Out of their Minds: The Lives and Discoveries of 15 Great Computer Scientists

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Over the past fifty years, most of computer science's important inventions have come from innovators who aren't exactly household names. Out of Their Minds describes the lives and discoveries of fifteen unsung computer scientists whose programs have done everything from help engineers manage factories to help cartoonists animate their characters. This well-paced book spans the varied disciplines of computer science and challenges the reader to think about still-unsolved questions: how can we build a computer that works like the human brain, how can we boost the speed of computation, and where all that intelligence and power will take the industry over the next fifty years.

Book Description

Imagine living during the Renaissance and being able to interview that era's greatest scientists about their inspirations, discoveries, and personal interests. The latter half of our century has seen its own Renaissance--informations technology has changed irrevocable the way we live, work, and think about the world. We are fortunate, therefore, that the authors of Out of Their Minds have been able to talk so candidly with the founders of computer science....

Customer Reviews:

Great Source.......2005-08-16

I was looking for a good source on the masterminds who shaped the Computer Science field and I found in this book. I think this book delivers a good mixture of personal stories plus technical details about the main contributions of the 15 computer scientists who shaped the field.

Great read for history buffs.......2005-05-24

If you're a computer scientist, programmer or what have you, then this book is a must read. The book presents key contributions of 15 computer scientists. While the book does contain some level of computer science speak, those who don't have computer science backgrounds will still find the book easy to read and follow. I first read this book when it was first published, and I occasionally refer back to it so I don't forget about all the great contributions made to computing.

Computer Scientists are People.......2005-04-09

At about 15 pages per computer scientist, you get brief but often substantive introductions to some key figures in computer science. For those that intrigue you, you can then look elsewhere, but from this book alone you can get a good feel for some of the key problems computer scientists have addressed. You'll also get a good feeling for what these scientists were like as people and how they thought. Quotes from interviews with each gets you closer to them.

People who were just names to me get a chance to come alive. Some seemed quite likable, like John Backus (who I'd only known as the "B" in BNF) and Egdger Dijksra (who's a lot more than a warning against goto's). All are challenging thinkers who made some very hard things seem easier: Lamport especially seemed to have had a knack for simplifying some hard problems. But it's hardly all that simple and some of the discussions of their work took me some careful reading and re-reading to get a handle on.

This book delivers with its combination of showing these scientists as human beings and introducing some of the great challenges of computer science. If you're a programmer too often busy with boring work, this may be your chance to get back in touch with some fascinating discoveries. If you're not a computer scientist, even though some of the discussions may be rough going, there's plenty of good material to acquaint you with what computer scientists do and how intriguing it can be. 15 pages may not seem enough to get to know any scientist (I could have used more on Alan Kay and John McCarthy) but, as a introduction, this book comes thru strong, capturing much of the excitement that you never suspect if you just see rows of programmers in cubicles typing away.

Inside Their Minds.......2003-11-25

Entering into dialogue with the leading scientists of our time is one of the best ways to understand and appreciate science. Yet the educated public is rarely presented with such opportunities. Dennis Shasha and Cathy Lazere's ^Out of Their Minds^ vicariously invites the reader into such a conversation with the leading scientists of the leading science of our time: Computer Science. The result is an engaging and informative book about the high-tech cognoscenti. Tutorial break-out boxes on related technical points make this an unusually useful book.

Great subject, pitiful writing.......2003-03-10

This book is about some great people: McCarthy, Djikstra, Knuth, Brooks... The biography of any one of them could be a 500+ pages story that would read like a novel. If you recognized the names above, you're expecting a compendium of epic proportions. If you didn't, well... you should; these are the Newtons, the Einsteins of the computer age.

The basic problem is that the authors are completely unable to convey any of this excitement. Reading the book, you feel as if they spent an afternoon talking to some boring old academic. Maybe they were bored; they definitely managed to convey THAT feeling.

If you want an account of the history of computer science, you could try "The Dream Machine", which is about so much more than Licklider. At least it's readable.

Out of Their Mind
Average customer rating:

The Devil to Pay

A great read

Is it really all in the mind?

