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Computers and artificial intelligence
Inform. Stor. Retr.
Vol.8, p. 47. PergamonPress 1972. Printed in Great Britain
BOOK REVIEWS Computers and Artificial Intelligence. ROBERT P. MIDDLETON. Bobbs, Merrill, Company, Inc., New York, 1969. pp. 126 ($3.95 paperback). A LITTLE over halfway through this slim volume, near the beginning of the overt AI portion of the work, the author states: "The goal of artificial intelligence is to design electronic computers that can translate languages intelligently, discover new mathematical theorems, compose poetry, write music, produce artistic pictures and so on". Granting the necessity for criticizing this definition for undue reliance on "electronic" and its disregard for the role of computer programming, we accept it as perhaps as good a characterization of artificial intelligence as can be found for this book's presumed intended layman readership. Such readers probably would be less happy with an enumeration of the Association for Computing Machinery's categories for AI: induction and hypothesis-formation, learning and adaptive systems, pattern recognition, problem-solving, simulation of natural systems and theory of heuristic methods--though they should find they have some knowledge of what most of these terms mean after reading this book. The book recites few case studies in AI, the matter of prime concern being the extent to which machines are and can be endowed with "ideas", "goals", "creativity", "thought" and other capabilities we normally ascribe to humans and to a lesser extent to the higher animals. The author admits the great definitional problem associated with these terms and plaintively points out the experimental disadvantages: " . . . no one has ever observed a feeling or a thought with a microscope, or otherwise". Nevertheless, he plunges ahead with discussion of Information Theory and Cybernetics, Deductive and Inductive Logic, in order to delineate, in his view, what the machine must be able to do to meet the full challenge of intelligence. Earlier discussions of the inner workings of computers and the conceptually simple means whereby they solve problems are meant to impress us with the magnitude of the task. The book is not a scholarly treatise; it is a popularization of a complex subject written by a layman, a free-lance technical writer on electronic subjects. Judged in this context, and by standards of being informative and interesting, the book is successful. KEVIN D. REILLY Introduction to Information Science. Compiled and edited by TEFKO SARACEVIC,R. R. Bowker Company, New York, 1970. pp. 751, $25.00. TtJE TITLE of this book is somewhat misleading. Saracevic's book is not really an introductory text in any of the usual senses. It is, rather, an anthology of a large number of the important research papers in the field. By collecting and organizing these 65 papers in one volume, the author has given us convenient access to a significant portion of the literature of information science. Although he asserts that the subject matter is broader than information retrieval, most of the papers deal directly or indirectly with retrieval. As an anthology the book is quite comprehensive. Most of what would he by common agreement the classic papers in the field are there--work by Fairthorne, Kochen, Hillman, Borko, Maron etc. I find it difficult to think of very many important works that are omitted. Saracevic admits in the introduction that any selection would be, by necessity, a personal one. Fair enough. This then is his personal selection. If we were simply to consider the book as an anthology, it could stand as a contribution to the field in a particularly ironic way, providing ease of access to relevant material. But the book is an attempt at more than that. Saracevic's objective as set forth in the preface is to provide an organizational framework for the papers such that the book becomes an introductory text. To facilitate the structure there are introductory remarks to each of the major and minor sections. The major sections are "Basic Phenomena", "Information Systems", "Evaluation of Information Systems" and "A Unifying Theory". Within the major sections the papers are grouped into chapters, each with a heading and introduction. While these introductions, and the organization itself make a more attractive anthology, they do not provide the readable introductory text which the field so badly needs. The success or failure of the book in its effort to structure the field must, I fear, remain as much a matter of opinion as the selection of papers. The search for a single unifying structure, like the search for the definition of the field must await a much deeper understanding of the subject than now exists. The organization as a format for presenting the included papers succeeds well. The book is a comprehensive, well structured, attractive anthology which will find a great use among teachers and researchers in information science. VICTOR ROSENBERG 47
Vol.8, p. 47. PergamonPress 1972. Printed in Great Britain
BOOK REVIEWS Computers and Artificial Intelligence. ROBERT P. MIDDLETON. Bobbs, Merrill, Company, Inc., New York, 1969. pp. 126 ($3.95 paperback). A LITTLE over halfway through this slim volume, near the beginning of the overt AI portion of the work, the author states: "The goal of artificial intelligence is to design electronic computers that can translate languages intelligently, discover new mathematical theorems, compose poetry, write music, produce artistic pictures and so on". Granting the necessity for criticizing this definition for undue reliance on "electronic" and its disregard for the role of computer programming, we accept it as perhaps as good a characterization of artificial intelligence as can be found for this book's presumed intended layman readership. Such readers probably would be less happy with an enumeration of the Association for Computing Machinery's categories for AI: induction and hypothesis-formation, learning and adaptive systems, pattern recognition, problem-solving, simulation of natural systems and theory of heuristic methods--though they should find they have some knowledge of what most of these terms mean after reading this book. The book recites few case studies in AI, the matter of prime concern being the extent to which machines are and can be endowed with "ideas", "goals", "creativity", "thought" and other capabilities we normally ascribe to humans and to a lesser extent to the higher animals. The author admits the great definitional problem associated with these terms and plaintively points out the experimental disadvantages: " . . . no one has ever observed a feeling or a thought with a microscope, or otherwise". Nevertheless, he plunges ahead with discussion of Information Theory and Cybernetics, Deductive and Inductive Logic, in order to delineate, in his view, what the machine must be able to do to meet the full challenge of intelligence. Earlier discussions of the inner workings of computers and the conceptually simple means whereby they solve problems are meant to impress us with the magnitude of the task. The book is not a scholarly treatise; it is a popularization of a complex subject written by a layman, a free-lance technical writer on electronic subjects. Judged in this context, and by standards of being informative and interesting, the book is successful. KEVIN D. REILLY Introduction to Information Science. Compiled and edited by TEFKO SARACEVIC,R. R. Bowker Company, New York, 1970. pp. 751, $25.00. TtJE TITLE of this book is somewhat misleading. Saracevic's book is not really an introductory text in any of the usual senses. It is, rather, an anthology of a large number of the important research papers in the field. By collecting and organizing these 65 papers in one volume, the author has given us convenient access to a significant portion of the literature of information science. Although he asserts that the subject matter is broader than information retrieval, most of the papers deal directly or indirectly with retrieval. As an anthology the book is quite comprehensive. Most of what would he by common agreement the classic papers in the field are there--work by Fairthorne, Kochen, Hillman, Borko, Maron etc. I find it difficult to think of very many important works that are omitted. Saracevic admits in the introduction that any selection would be, by necessity, a personal one. Fair enough. This then is his personal selection. If we were simply to consider the book as an anthology, it could stand as a contribution to the field in a particularly ironic way, providing ease of access to relevant material. But the book is an attempt at more than that. Saracevic's objective as set forth in the preface is to provide an organizational framework for the papers such that the book becomes an introductory text. To facilitate the structure there are introductory remarks to each of the major and minor sections. The major sections are "Basic Phenomena", "Information Systems", "Evaluation of Information Systems" and "A Unifying Theory". Within the major sections the papers are grouped into chapters, each with a heading and introduction. While these introductions, and the organization itself make a more attractive anthology, they do not provide the readable introductory text which the field so badly needs. The success or failure of the book in its effort to structure the field must, I fear, remain as much a matter of opinion as the selection of papers. The search for a single unifying structure, like the search for the definition of the field must await a much deeper understanding of the subject than now exists. The organization as a format for presenting the included papers succeeds well. The book is a comprehensive, well structured, attractive anthology which will find a great use among teachers and researchers in information science. VICTOR ROSENBERG 47