter of verbal virtuosity and conceptual sleight of hand. "Strangeness" becomes the same thing as cleverness. Or am I misreading this fascinating book?

Excellent book!.......2007-05-14

Hofstadter combines the awe in math, music, art, artificial intelligence, language and computers into one big book called GEB. Its takes the reader on an ecstatic journey with a clever use of parallels between the structure of math, music and finite but endless loops that appear in Escher's works. Dialogs between Achilles and Tortoise are very interesting.

"This sentence is false.".......2007-03-19

A simple example of recursiveness in music is the song "row, row, row your boat." The song becomes recursive as each new line is started when the original line makes it to "gently down the stream." In this way, we have a musical example of the artistic portrayals of Maurits Cornelius Escher whose paintings invariably fosuc on recursive visual themes such as two hands in the process of drawing each other.

In each case, the depiction challenges our ability to pidgeon hole the phenomenon we are examining. Which line is the harmony, which is the melody in "row, row, row your boat"? Which hand is drawing which in the Escher print?

Liguistically, the same effect occurs when we examine the statement "This sentence is false." Logically if we accept the statement at its face value being false then it becomes an accurate representation (in that it correctly asserts its falseness). On the other hand, we are also drawn to the conclusion that the statement is true (again because it is self referentially accurate).

Ultimately, we are forced to logically conclude that we can neither bracket the statement "This sentence is false" with either all true statements or all untrue statements. As indicated previously, like the song "row, row, row your boat" or an Escher painting, the sentence defies pidgeon holing owing to its recursive quality.

Back in 1931, Kurt Godel shocked the mathematics community with his assertion that mathematically consistent systems themselves necessarily produce formally undecideable propositions (the math equivalent of "This sentence is false"). At the time of presenting his paper, it was Godel's intent to demonstrate the unique nature of human intellect because if we can resolve undecideable propositions then there must be something unique to the process of human intellect.

While Godel certainly brought undeniable genius to the creation of his theorem, it doesn't follow that the theorem proves the uniqueness of human intellect. And the reason Godel's theorem doesn't prove the uniqueness of human intellect is because its logical limitations are our own.

Just as Godelian mathematics can't prove undecideable propositions, neither can we "prove" them.

However, we can "believe" undecideable propositions. (In this regard, two easy cases in point are Goldbach's conjecture -- that all even numbers are the sum of two primes -- and that parallel lines really are parallel.) In this way, Godel's theorem, in combination with modern research on artificial intelligence, shows that it is the emotive side of reason that defies the strict logical limitations of Godelian constructs.

These hard won discoveries have combined to make for some surprising findings.

Probably the first among these most observable to the general public through the misconception of science fiction is that emotion somehow stagnates the operation of intellect. In this way, it was HAL 9000's personality as much as the creepiness of that personality that was surprising to 1968 movie goers watching "2001: A Space Odessy." As demonstrated in the movie, it was the fact of HAL's emotive connections with the ongoing actions of his crew that prompted "him" to formulate and act on plans.

Second, modern research has shown that human intellect is not best characterized as being a "blank slate" but rather a delicate combination of various systems that survey reality in the own ways. An easy example is the human eye which uses a combination of three different light cones to measure redness, greenness and blueness. It is the relative comparisons of these cone findings that nudges your visual perception to observe the color of an object. At the intellectual level, one system is entirely devoted to our understanding of artifacts. How do they work? How can they be modified for use in a situation? Another system comprehends animate creatures. Yet another system recognizes faces. Still another system is devoted to language acquisition.

And significantly all these systems acquire information emotively. We see the face of a parent and emotively appreciate it (unless we suffer from a particular cognitive disorder that has disabled our ability to do so as for example discussed by Oliver Sacks in his great book "The man who mistook his wife for a hat"). We remember a concept learned and emotively evaluate it. In this way, freedom, communism, taxes are not just intellectual constructs but ideas that spark real feelings on our part.

In creating Godel, Escher, Bach, Douglas Hofstadter displayed true genius in linking three domains wherein recursiveness seems to play such a pivatol role. As he indicated, they are three shadows cast from the same source.

In re-concluding this book, however, I couldn't help but think of other possible titles that could be added to a Godel, Escher, Bach type encyclopedia: "Phi, Di Vinci, Bach" -- the story of the "golden ratio" of phi which plays a role in Di Vinci's art work and as it so happens also in the music of Bach; "Pascal, State Lotteries, Happy Birthday" -- the story of Pascal's wager and how an appreciation of statistics will make us understand why states will never lose money running a state lottery for reasons akin to why relatively small groupings of people will have at least two that share the same birthday; and "Klein, Carroll, Kubrick" -- the story of Oscar Klein's bottle which can resort to the fourth dimensionj to fill itself up and how speculations by the physicist J Richard Gott suggest that Alice and all of us may have originallyu gone down the rabbit hole for a real space odessy through time itself.

The point here is not that Hofstadter was incorrect but (no pun intended) merely incomplete in his survey when he said that Godel's proof, Escher's paintings and Bach's music were but three shadows cast from the same source. The point here is that -- properly examined -- those three shadows, together with the encyclopedia I've suggested, would direct us not only to the origins of consciousness but also the origin of origins itself.

