wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) (02/28/85)
Just finished a popular-level (i.e., non-technical) book on AI research that might be of interest to some of you. It is: INTO THE HEART OF THE MIND, An American Quest for Artificial Intelligence, by Frank Rose (1984, Harper & Row, 209 pp., price removed from this library copy). The book emphasizes the personalities of, and conversations with, some of the academic researchers (both faculty and grad students) in the AI field. It seems to emphasize Berkeley more than any other location, though it does mention some of the other sites, and some non-Berkeley people are discussed. I think I recognize some of the names mentioned herein from net traffic, also. The book reads a lot like a New Yorker profile, though the author's description mentions he is an Esquire editor and has contributed to other magazines, but not the New Yorker. I suppose most AI types would find it painfully simplistic, but it might be something you could recommend to people who ask what you do. If any AI pro's out there have read it, I'd like to hear if you thought it was a good or a poor introduction to the field for the non-AI'er. I enjoyed reading it, and didn't notice any errors in the few references to UNIX and the ARPANET, but have no real idea if the AI areas the author concentrates on are the most important or most current ones. (This is mostly Wilensky and associates at UCB, with an emphasis on the development of PANDORA; the book ends with a description of Joe Faletti's PANDORA presentation at the AAAI Conference at CMU. Was this 1983?) Regards, Will Martin USENET: seismo!brl-bmd!wmartin or ARPA/MILNET: wmartin@almsa-1.ARPA