Talk about fuzzy logic on steroids! After reading the subtleties of this "math" book (translate: studying-- every sentence is so PACKED with insights, that you can't really just speed "read" this), you'll be stunned, and hungry for a LOT more. In a very short couple hundred pages, the author integrates everything you've always wondered about how Godel, Cellular Automata / the game of life, thousand page programs of differential equations reduced to two algorithmic lines, Darwinism applied to a new definition of computer learning, etc., relate to each other! The subtitle of the book should be "non expert generic learning algorithms" or "Darwinian computers" or something unprecedented like that. You'll even learn why we can't put Sherlock Holmes' brain in an algorithm.
In brilliant fashion, Valiant twines natural (as in nature) problem solving and learning with the algorithmic processes of neural learning, and potentially machine learning (redefined), and sneakily hints at how the brain can process systems of dynamic partial diffential equations as matrix calculus without us even knowing it! If you've ever wondered how your brain can hold dual uncertainties (time/motion or frequency/time etc.) constant with PDE's (Fourier transforms) as you cross a street, without your "conscious" mind even being able to solve a partial differential without peeking at the text examples (let alone a Fourier inverse), this amazing book finally gives the closest I've ever seen to a believable answer. WOW are we EVER smart without "knowing" it!!! One of the many "ahas" is how "non experts" (eg our "conscious" brains) can invent things like calculus.
There's no advanced LaTex such as complex exponential superscript equations for e-readers to bugger up, so don't hesitate to get this on Kindle. There are polynomials and subscripts, but my Fire digested them just fine. A few of the many diagrams, tables and illustrations are too tiny to view, but a double tap takes care of that. Yes, the underlying math "discussed" really is post grad in some cases, but the author doesn't burden us with that level of notation, choosing instead to describe verbally (and with at most inequalities and a few polynomials and tables) the much simpler underlying "ecorithm" (algorithms that learn from their environment).
This book is relevant on too many levels to thoroughly list, but just a few include psych, engineering, algorithms, computational complexity, machine learning, AI, dynamic systems, education, consciousness, neurology, math... and onward. For non math major "lay" readers, the text is crisp, clear, readable/studyable with a nice pace and stories/illustrations that make it an unlikely but well written page turner. Strangely also, I truly believe it will appeal to both lay and pro readers/researchers -- the author strikes a very unusual balance with deep computational examples while not coming off as a show off-- one of the best teachers you'll ever want to meet, or if you're a technical author, emulate.
A bunch of books have now been written about how algorithms are taking over the world-- and how "unseen robots" (smart phones, cars and 777's) really are "thinking." This is better than the whole group of them combined! If you want a peek into your great great grandkids' planet-- get this asap! There are sincerely numerous new insights - discoveries - revelations on each page. The connections described are being researched in many fields right now, but silos prevent a lot of the overlaps between disciplines this author has spotted. They say Poincaire was the last great generalist-- this book makes me wonder. Even so, the author is humble in asking us to question HIS insights and discoveries every time he posits one as novel-- a true scholar.
A NOTE ABOUT COPING: Do NOT mistake the publisher's statements about "how to cope" with some self help promo or advice book. This is a very well written, but technical book about learning algorithms (usually relatively short "guiding" programs that tell other programs what to do), NOT coping in the usual sense of getting by strategies. Coping here refers more to how algorithms and organisms (yes, including us) can "navigate" environments too complex to understand, with shortcuts and guesstimates that work practically.
Author/Publisher: MORE! Expand for another 300 pages in your next edition! DO a version with the PDE's and pseudo code for those of us that don't mind trying to trudge through them.
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