Fast Real Estate Profits in Any Market: The Art of Flipping Properties--Insider Secrets from the Experts Who Do It Every Day

Average customer rating:

Great for beginners
Great Resource! A must read for anyone interested in Flipping houses.
reasonable good
All you need to know to get started!
Well written, interesting, and fun to read.

Fast Real Estate Profits in Any Market: The Art of Flipping Properties--Insider Secrets from the Experts Who Do It Every Day
Sebastian Howell
Manufacturer: Atlantic Publishing Company (FL)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0910627681

Product Description

In real estate markets all around the country, real estate flippers have discovered that a small down payment, a little paint, some cleaning, and some time can net them tens (even hundreds) of thousands of dollars in profits, possibly tax-free. Small upgrades to the kitchen, bathrooms, and living areas, and the ugly house they bought for $200,000 in June can be sold for $300,000 in October. Real estate investing has created more millionaires than any other investment vehicle in this country. Real estate flipping refers to the practice of finding a property that is for saleusually priced below-marketand then selling it soon after it is bought for a quick profit. Finally theres a comprehensive, no-nonsense book that teaches you everything you need to build wealth through flipping properties quickly, legally, and ethically. You dont need great credit, a real estate license, or large sums of capital or experience to get started. There has never been a better time to invest in real estate than today. This new book offers first-time and returning real estate investors tactics for making a fortune. Even if you have little or no money, you can find success in real estate investing by flipping. Flipping properties can be a part-time or full-time business for anybody. You will learn all of the paperwork involved in real estate transactions, including deeds, mortgages, contracts, notes, and titles; new FHA regulations; how to begin investing with little or no cash; locate opportunities; work with real estate agents; increase curb appeal; locate the financing you need; and most importantly, purchase properties for pennies on the dollar and prepare them for a quick sale. The book is loaded with case studies and success storiesfrom real people. You will uncover secrets that expert real estate investors use every day. This comprehensive resource contains a wealth of modern tips and strategies for getting started in this very lucrative area of real estate investing.

Customer Reviews:

Great for beginners.......2007-08-15

This book touches on all the subjects for beginners to learn about flipping. I got a LOT out of it. Basically, you need a lot of help, and a lot of people around you, and if you get that, you have a good chance of succeeding. Good luck with financing tho...it's very tough right now. You really need money to make a go at flipping houses!

Great Resource! A must read for anyone interested in Flipping houses........2007-04-09

Sebastian Howell explains the art of flipping houses in easy to understand and honest tone. She uses this book to lay out step by step all the things to consider and how to go through the whole process of flipping a house from, "Is this something I might want to do" to Depositing the money in the bank. Not only does she cover the whole process from beginning to end, but she covers all the options available to you at each stage. In doing this she covers the pro's and con's for each option and which people they would be best for and which people should choose another option at that particular stage.

I've read several other books trying to research if flipping is something I could do on the side. Howell puts flipping into perspective for those wanting to do it as their full time job as well as those not quite ready to give up their 9 to 5 jobs. Overall this is a very informative book and a definite resource for those just starting and those who are trying to make the decision... "To flip or not to flip?"

reasonable good.......2007-03-14

I just bought serveral similar books here. I would say this is the good book worth to reading. The good point is that it does tell something you may not know about flipping, not just giving you some basic ideas.

All you need to know to get started!.......2007-03-13

You've seen all the shows on television that shows the audience how easy people make money flipping houses. But, I'm sure that you've wondered, just like I have, just how possible is it? Well, Sebastian Howell has laid it all out in black and white. The author has described the process in universal terms, meaning you could apply her principles to any geographical area.

This book is easy to understand and deals in both the basics and the more complex material. It starts off with simple explanations and moves on to understanding the market and the business of making money through buying and selling houses. It gives clear definitions of the legal terms and the jargon that you'll come across in the industry. The author also clearly explains the various people you will associate with and their roles on your team. I really appreciated the examples used in the book. They help to clarify the material. The section covered on financing is comprehensive and understandable with tips to pulling it altogether.

One the most beneficial sections in the book is a complete list of what to look for in a `flippable' house. She gives clear instructions of what to take note of, what can work and what might cause some problems. Once you've found the ideal property, she leads you through the negotiating process. She deals with renovating properties and then moves the reader onto the selling process. The added bonus to the book is the comprehensive index at the back.

Well written, interesting, and fun to read........2007-01-09

Fast Real Estate Profits in Any Market by Sebastian Howell

This is an extremely well written and interesting book. One reason I found it credible is that it gives lots of warnings to be cautious, yet details how success in the real estate business is possible. So it's balanced. Another positive comment is that the book explains terms well, so that a complete novice knows what's going on. It's thorough, but never becomes tedious. The book explains that flipping is not only a means to an income, but is very satisfying on other levels. Restoring an old house is a creative endeavour, and providing buyers with a home they love is richly rewarding on an emotional level.

The way this book is written appeals to me and is in sync with my learning style. It's very linear, and discusses the process of flipping step-by-step. It explains clearly the pitfalls you may encounter along the way, and how to address them.

The book includes sample documents, and a comprehensive glossary.

I really can't find a reason to give this book fewer than five stars out of five. I have never even considered a career in real estate, let alone flipping, but I found the book very interesting.