Out of Their Mind
Clifford D. Simak
Manufacturer: DAW
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0879977914

Customer Reviews:

The Devil to Pay.......2006-01-14

Imagine that there are parallel worlds. One world is the world that everybody knows. The other is a place of pure imagination-- populated by the myths, legends and creatures of lore that humans have thought about since the beginning of time. In the beginning, this parallel world is a dark and wild place and the creatures in it are gods and demons-- awesome and mighty. Imagine the consternation that mass media brings: Suddenly, the Devil is face-to-face with Mickey Mouse. When that happens, there is Hell to pay...

Out of Their Minds is a charming conceit, but truthfully not one of the best of the Simak collection. I have kind of the feeling that he had a terrific idea, but never worked it out very far past the point of being a terrific idea. The introduction is great, but the follow-through is a pale shadow of some of his greater novels like Way Station or Destiny Doll.

Simak fans should find this a nice digression (I love the moment with Snuffy Smith!) but people new to his work should begin elsewhere.

A great read.......2001-02-27

Like many of Simak's books, the ending may leave you wishing for a different resolution, but it is still an engrossing read. The premise is interesting, and as usual the writing style is superb.

Is it really all in the mind?.......1999-02-10

The concept behind this book is that everything the human race has imagined, from the Devil to Disneyland, exists in another world governed by all the bizarre rules we've thought of too. Not a bad idea and the characterisation works quite well. The storyline moved along nicely towards the punchline but when it arrives, the delivery isn't great. A good read but a disappointing ending.

Hanging Out with Lab Coats: Hope, Humor & Help for Cancer Patients and Their Caregivers

Average customer rating:

Not only an entertaining read but an excellent resource
Most Excellent Book!!!
Insight, wisdom, compassion, and hope!
Inspirational book on breast cancer
Hanging Out with Lab Coats

Hanging Out with Lab Coats: Hope, Humor & Help for Cancer Patients and Their Caregivers
Wendi Fox Pedicone
Manufacturer: Fox Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 097689971X

Product Description

Hope is powerful medicine. In Hanging Out with Lab Coats, breast cancer survivor Wendi Pedicone prescribes her own unique brand of optimism through her honest, unabashed account of her journey from diagnosis to recovery.

Customer Reviews:

Not only an entertaining read but an excellent resource.......2007-08-05

Hanging Out With Lab Coats is an excellent book filled with numerous resources and lots of humor. This book would be a wonderful and much appreciated gift for anyone who has been recently diagnosed or who has had a loved one recently diagnosed. Ms. Pedicone does an oustanding job of being honest and real about her diagnosis and also includes her family's honest reactions to her diagnosis and treatment. The added benefit of this book, is that it is filled to the brim with many, many resources. Hanging Out With Lab Coats is an entertaining, real life account and also an excellent resource guide!

Most Excellent Book!!!.......2006-12-06

My wife was diagnosed with breast cancer two and a half years ago. While she was waging her own war, we had the good fortune of not only reading Wendi's most excellent and uplifting book, but of meeting her as well, and of following her progress as she courageously faces her reality. If you or someone you love is facing this horrorible disease and need to hear the words of hope and help from a modern-day heroine who does not sugar-coat anything, please please please read and re-read this book.

Insight, wisdom, compassion, and hope!.......2006-11-29

Wendi Pedicone writes a first-hand account of her journey with breast cancer. Blending fresh, positive personal anecdotes with the latest professional advice and internet sites, she encourages patients to follow her example and harness their individuality to find a decisive turning point in their cancer treatment. Her book is filled with insight, wisdom, humor, and compassion. It is difficult to think of anyone with cancer who will not benefit from HANGING OUT WITH LAB COATS!

Inspirational book on breast cancer.......2006-11-27

Wendi shares her personal experience with breast cancer and does it with her amazing sense of humor. She provides information to readers about all the treatment options available. As well as, how she dealt with everyday life i.e. children, school, work, relationships etc.

This book will make you laugh and cry!

Hanging Out with Lab Coats.......2006-11-25

This book is incredibly informative and inspirational. Ms. Pedicone's info and outlook are amazing.

Average customer rating:

More brain candy
INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love these books!

