A real-life Revenge of the Nerds, the tale captures some of the excitement of the day when a machine took a man to the...
A byte-by-byte account of the successful effort of IBM computer scientists to create a machine that could defeat a genius.
Hsu, who left IBM in 1999 to write and to pursue non-chess–related interests, brings a unique perspective to this task: It was he and his colleagues (first in Carnegie Mellon’s Ph.D. Computer Science program and then at IBM) who designed the hardware and software that ultimately defeated Garry Kasparov in a highly publicized six-game match in 1997. Hsu insists that this was not a case of John Henry versus the steam engine; instead, it was man-as-toolmaker defeating man-as-performer. Hsu portrays himself, also, as a reluctant warrior who initially resisted the Call to Adventure and entered the fray only when the engineering issues began to intrigue him (at the outset, he knew little chess). In his chronicle of increasingly fierce Carnegie Mellon academic politics, a competitor, Prof. Hans Berliner, doesn’t come off well as his chess-playing computer (Hitech) falls behind the system designed by Hsu et al. Hsu gives ample credit to his colleagues and tries to be generous with Kasparov—though the latter emerges as somewhat arrogant, petulant, pampered, and petty, not to mention a sore loser. Hsu strives admirably to avoid geek-speak (he tells us what cursors and pawns are), and readers who speak neither computer-ese nor chess-ian can still enjoy the building tension. Born in Taiwan, Hsu appends some autobiographical material—as if to certify that he is no cyborg (he seems reluctant to accept much blame for computer failures, which, invariably, he attributes to “bugs” or to time’s wingéd chariot hurrying near). A strange, inaccurate index lists some people by first name, some by last.
A real-life Revenge of the Nerds, the tale captures some of the excitement of the day when a machine took a man to the woodshed. (20 halftones)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-691-09065-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Princeton Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2002
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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