Freud at Work: Lucian Freud in Conversation with Sebastian Smee

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Lucian Freud in conversation with models, canvas and paint
A Window into the Privacy of the Creative Mind of Lucian Freud
If you like Freud's work, you'll love this
Absolutely Essential

Freud at Work: Lucian Freud in Conversation with Sebastian Smee
Bruce Bernard , and David Dawson
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0307266001
Release Date: 2006-11-07

Book Description

Freud at Work is a rare glimpse into the life of one of the most celebrated—and most private—artists working today. Though in his eighties, this great figurative artist continues to paint with undiminished energy and discipline.

In 120 revealing black-and-white and color photographs taken in Lucian Freud’s London studio, and in a fascinating in-depth interview, we come to understand the stages of the artist’s work and the intensity of his interaction with his subjects—whether fellow artist David Hockney, the Queen of England, or performance artist Leigh Bowery, among others.

Two remarkable photographers have been recording Freud at work over the past twenty years . The artist, uncharacteristically, allowed Bruce Bernard, the acclaimed picture editor, to photograph him in the studio, especially during the years he was working with Bowery as his model. Following Bernard’s death in 2000, David Dawson, the painter’s assistant, began photographing the daily life of the studio, showing us the progress of Freud’s paintings, his models—some naked, some famous—and the painter himself caught in moments of intense concentration.

Though Freud has always been reluctant to give interviews, talk about the painters he admires, or discuss how he works, his conversation here with the Australian writer Sebastian Smee is frank and revealing.

Unlike any other book we have seen about Freud—comparable to David Douglas Duncan’s books of photographs of Picasso—this important document invites us for the first time into the secret domain of the artist.

Customer Reviews:

Lucian Freud in conversation with models, canvas and paint.......2007-05-09

magnificent view on the painter as painter.

A Window into the Privacy of the Creative Mind of Lucian Freud.......2007-04-27

Lucian Freud seems to gain in importance as a painter and as provocateur with every exhibition (or even frequent monograph) that appears - an d for good reason. Freud continues the tradition of figure painting, but clearly in his own language. His canvases are dense with detail of both body surface and psychic message. His tendency to find rather physically grotesque models (such as Leigh Bowery) and then paint canvas after canvas of those models, each work revealing even more bizarre statements about the sitter, has made him one of the most interesting painters of our day - and the gentleman is in his eighties!

Infamously reclusive, Freud paints everyday, producing huge canvases and diptychs/triptychs with what appears to be the greatest of ease. But this very fine book allows us to see the artist's struggle with the creative muse by admitting us into the studio, courtesy of interviewers David Dawson and Sebastian Smee and photographers Dawson and Bruce Bernard, a friend and admirer now gone who captured some of the more sophisticated views of the artist at easel and photographic images of the models along side the painted version from Freud's hands, imagination and talent.

Even for those who have collected museum catalogs and other monographs of the work of Lucian Freud these richly reproduced color photographs of Freud's paintings, given the new vantage of moving from the museum wall into the studio of origination with the additional images of the painter at work, constitute a superior art monograph of a current genius. The book is a conversation with a living genius, a painter who is far more interested in the paint and brush than he is with the observer - until now. Highly recommended for art collectors, educators, art students, and for those who remain fascinated with the human figure. Grady Harp, April 07

If you like Freud's work, you'll love this.......2007-01-27

If the so-called School of London is your thing, here is a unique opportunity to watch the grand master at work. Not as good as a video, as possible with Auerbach and Bacon, but you take what you can get with the famously reclusive Freud, who clearly relishes enhancing his own reputation for eccentricity. (Remember the Snowdon photo of a wild-eyed Freud in his youth standing in front of his vintage Rolls Royce while wearing work clothes, like a scene right out of the 'sixties film Blow Up?)

Here we see the work of two photographers, both old friends, who were allowed to capture Freud at work over more than 20 years, as he painted single- and multiple-subject portraits of widely varying sizes, with subjects ranging from The Queen to Leigh Bowery. Most interestingly, this format allows us to see a large number of his paintings at various stages of completion, thus showing his process in a reasonable amount of detail.

Start with a sketch by Cezanne and adapt it to two models, then add a third, to make a contemporary painting. An earlier work starts with a nude model perched somewhat precariously in the cubbyhole high up on the wall. Her portrait on the easel below reveals just how brutal Freud can be in portraying the figure. When we saw the painting at Acquavella Gallery, we wondered if he actually had the model positioned in a nook in the wall. Now we know.

We see how the oil portraits of subjects such as Lord Fellowes and David Hockney start with oil sketches and go through development to the finished painting. The talented young British artist Tai-Shan Schierenberg, whose portraits of John Mortimer and Lords Sainsbury and Carrington are already in the Tate and the National Portrait Gallery, is one of several artists who paint in a style very similar to Freud's, but close-ups of Freud's smaller portraits show the particuarly intensive reworking which make his work unique. He lays on paint heavily like Auerbach or Kossoff but with his own style, which, in the end, is inimitable.

Brigadier Andrew Parker Bowles in full dress uniform makes a glamorous subject. We also see Freud painting a horse and his dog Pluto, and his latest young female admirer. We also see Freud developing the plates for his masterful etchings, some of the best work being done in that medium today.

A 30-page interview by David Dawson and Sebastian Smee is interspersed with the late Bruce Bernard's color photographs and David Dawson provides over 100 additional color photographs of the painter at work. It seems that there is a new monograph on Freud every eighteen months or so; this is one of the few works which focuses on his process.