Out Of Their Minds
Carol Matas , and Perry Nodelman
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Humorous | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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A Meeting of Minds
Of Two Minds: THE REVOLUTIONARY SCIENCE OF DUAL-BRAIN PSYCHOLOGY
Princess Nevermore

ASIN: 0689819463

Book Description

This is awful, Coren thought, panicking. Imagination is disappearing altogether! Everyone has gone berserk -- and there's nothing I can do about it. There's nothing that anyone can do about it!

Lenora and Coren are finally getting married at the court of Andilla, Coren's homeland, where everyone lives in their imagination. There's just one problem: The Andillans' powers aren't working, and clearly the wedding can't proceed when the sacred Balance is so out of whack. For the headstrong Lenora, this means a new adventure. She and a reluctant Coren head into the Andillan countryside, where they come across the Skwoes, who have absolutely no imagination whatsoever. Are they responsible for the Andillans' loss of power? Whatever the source, the problems are getting worse: Now even Lenora's ability to make her thoughts real is failing. What is more, Lenora has been having a series of nightmares about the evil Hevak. Something has to be done before all of the people in two kingdoms are completely out of their minds.

In this companion to the award-winning Of Two Minds and More Minds, Carol Matas and Perry Nodelman weave another hilarious fantasy adventure, full of romance, excitement, humor, and surprises.

Customer Reviews:

More brain candy.......2000-01-16

Third in the Minds series (Of Two Minds, More Minds), Out of Their Minds continues the psychic adventures of Princess Lenora of Gepeth, who possesses the ability to make whatever she imagines come true, and Prince Coren of Andilla, who can read minds. About to be married in Andilla, where reality plays second fiddle to imagination, Coren and Lenora discover that all is not well. First Lenora starts having nightmares about her old nemesis Hevak. Then it is discovered that all the Andillians have lost their mental powers and are now forced to live in a crumbling and long-neglected reality. And then there are the Skwoes, the people with absolutely no imagination...

Out of Their Minds is a fun new installment in the series, but the plot is noticeably more derivative. Fewer new and intriguing ideas are brought up; the series appears to be running a little low on fuel. Hopefully the newest one, A Meeting of Minds, will be fresher. In the meantime, enjoy this one for what it's worth.

INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.......1999-10-22

This is one of the best books I have ever read! If you are looking for a follow up to Harry Potter, you got it right here. The whole trilogy keeps you on the edge of your seat and giggling the whole time!

I love these books!.......1999-04-11

I am giving this book 4 stars since it isn't as good as the first two but still a good book. I especially love how Matas & Nodelman brought back the characters Leni and Cori. These books are so cool and I hope they write more of them together, since they make such a great team.

Art versus Nonart: Art out of Mind (Contemporary Artists and their Critics)

Average customer rating:

Good, but not entirly objective
A Startling and Persuasive Book
The most important book ever written about modern art

Art versus Nonart: Art out of Mind (Contemporary Artists and their Critics)
Tsion Avital
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | History & Criticism | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Modern | Schools, Periods & Styles | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0521824656

Book Description

Tsion Avital poses the question: "Is modern art--art at all?" He argues that the nonrepresentational art produced in the twentieth century was not actually art, but rather the debris of the visual tradition it replaced. Modern art has thrived on the state of total confusion existing between art and pseudo-art and the inability of many to distinguish between them. As Avital demonstrates, modern art has served as a critical intermediate stage between art of the past and the future.

Customer Reviews:

Good, but not entirly objective.......2005-07-29

I think Avital brings up some very important points about modernism. He starts out the book objective but then within thirty pages or so becomes extremely polarized on the subject. His arguement is that if it is modern art it is irrifutably nonart. I think it a little presumptious to make such a generalized claim. There are some people in the world that, even well educated, try to generalize an idea and then apply it to everything out there that is even remotely resemblant of the idea. He attacks universities and generalizes that all faculty at a university are ignorant and unlearned. He states that there is no paridigm for modern art. This is not true. I understand where he is coming from because I do see ignorance in professors even, but once again not all professors. Avital is bias in thinking that he has the whole modern thing figured out. Modern art is not without principle. I am a major advocate of figurative art, but I am also studying musical works such as katchatrian and prokoffiev and connecting their works to the modern art movement. There is a backbone to modern art. I would recommend this book because there is some truth to it, and the things that I do not agree with are also important for a reader to learn, especially for people like me who are trying to figure out where art is going today.

