bookshelf

THE MASTER ALGORITHM

Name: THE MASTER ALGORITHM
Author: Pedro Domingos
ISBN: 978-0465065707

HOW THE QUEST FOR THE ULTIMATE LEARNING MACHINE WILL REMAKE OUR WORLD

by Pedro Domingos ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 22, 2015

With wit, vision, and scholarship, Domingos describes how these scientists are creating programs that allow a computer to...

bookshelf

Traditionally, the only way to make a computer execute a task is to write precise instructions: an algorithm. As the author notes in this enthusiastic but not dumbed-down introduction to machine learning, it is impossible to “write a program to tell a computer how to drive a car or decipher handwriting, but if we give enough examples to a computer running a learning algorithm, it will figure out how to do it on its own.”

The ultimate learning program, writes Domingos (Computer Science/Univ. of Washington), is the master algorithm, and the process is well underway to allow computers to function creatively. Data alone is not enough. Defeating the world’s greatest chess or Jeopardy players was a matter of brute force, but simpler computers running learning programs already beat talent scouts in baseball, connoisseurs in wine tasting, and doctors in disease diagnosis. Though lucid and consistently informative, Domingos’ explanation of how a variety of scientific schools approaches the master algorithm requires close attention from readers. Symbolists believe that intelligence emerges from manipulating symbols, just as mathematicians solve equations by replacing expressions with other expressions. Connectionists try to reverse-engineer the brain. Evolutionaries write programs that change in ways similar to natural selection. Bayesians know that all learned knowledge is uncertain, so they emphasize 18th-century English clergyman Thomas Bayes’ theorem, which can handle probabilistic inference. Finally, analogizers search for similarities in data and write code that combines them to make new predictions. “Armed with your new understanding of machine learning,” writes the author, “you’re in a much better position to think about issues like privacy and data sharing, the future of work, robot warfare, and the promise and peril of AI.”

With wit, vision, and scholarship, Domingos describes how these scientists are creating programs that allow a computer to teach itself. Readers unfamiliar with logic and computer theory will have a difficult time, but those who persist will discover fascinating insights.

Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2015

ISBN: 978-0465065707

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Basic Books

Review Posted Online: June 7, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

bookshelf

NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

bookshelf

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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

bookshelf

TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

bookshelf

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.