Absolutely Essential.......2006-12-07

If you are an admirer of Lucian Freud's work, this book should definitely have place in your library. It essentially comprises of 3 parts, opening with a very frank and insightful interview with Freud by Sebastian Smee. Followed by two collections of colour and b&w photographs by Bruce Bernard and David Dawson. They cover all aspects of Freud in the studio - photos of Freud larking around as a Henry Moore sculpture, works in progress (often including the model), finished paintings, his studio, his dogs, horses, foxcub, etching plates and resulting prints, series of WIP paintings showing the stages involved in their creation. Over 120 photos in all, with the vast majority being in colour. Lavishly illustrated.

Smee, Bernard, and Dawson all had/have a close association with Freud and for me that's what makes this book so special. Throughout, Freud is just going about his business which is captured wonderfully by the photos. Bernard wanted to take carefully considered photos but Freud was having none of that, to the point of literally doing headstands. Bernard died in 2000, around the time that Freud was working on his Cezanne piece. Dawson picks up the plot from there, with photo's through to 2006.

For anyone interested in Freud's painting process, either out of curiosity or as an artist, the photo's provide a wealth of information. The adage "A picture is worth a 1000 words" could not be more apt. The Work in Progress photos range from the raw drawing on canvas through to finished pieces. A number of WIP photos also include the model, allowing for comparison between the flesh and the oil. Etching plates and the resulting prints are also shown.

Smee's interview reads like a couple of guys chatting over a pint down the pub. Over his career (and long may it continue!) Freud has met and hung out with numerous famous figures - Picasso, Giacometti, Bacon, Hirst, Auerbach, Bergmann, Balthus, Bowery, Queen Elizabeth II, even gambling with the notorious Kray Twins (1950/60 gangsters from London's east end). The interview is liberally populated with wonderful anecdotes. Freud also talks about the painters through history that he admires - Cezanne, Matisse, Corot, Chardin, Toulouse-Latrec and why. He touches upon living in London and anti-semitism, what led him to paint pictures of his mother, his grandfather Sigmund Freud, being sat at the bar and finding out that someone else was impersonating him - was he upset? Not really, he ended up painting the man's portrait.

For someone who is reknowned for his privacy this book is exceptional. I'm sure Freud had a huge say in how the book would look and its contents. His pride in a job well done is most evident.

If Freud is on your artistic radar, even as the merest blip, then do yourself a favour and own this book. Essential. 10 stars!

Probabilistic Robotics (Intelligent Robotics and Autonomous Agents)

Average customer rating:

Excellent resource for implementing SLAM
Useful book
Robot Navigation
Superb
an impressive research-level text

Probabilistic Robotics (Intelligent Robotics and Autonomous Agents)
Sebastian Thrun , Wolfram Burgard , and Dieter Fox
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0262201623

Book Description

Probabilistic robotics is a new and growing area in robotics, concerned with perception and control in the face of uncertainty. Building on the field of mathematical statistics, probabilistic robotics endows robots with a new level of robustness in real-world situations.

This book introduces the reader to a wealth of techniques and algorithms in the field. All algorithms are based on a single overarching mathematical foundation. Each chapter provides example implementations in pseudo code, detailed mathematical derivations, discussions from a practitioner's perspective, and extensive lists of exercises and class projects. The book's Web site, http://www.probabilistic-robotics.org, has additional material.

The book is relevant for anyone involved in robotic software development and scientific research. It will also be of interest to applied statisticians and engineers dealing with real-world sensor data.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent resource for implementing SLAM.......2007-09-18

This is by far the best resource that I have found for collating a large number of internally consistent SLAM algorithms into a single volume. The book carefully leads the reader through the requirements of SLAM presenting one algorithm at a time, building upon the algorithms presented previously. This approach lends itself very well to develop-while-you-read. If you care to do so, I recommend reading it through once in its entirety and then starting over for the develop-while-you-read approach. The once through does a good job of presenting the big picture and giving you the opportunity to decide which primary SLAM path you prefer; Kalman and particle filtering are the two main approaches discussed. I'm currently implementing FastSLAM with particle filtering and have not run into any large hurdles using this book to lead the way.

The only major challenge that I've encountered is that it assumes a very good understanding of probability distributions. A good college statistics book makes a good companion for this read.

I also read Thrun's FastSLAM monograph. There's very little new information in that monograph which Probabilisitc Robotics doesn't already cover. After reading PR, Google becomes your best resource for finding the latest algorithms and code samples. Because even with the descriptive pseudo code algorithms, a perfect follow-up to this book would be "Probabilistic Robotics Implemented" with lots of code samples.

Useful book.......2007-09-16

i think this book is very helpful for beginner of probabilistic robotics.
it has a lot of example and pictures :) for our understanding.
easy to learning.
If i met the chance to buy another book about probabilistic robotics, i am sure purchase this book.

have a nice day~~

Robot Navigation.......2006-09-08

Uncertainty is an important issue facing intelligent systems.
Thrun, Burgard, and Fox have made important contributions to
this area of research. Probabilistic Robotics is a more narrowly focused text than the title might suggest. At 650 pages perhaps it could not be broader and yet do justice to the topics the authors want to cover. Perhaps the title should have been Probabilistic Robot Navigation. My other criticism would be the lack of executables

Superb.......2006-07-16

The authors took 6 years to write this book. And it shows. This is a mindblowing tour through the algorithms used at the cutting edge of Robotics.