A Startling and Persuasive Book.......2004-05-16

This is a very engaging and well-presented arguement. What I admired most about the book was the author's ability to get his mind above the fog and confusion that surrounds contemporary art. Because of that, the book has a clarity and originality that are unusual in this field.

The most important book ever written about modern art.......2004-02-11

Avital writes about the lie we all like to ignore!!!
Is modern art is art at all?? After reading this book the answer is clear. Every art lover must read this book to understand the meaning of art and the meaning of human culture. Without reading this book you will stay, unfortunately, ignorant.

Liberating Minds: The Stories and Professional Lives of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Librarians and Their Advocates

Average customer rating:

CRUCIAL reading for all librarians and would-be librarians

Liberating Minds: The Stories and Professional Lives of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Librarians and Their Advocates

Manufacturer: McFarland & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

Workplace | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Bisexuality | Nonfiction | Gay & Lesbian | Subjects | Books

Coming Out | Nonfiction | Gay & Lesbian | Subjects | Books

General | Nonfiction | Gay & Lesbian | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0786403632

Book Description

Over 30 librarians address gay and lesbian issues arising within the profession, some offering personal stories of understanding their sexuality and its impingement on their professional lives. Intellectual freedom, censorship, AIDS material availability, and dealing with homophobia are among the issues addressed.

Customer Reviews:

CRUCIAL reading for all librarians and would-be librarians.......1997-12-22

These essays provide a summation of various aspects of the modern gay rights movement. They powerfully move a gay reader to feel a history of hardships borne by both his contemporaries and their predecessors, and voice an impassioned, emphatic and empathic plea to become involved, to join the network, to take up the torch of enthusiasm from those who carry it now lest it burn out or drop. The text on the whole is a testimony of the efforts of the keepers of the «flame of the status quo» contrasted with the successes of a silent minority which found voices to resist, to even throw off the yoke of persecution so firmly fitted about their necks by the aforementioned group, who had so long successfully deprived this silent minority of the knowledge and the means to unburden itself. This scholarly work caused me to draw heavily on my own personal life experiences to relate to, sympathize with, and at times empathize with the authors as they described their experiences.

Childlight : How Children Reach Out To Their Parents From the Beyond

Average customer rating:

INSPIRATIONAL
Donna Theisen ROCKS!now, AND in the hereafter!!
Visits From Angels
Touching Stories ... With a Message of Hope
Inspirational

Childlight : How Children Reach Out To Their Parents From the Beyond
Donna Theisen , and Dary Matera
Manufacturer: New Horizon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Channeling | New Age | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

General | New Age | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Parapsychology | Occult | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0882821997

Book Description

Childlight recounts Donna's story and the astonishing inspiring stories of other parents whose children have reached out to them from the other side.

Customer Reviews:

INSPIRATIONAL.......2005-11-20

A wonderful book for the bereaved of a child parted before them.
Holds wonder and hope and reminds us of the promise of eternal life from our Creator. The spirit is forever!

Donna Theisen ROCKS!now, AND in the hereafter!!.......2004-03-13

I bought this book simply based on the inspiring previous endeavor by author, Theisen, "Angels of Emergency" which gave me the courage to go back to college to become an EMT at almost 50 years of age. Childlight delivers. If you've ever had a child, or been one, read this warm and eye-opening account from the personal lives of people, PARENTS, just like us. Considering her former occupation as rescue person, I found the stunning realistically portrayed despair at the accident she could not rescue, her own sons', touching and truthful. Much like funeral directors, when it happens to their own families, first responders are at LEAST as shocked, saddened, and sometimes hopeless as the rest of us in the world. Read with an open mind, this book can be savoured, and read slowly, allowing the possibility that man, ever so arrogant,perhaps doesn't know everything......that somehow, we must all start to PAY ATTENTION!! I strongly feel that by describing her own pain, just as she described her own feelings of doubt in her earlier book, she allows us to live vicariously through her experience, which can be as liberating and soothing as a glass of lemonade on an August day...... and brings us the knowledge that someone else has felt the way parents of lost children feel. Enlightening,transfixing,overwhelming.....I can't suggest you read this enough, whoever you may be. Let's face it, none of us are getting out of here alive....don't we want to know what happens next?????

