Here’s a straightforward answer to the question every parent has been asked, and few can answer: How do computers really work? Hillis, the head of Disney’s Imagineering Works, begins by describing a stone etched in a complex pattern, which can be asked questions in a strange language and give profound and useful answers. It sounds like witchcraft, but it is a literally accurate description of a computer chip. As he goes on to show, the internal workings of a computer can be broken down into simple components. His first chapter introduces the reader to the rudiments of Boolean logic and simple electrical circuits. These ideas can be used to build simple computers, such as the author’s own early design of a machine to play tic-tac-toe, or another made from Tinker Toys. The next step in complexity is the development of specific logical functions—And, Or, Invert—that form the basis of almost all computing functions. These concepts are illustrated by the game Rock, Paper, Scissors, converted to digital form. Programming is illustrated with the famous “turtle” programs from the Logo computing language, designed to teach children. In similar manner, Hillis introduces the reader step by step to Turing machines, algorithms, encryption, and other advanced concepts. All this is done without discussions of state-of-the-art hardware or engineering problems; in fact, the author encourages the reader to think in terms of “black box” modulees that can be combined to perform a desired task. One need not know what’s in the box as long as one knows its ultimate function. The final chapters look at issues on the frontiers of computing: machines that learn and adapt, possibly even (in time) machines that can be said to “think.” All this is done elegantly and entertainingly, without a whiff of condescension toward the nontechnical reader. Clear and down-to-earth; even hopeless technophobes should find it enlightening. (Author tour)
Pub Date: Oct. 24, 1998
ISBN: 0-465-02595-1
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Basic Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1998
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
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
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