What is good

1. Every algorithm has descriptive text, mathematical derivations AND pseudo code. More importantly it all meshes into a cohesive whole.

2. The progression of chapters is excellent, starting with basic algorithms and proceeding to more advanced/refined algorithms.

3.There is a consistent practical focus with algorithms being explained in the context of solving real world problems in robotics.

4. The exercises are few in number , but are *perfect* to illuminate each chapter's ideas and encourage the reader to start thinking on his own.

5. There is a comprehensive errata page on the book's website.

6. Last but not least, the tone of the writing is very engaging. The reader is not talked down to. It is almost as if the authors were in your study carefully guiding you through an intellectual wonderland.

The bad.
Hmmm i can't think of anything. It is great book. I just wish the authors would write MORE books like this :-)

About the only caveat is that a reader should have *some* degree of mathematical insight before attempting this book. The authors do cover elementary probability theory etc in the initial chapters, and they do a good job given the space constraints. But in my opinion if you have absolutely no experience in probability theory or calculus, you should probably learn from other books and then tackle this one. This is, after all, a graduate level text.

an impressive research-level text.......2006-07-03

The book presents what is currently the frontier of probabilistic research in robotics. This is explained as a means of a robot coping with inadequate information from its perceptive inputs. The intent is to embed more robust control logic within the robot. Rather than having human programmers try to code for every contingency.

There are many algorithms in the text. Each is explicitly defined in pseudocode. But just as significantly, each is accompanied by extensive textual explanations and derivations. These are rounded out by the chapters having exercises that extend the ideas developed in each chapter.

Many ideas from statistics are applied here, from Markov processes to Monte Carlo samplings to Bayesian inferences.

The The LaTeX Companions, Revised Boxed Set: A Complete Guide and Reference for Preparing, Illustrating, and Publishing Technical Documents (2nd Edition) ... and Techniques for Computer Typesetting)

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The The LaTeX Companions, Revised Boxed Set: A Complete Guide and Reference for Preparing, Illustrating, and Publishing Technical Documents (2nd Edition) ... and Techniques for Computer Typesetting)
Frank Mittelbach , Michel Goossens , Sebastian Rahtz , Helmut Kopka , and Patrick W. Daly
Manufacturer: Addison-Wesley Professional
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0321269446

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Why bother
Murder in the Neighborhood
Don't answer the door...
It's not a Perfect Storm
A Personal Obsession

A Death in Belmont (P.S.)
Sebastian Junger
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0060742690
Release Date: 2007-04-03

Amazon.com

Imagine how strange and frightening it would be to see a picture of yourself, not quite a year old, with your mother and two men, one of whom is a confessed serial killer. This is what happened to Sebastian Junger, and only a small part of what he recounts in A Death in Belmont.

The quiet suburb of Belmont, Massacuusetts, is in the grip of fear. The Boston Strangler murders have taken place nearby, and now there is another shocking sex crime, right in Belmont. The victim is Bessie Goldberg, a middle-aged woman who had hired a cleaning man to help out around the house on that fall day in 1963. He is a black man named Roy Smith. He did the appointed chores, collected his money and left a receipt on the kitchen table. Neighbors will say that he looked furtive when he walked down the street, that he was in a hurry, that he stopped to buy cigarettes, that he looked over his shoulder. They didn't see a black man in Belmont very often, so, of course, they noticed him. So the story went, and on these slender threads, and his own checkered history, Roy Smith is convicted of the Belmont murder and sent to prison.

On the day of the murder, Albert DeSalvo, an Italian-American handyman, is also in Belmont, working as a carpenter in the Junger home, where the picture is taken. Two years after his work for the Jungers, he confesses in vivid detail to the crimes of which the Boston Strangler is accused, and sent to prison, where he is stabbed to death by an inmate. But he never confesses to the Bessie Goldberg murder. Could he have left the Junger home, committed the murder a few blocks away and calmly returned to finish his day's work? Could Roy Smith really have been the guilty party, even though his sentence was commuted after De Salvo confessed?

In the grand tradition of his bestselling The Perfect Storm, Junger tells a terrific story, lining up all the elements, asking all the pertinent questions, digging into the backgrounds of both men, retelling his mother's very strange encounter with Albert when she is home alone with Sebastian. He then asks the larger questions: Was Roy Smith convicted summarily because he was black? Was Albert De Salvo really the Boston Strangler?

Junger cannot answer all the questions, as no one can. Without DNA, there is no way to be certain of which of the two men might have committed the rape and murder of Bessie Goldberg, or if neither of them is guilty. While it is frustrating not to know for sure, the story is fascinating, reads like a tautly plotted mystery thriller, and Junger's close connection is downright creepy. --Valerie Ryan

Book Description

In the spring of 1963, the quiet suburb of Belmont, Massachusetts, is rocked by a shocking murder that fits the pattern of the infamous Boston Strangler, still at large. Hoping for a break in the case, the police arrest Roy Smith, a black ex-con whom the victim hired to clean her house. Smith is hastily convicted of the murder, but the Strangler's terror continues. And through it all, one man escapes the scrutiny of the police: a carpenter working at the time at the Belmont home of young Sebastian Junger and his parents—a man named Albert

From the acclaimed author of A Perfect Storm comes a powerful chronicle of three lives that collide in the vortex of one of America's most controversial serial murder cases.

