Sometimes stiff, but should reward thoughtful readers.
A look at the unexpected consequences of the computer revolution.
Green (Information Technology/Monash Univ., Australia) sees the key impact of the growth of computerization as being an increase not just in the quantity but in the complexity of information available. Comparing the capabilities of early computers and those currently in wide use, he estimates a 100,000-fold increase in data from the mainframes of 20 years ago to the desktop model he uses today. Even more radical growth is evident on the Internet, which 15 years ago was used almost entirely by academics and the defense establishment. More significantly, the ability to combine sets of data has increased, allowing the discovery of hitherto unexpected relationships and also creating a new degree of complexity. Computer design has developed tools to help users handle this complexity; one such tool, for example, is modularity, the breaking-down of complex tasks into smaller subroutines, not unlike filing systems that sort data first by broad categories, then by narrower ones. A similar principle allows passing messages over large networks in an economical number of steps. The linear arrangement of data characteristic of the book is no longer necessary for computers, which can easily find connections between randomly sorted data. An example is data mining, or the use of computers to discover relationships in a vast quantity of data—say, analyzing computerized checkout records in grocery stores to find individual customers’ buying patterns. Similarly, biotechnology has bloomed as computers have made it possible to analyze genetic data, with results both positive (as in new therapies) and ethically nightmarish (as in cloning). Likewise, the global village created by the Internet creates opportunities both for increased understanding and for increased crime, from Nigerian e-mail scams to massive terrorist attacks. While Green is clearly a cybernetic booster, he doesn’t duck hard questions.
Sometimes stiff, but should reward thoughtful readers.Pub Date: May 28, 2005
ISBN: 1-86508-655-X
Page Count: 216
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2005
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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