Visits From Angels.......2001-06-12

I read a few pragraphs, to my daughter, before I "lost it" I tried to read more..no way... we've the idea, of anguish and the lost... but, to read and "feel" the desperation, the void... of all losses...touched us immenensly. The "visits". I know... We're loving and reassuring,, In HIs wisdom, the ALIMIGHTY FATHER, let these angels, give a farewell gift of love. A precious few..are giving the visitation from a love one. My dearest cousin, Bonnie, was one of these precious few, who was visited by her dearest Mike.. she sent me Childlight...A touching book.. A loving group of people who share, a heartache and give each other peace.... Bev

Touching Stories ... With a Message of Hope.......2001-05-06

This book is sure to touch the hearts of all those who have lost a child or someone very dear to them.

Each story shares a heartwarming glimpse of the life and personality of each child ... and then explains the tragic circumstances in which each child was lost. The heartbreak and overwhelming sadness of those who wrote these stories is evident, yet it offers bereaved parents an honest view in understanding how others have struggled to cope with their losing their child.

But each story does not end with grief and despair ... each story offers a message of hope. These parents have found true comfort in knowing that their children, although tragically gone from their everyday lives, offer signs that they are okay and still with them.

Highly recommended for anyone seeking comfort and understanding in how to try to live with their heartbreaking loss.

Karen Yoder, co-author, "The Heart Behind the Hero"

Inspirational.......2001-05-05

I think the books was written beautifully. I think that it gave honest and comforting information. I think it was inspired by God and a mothers son Mike. I think this book will help alot of grieving parents to find peace and some comfort. I find the honestly and inspiration so rewarding. I feel it opens up things that God has given us in a way that is wonderful and this book shows that in many ways. I just loved the book and would recommend it to anyone. Sincerely. Rose Stenrose

Average customer rating:

Out of Their Minds
Clifford Simak
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GRLHUY

A Course in Astral Travel and Dreams (Chinese)

Average customer rating:

A Course in Astral Travel and Dreams (Chinese)
Belzebuub
Manufacturer: Trafford Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Adventures Beyond the Body: How to Experience Out-of-Body Travel

ASIN: 1412042135
Release Date: 2006-06-30

Book Description

A Course in Astral Travel and Dreams (Chinese) is a complete guide for anyone wanting to experience Astral Travel, out-of-body-experiences and understand the nature and meaning of dreams. Weekly topics teach in detail how to Astral Travel - in plain and simple language, outlining the steps to take to achieve conscious Astral projection and guiding the reader towards their own personal experiences.

Customer Reviews:

Eckankar Advertising.......2004-03-06

This is a story told for the purposing of getting readers interested in the Eckankar cult. The writer describes how he induces lucid dreaming and explains this as an out of body experience (which involves meeting up with the ECK Master). Lucid dreaming certainly is pleasant and if this book helps you achieve that then you will still have your money's worth. However I recommend that you do a web search of Eckankar to put the story in context.

great book.......2000-03-13

"Dream Travel" is a book about the phenomenon of out-of-body travel, worlds nonphysical, life after death, inner godmen, spiritual growth, and more. The author relates his first and subsequent projections into the etheric dream worlds. Descriptions of the inner planes, what can be seen and done there, how to project into the nonphysical worlds, all are included. Can be consciously experienced and verified by anyone. Easy to read and understand; 108 pages in length.

Dream Travel Review.......2000-03-04

I have just finished reading Dream Travel by Terrill Willson, and I must say that it has opened up a whole new world for me. Upon reading about the adventures Mr. Willson had during his OOBE's, I decided that I too want to experience in these extraordinary events. Mr. Willson offers simple advice in achieving OOBE's and soul travel. I have since put his advice into practice, and experienced travel into the realm of the unknown. Whether your a skeptic or a believer, I challenge you to read this book, and walk away without wanting to pursue Dream Travel first hand.

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