Customer Reviews:

Why bother.......2007-09-24

I found the book mildly interesting while I was reading it, but the end was a little disappointing and left me thinking why did I bother reading it.

Murder in the Neighborhood.......2007-08-10

No, it's not the story of the filly Ruffian's breakdown at Belmont Park. Rather, investigative reporter Sebastian Junger takes on a piece of his family's accepted history--that when he was less than a year old, neighbor woman Bessie Goldberg, living in the upscale Belmont section of suburban Boston, was killed by Albert DeSalvo, the infamous Boston Strangler, who at time of the murder was working on a remodeling job in the Junger home. At the time, an African-American man, Roy Smith, who had been cleaning inside the victim's house on the same day, was accused, tried and convicted of the murder.

Junger brings the eye of a seasoned investigator to the task, scrupulously mapping a timeline for the man convicted of the crime, and compiling a trove of details about DeSalvo and the other "Strangler" cases. Still, his prose is quite readable, resembling a novel moreso than an investigative piece, although the almost clinical approach belies the passion you might expect from such a violent story hitting so close to home.

I'll leave it to you to find out both your and Junger's conclusions. The descriptions of various murders are pretty grisly, so I'd restrict this one to adult readers.

Don't answer the door..........2007-08-08

A DEATH IN BELMONT relives a frightening time in the Boston area during the 60's when the Strangler was on the loose and the most dangerous place a woman could be caught was in the safety of her own home. Junger delves into the murder of an elderly woman, the first murder in the town of Belmont, a comfortable suburb. Obviously, Roy Smith, the cleaning temp who leaves shortly before the woman's body is found by her husband, is the prime suspect. Not just because of his dark skin (though race is a factor) but rather his dark, criminal past.

Junger takes the reader through the investigation and unearths the dirt on Smith. He conducts interviews and pieces together the life of a man that was pretty much broken from the start. Did Smith do it? Is he innocent? Was it really the confessed Strangler, DeSalvo, who was working a mile or so away at the Junger home? If you're looking for definitive answers, you won't find it in this book. It is an investigation into the crime, an "investigation" which implies an inquiry. Nothing more. The reader is left to determine for himself or herself what must've happened.

I recommend this book to readers who like to think. I also recommend the PS paperback version as it has an interview with the author and provides more insights.

It's not a Perfect Storm.......2007-08-08

I'm glad I didn't buy this book. Expecting an exciting work I discovered a very slow read. Seems the basic facts of the case are repeated and squeezed for details all of which ends up being filler. The best parts are anectdotal snippets which have little to do with the case itself. Some of the descriptions of how the law has changed over the past 40 years are curious and informative. But if you are looking for a summer read ---move on. I did ....skimmed the last half of the book and returned it.

A Personal Obsession.......2007-08-06

Sebastian Junger possesses a chilling photo. It is of himself, barely a toddler, sitting on his young and happy mother's lap. Behind them stand two men, one, an unexceptional looking workman has a hammer jutting out of his pocket. The other, the central figure of the photo, stands with one enormous hand across his mid-riff. The second figure is Albert DeSalvo, convicted Boston Strangler. It is impossible to look at this photo and not feel the horror of not only what happened when 13 Boston area women were murdered, but what could have happened that would have changed the author's life forever. Albert DeSalvo worked as a carpenter in the Junger home. Spent hours in their home alone with Sebastian and his mother. Seeing this photo, it is easy to see how the Boston Strangler case became an obsession with the author. Before the Strangler is apprehended an older woman is murdered in their neighborhood and a black drifter (Roy Smith) is tried and convicted of the crime. So as an adult Junger explores this murder in his neighborhood, researches the man that was convicted and sent to jail for it, as well as the other crimes committed by DeSalvo. His conclusions? Inconclusive. It is possible that Roy Smith was sent to jail for a crime committed by DeSalvo. But Smith's life is so pointless it is hard to feel much empathy for him. He drops out of school in the 8th grade, and begins living a petty life of drinking, occaisonal jobs, and crime. He lived his life in a way that almost begged to be of interest to police. Junger examines DeSalvo's life too, but not in enough new detail to make it interesting either. So by the time Junger publishes this book, DeSalvo is dead, Roy Smith is dead, most people associated with the Strangler case are dead. Some historic crimes and mis-application of laws are interesting. This is only mildly so and didn't warrant a new book on the matter. There seem to be many reviewers on this site who are very familiar with the Strangler's case. I am not one of those people. I am only someone interested in a compelling read, a cogent argument, a fresh insight, a thought provoking issue. I'm afraid none of these are to be found in this book. Open the fly-leaf, look at the photo, feel the horror it evokes, and move on.

Average customer rating:

The ending could have been more orginal
my favourite of the summer so far!
Decent Book
Great Book
Did I read the same book?

24-Karat Kids: A Novel
Judy Goldstein , and Sebastian Stuart
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0312343272
Release Date: 2006-06-13

Book Description

Shelley Green, a nice top-of-her-class med school grad from Queens, has just been hired by the toniest, trendiest practice in Manhattan. A superb doctor, with a kid-friendly touch and a genius for diagnoses, Shelley soon becomes an Upper East Side necessity to the fabulously rich-with-kids crowd. Now shes dressing in Fendi, weekending in the Hamptons and baffling her schoolteacher fianc, Arthur, with her trappings of power and privilege. Shelley even takes the plunge and cheats with a blue-blood hunk who never seems to have his checkbook around. Finally, disgusted with East Side manic mommies, and busy, distant dads, Shelley begins to see the bleakness under the fashionable faade. Will she win back the love of her true-blue, but sorely tested fianc? Our moneys on Shelley.

