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
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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