Customer Reviews:

The ending could have been more orginal.......2007-09-24

While I did not pick up this novel expecting great literature, I was still nonetheless disappointed with what I found. The book began interestingly enough with a good story about the main character who is about to become a pediatrican on the UES of NY. Along the way she deals with her own personal demons concerning the issue of settling down, self-esteem, and career goals. The anecdotes about various patients is hilarious and really is the meat of the book. However it seemed that towards the end the author lost steam and just decided to write a perfect, "pat" ending that would make everyone happy but instead was cheesy. The character's intital development did a complete 180 degree turn. Overall I would recomend the book, but prepared for a lame ending.

my favourite of the summer so far!.......2007-07-27

trust me, this is a great one!- i've read all the chick lit authors and in this genre, this is my favourite book so far!- it is extremely well written and is clever and fun- i found it totally rivetting anf interesting- i fell in love with the main character, shelley and her boyfriend and her family- they were so believable- i could not put it down, read it in 2 days- and i actually missed reading about shelley a week after i finished it, even while reading another book- (which wasn't as good)- very bright authors which shows in their writing skill and diction etc- i can't wait for their next collaboration!

Decent Book.......2007-02-08

This book is not a "can't put it down" classic nor is it an "eh, whatever" book. It can be funny, can be witty but overall just a carefree book. I am however looking forward to other ones by Dr Goldstein!

Great Book.......2007-01-30

This is a great book! I can't wait for more from Judy Goldstein.

Did I read the same book?.......2006-12-19

I rely heavily on Amazon Reader reviews to plan my reading list, but I'm going to respectfully disagree on this.

Here's what I think happened: Judy Goldstein read "The Devil Wears Prada" and "The Nanny Diaries" and said "Hey kids ! Let's re-write these books but from a pediatrician's point of view" Then she thought of every funny case she's ever seen and exaggerated it, and changed the names. Then she thought of some ridiculous plot that allowed her to show off her extensive knowledge of fancy boutiques on the Hamptons.

Now I have nothing against good chick-lit, but there was NOTHING to this book. The heroine was *so* perfect, I found her unbelievable. Actually Goldstein seemed afraid to include any characters that weren't basically amiable (Ira goes on gambling sponsored coke binges? How eccentric!) Even the bird is quirky.

There are so many random threads to this book: the receptionist has chemo and loses her hair, well obviously then she's going to focus all her attention on her opera for kids CD, and never mention the cancer again. Someone suggests Shelley loses a few pounds and POOF ! she goes on a diet and she loses 30 pounds and that is that. Oh Fran Templar is at a party? Let's run around looking for her and then drop it all of a sudden because we remember that she's not actually a character in this book.

Usually I'll give any book 100 pages, and if I don't like it, I'll put it down guilt-free. However I felt compelled to finish 24 Karat kids simply so I could write this review. I'm not going to ruin the highly predictable ending but it seemed to me like the author looked at the book, said "Ooh look 200 pages, I'm done now!" and typed a final 3 page chapter that tied everything up.

Principles of Robot Motion: Theory, Algorithms, and Implementations (Intelligent Robotics and Autonomous Agents)

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Principles of Robot Motion: Theory, Algorithms, and Implementations (Intelligent Robotics and Autonomous Agents)
Howie Choset , Kevin M. Lynch , Seth Hutchinson , George Kantor , Wolfram Burgard , Lydia E. Kavraki , and Sebastian Thrun
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0262033275

Book Description

Robot motion planning has become a major focus of robotics. Research findings can be applied not only to robotics but to planning routes on circuit boards, directing digital actors in computer graphics, robot-assisted surgery and medicine, and in novel areas such as drug design and protein folding. This text reflects the great advances that have taken place in the last ten years, including sensor-based planning, probabalistic planning, localization and mapping, and motion planning for dynamic and nonholonomic systems. Its presentation makes the mathematical underpinnings of robot motion accessible to students of computer science and engineering, rleating low-level implementation details to high-level algorithmic concepts.

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Excellent!!!
Brilliant Bach
For the specialist, not first-timers

J.S. Bach: A Life in Music
Peter Williams
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0521870747

Book Description

Peter Wiliams approaches afresh the life and music of arguably the most studied of all composers, interpreting both Bach’s life by deconstructing his original Obituary in the light of new information, and his music by evaluating his priorities and irrepressible creative energy. How, though belonging to musical families on both his parents’ sides, did he come to possess so bewitching a sense of rhythm and melody, and a mastery of harmony that established nothing less than a norm in western culture? In considering that the works of a composer are his biography, the book's title 'A Life in Music' means both a life spent making music and one revealed in the music as we know it. A distinguished scholar and performer, Williams re-examines Bach’s life as an orphan and a family man, as an extraordinarily gifted composer and player, and an energetic and ambitious artist who never suffered fools gladly.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent!!!.......2007-06-27

Bach is my religion, and I am an adult beginner piano student, with roughly four years of classical piano lessons under my belt. Those two facts color my opinion of this biography and of other Bach biographies I have read, namely those by Christoph Wolff and Martin Geck. I do like the Peter Williams biography better than the other two. It is scholarly without being overly so, reverential without going overboard, analytical and informative on the music front without being exhaustive and boring. And I greatly enjoyed the approach of dissecting the obituary written at Bach's death, fleshing out the entries, and/or setting the record straight. The Wolff is very good but leaves me cold, and, to be honest, I couldn't make it all the way through the Geck. I am a tough grader -- hence the four stars. Though I found the Williams biography an extremely engaging read, I do think/hope that the definitive five-star Bach biography has yet to be written.

Brilliant Bach.......2007-05-22

J.S. Bach: A Life in Music was full of gorgeous pictures and information on Bach. The CD that came with it started with Bach's early music, then progressed to his final masterpieces. I liked hearing the progression. I used this book for information I needed for a graduate level psychology class. We had to do a case study on a famous person. Bach was a great study! Wonderful book.

For the specialist, not first-timers.......2007-05-18

This book provides a useful different way of looking at Bach's life and music by working almost sentence by sentence through the well-known Obituary of 1750/1754 by C.P.E. Bach and Agricola. Williams doesn't hesitate to grapple with thorny issues, nor to question interpretations/speculations we may have become comfortable with and wrongly begun to treat as if they were fact.

I bought the book because I greatly admire Peter Williams' previous writings on Bach and organ music. I was slightly disappointed with this book, however.

I'm an amateur musician who has read a lot about Bach. For me, core references are Christoph Wolff (2000) 'Johann Sebastian Bach; the learned musician' (scholarly and fascinating to read), and 'The New Bach Reader' (David & Mendel/ Wolff). I'd suggest not bothering with the Williams book unless you are already familiar with such books. You'll only value what Williams questions in a sentence or two if you're familiar with arguments over the same issue in other places.

The Cambridge Companion to Bach (Cambridge Companions to Music)

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Johann Sebastian Bach - The Bottom Line
another great oxford companion

The Cambridge Companion to Bach (Cambridge Companions to Music)

Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521587808

Amazon.com

Fifteen varied essays by 11 authors provide a thoughtful, broad introduction to the music and person of Johann Sebastian Bach. The Cambridge Companion is divided into three main sections: the first concentrates on the biographical and historical details of Bach's life; the second aims at a general discussion of the music; and the last evaluates Bach's continuing influence on modern music. Representative topics in each section include a recounting of Bach's position as a supporter of monarchical absolutism ("Bach and the Domestic Politics of Electoral Saxony"), a discussion of scholarship throwing light on the authenticity of some of the early works ("The Early Works and the Heritage of the Seventeenth Century"), and an outline of developments in performance practice of Bach's music from his time to ours ("Changing Issues of Performance Practice"). The book provides valuable background material for those who may have casually encountered and enjoyed Bach's music, and the variety of viewpoints helps readers avoid an oversimplified impression of the great composer.

Book Description

The Cambridge Companion to Bach goes beyond a basic life-and-works study to provide a late-twentieth-century perspective on J. S. Bach the man and composer. Benefiting from the insights and research of some of the most distinguished Bach scholars, this Companion covers cultural, social and religious contexts, surveys and analyzes Bach's compositional style, traces his influence, and considers the performance and reception of his music through the succeeding generations.

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Customer Reviews:

Johann Sebastian Bach - The Bottom Line.......2002-12-11

The life of Johann Sebastian Bach - straddling two centuries and placing an indelible mark on the development of symphonic music - is a complex and multifaceted saga, but Professor John Butt and his talented crew of co-authors get straight to the bottom of it. Bach grew up at the tail end of the 16th century. As a young student at the Latin Grammar School (where Martin Luther himself once studied) he was a classic child prodigy, dismissed by jealous teachers as excessively cheeky, and simultaneously made the butt of cruel jokes concocted by the lesser students who were deeply behind him. To make things far worse, both of his parents died when he was only nine, and for a period he was reduced to selling buns in the street and living in an abandoned caboose. However opportunity opened the door just a crack when he was a late teen. This came when he moved to the small town of Arnstadt to try his hand as an organist - a fateful journey during which illness and hunger almost took him, until a kindly cattle-farming family nursed him back to health on a hearty diet of potatoes, rump roast, and healthy dairy air. At Arnstadt he wrote most of his best-loved early pieces, and while he toiled in seeming anonymity at the rear of the church, the congregation was truly over the moon about him, often straining to hear his gentle melodies over the odious sound of the preacher muttering darkly about Sodom and Gomorrah. At the time the town was a real hole, but Bach's uplifting passion for music rectified the situation for him and kept him from going under. Soon many of his most famous baroque pieces were in the can. Bach's longest residence was of course in the city of Leipzig from 1723 to 1750, where he progressed from early middle age until his doddering later years as an old duffer. It was in Leipzig that his met his longtime Welsh companion, Fanny W. Tokus, who was to so ease his journey into the ranks of the elderly. Professor Butt's thoughtful scholarship made this book a real gas to read, and it's uplifting to think that someone so handicapped by his very nom de plume could persuade such an erudite and impressive group of credentialed co-writers to hitch their wagons to his tailpipe.

another great oxford companion.......2000-04-01

For those familiar with the "Oxford Companion to ..." series, you will see that this lives up to the name. There is a lot of good information on his works and life here. I only give it 4 stars because it works better as a reference-type book to scroll through once in a while, and not quality literature to read in a few sittings.

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