Thinking Machines: The Quest for Artificial Intelligence--and Where It's Taking Us Next by Luke Dormehl

Thinking Machines: The Quest for Artificial Intelligence--and Where It's Taking Us Next Reviews

• 
  Christine

  I should note that I am not computer tech person. I usually say at least twice a week, why can't my computer do what I want it to do as opposed to what I accidently told it to do.
  
  I enjoyed this book. It was the non-fiction selection in My Book Box for March. Dormehl writes about computers for the layman, and the concepts are easily grasped. He raises questions and even gives some answers. At times, the book is non-linear but it is never confusing.
• 
  Gary Beauregard Bottomley

  There's nothing in this book for which I could recommend it. There's a little history of AI and multiple news stories from the recent press all probably familiar to most listeners. The world is changing and networks and AI are happening, but at the most the author only gives surface explanations for what's really going on. There is a story to be told for what's happening, but the author only seems to get the current events in themselves but can't tie them together and is out of his depth when it comes to connecting the dots.
  
  There is a revolution going on right now. The author talks a little bit about Google and its language translation program. He does talk about how the 'machine learning' algorithms made the translator problem solvable and more robust then the previous expert system approach, but he can't take the listener beyond platitudes when he talks about that or other current happenings in the field.
  
  He thinks future teaching should consider that students don't need to remember facts as much since they can always look dates and such up off of the internet. But, I would say that if the student doesn't understand the context that comes from the connections that knowing the facts bring, then they will not understand the meaning of what is really going on. Ironically, that belief contributes to why the author could not connect the dots and wrote such a substandard book that really should be ignored by people who love this topic as much as I do.
• 
  Angela

  This was awful. Shallow, surface-level popular science writing of the worst sort, narrated by a boring British gentleman whose hemming and hawing and excessive pausing I had to set on 1.5x just to get through. I had already read or heard about nearly everything hastily discussed, and I barely skim the news on artificial intelligence and robotics. Not to mention this was an extended paean to all the great things AI will give us, with a teensy-tiny chapter about the possible ill effects tacked on at the end. BARF. I WAS TRICKED AGAIN!
• 
  Amelie

  This book involves a wide overview of the fast growing field of AI and served as an excellent read for anyone who is technology literate but no computer scientist.
  
  It begins with the history of symbolic AI and the old guard of scientists that pioneered the field like Marvin Minsky and introduces classic AI thought experiments and the Turing Test.
  
  The majority of the book thankfully delves straight into the more cutting edge technologies using neutral network systems and provides insight into the science fiction-esque feats AI has been able to perform within the past decade.
  
  There are also interesting quips about the philosophical implications of sentient AI and other fun goodies.
  
  There is, however, quit a bit of name dropping and it might be difficult to keep track of all the companies and project heads mentioned.
• 
  Diana C. Nearhos

  The subject matter of this book is really interesting. Multiple times, I remarked out loud or read something to my boyfriend.
  
  The writing, however, left something to be desired. I don't like when a writer brings himself into the piece. If it's not about you, I don't want your first person. It was more than that, though, the way he referred back to other chapters felt jumpy. He over explained somethings and chose unrelatable examples at the extremes in others.
• 
  Ron

  This book is a great discussion around the history of AI - where it started, where we're at today, and where it might go. My disappointment comes from the fact that I had thought I was getting a book that was more about the technical aspects of AI as it is today.
• 
  Sotiris Makrygiannis

  A very good overview from 40s to now on the AI and efforts related to that. Written in an easy to understand but does not take into account concerns related to the "omnipresent" nature of AI. I will gladly recommend this book to any one that wants to understand the history of AI, in layman terms.
• 
  George Mount

  More like 3.75 stars, but I rounded up to counter some of the unjustly rough reviews on here. It started strong, particularly by describing the history of the different schools of thought in AI and the surprising rise to dominance of the neural network school.
  
  The middle of the book wasn't that great; the usual case studies and thought experiments that anyone who's done any study of AI will know by now. In particular, the chapter on AI and creativity seemed contrived. If I wanted to read about what creativity is, I'd read a book on creativity.
  
  Last few chapters got a little better when getting into AI ethics, but just a passing glance was given to _privacy_, which is pretty important to AI ethics.
  
  All in all, a strong intro to the field and a book I enjoyed reading, but there is some fat to trim in the middle chapters.
• 
  Peter Tillman

  This is a pretty good, short, up-to-date summary of the current state of the art, and future prospects for, artificial intelligence (AI). It's well-written, but I kept losing interest, and it sat on the bedside table until it came due and I made a push to finish it, skimming some.
  
  I took some notes, which aren't very valuable. I learned some trivia: 4.4 trillion gigabytes of stuff online, as of 2016! The Google Brain project is training its AI by having it watch cat videos!! Is this truly the highest and best use of a combo of "massive 16,000 computer processors" with "more than 1 billion connections"? I mean, I like cat videos, but...
  
  I was pretty knowledgeable on this topic before, and can't say I know a lot more now. Plus, I owe a fine for my overdue book....
• 
  Gary

  Well, this isn't quite what I was looking for. If you want a light, breezy overview of the history and issues involved in AI then this is a probably a good place to start, but if you're at all familiar with the subject, by which I mean, you've read at least a single other survey of computer development and AI research, then there's not a whole heck of a lot to be added in this volume. The writing style is very much like what one might find on wired.com or one of the breezier tech-oriented sites. It's quite approachable and easy for the casual reader. Somehow that style rather lacks... gravitas given the significance of the subject matter, but it might be a merit for many readers. Personally, I found it a bit tiresome. All things considered, however, I wouldn't recommend this one to anyone who wasn't a neophyte, but in the hands of a neophyte it would probably do a lot of good.
• 
  Joséphine (Word Revel)

  Actual rating: 4.5 stars
  
  Initial thoughts: Even though the potential of artificial intelligence and its underlying principles usually fascinate me in science fiction, I've shied away from reading technical books about it. See, my grasp of science is considerably basic. For someone like me, Thinking Machines was very accessible. The concepts were broken down such that a laymen could understand them.
  
  I gained a broader overview of the origins and state of AI today in a manner that also challenged and engaged my mind. Naturally, the philosophical musings over whether AI truly is intelligent and what constitutes intelligence to begin with, especially captured my attention.
• 
  Calin

  As someone who has very little understanding of the whole AI/Neural Networks topic I expected that I will clarify a lot of my questions by reading this book; that was not the case.
  
  While the book covers numerous aspects of the AI topic, I can't stop feeling that it could have been summarised in a long blog post; especially the parts in which most of the information presented is just reference & mentions of others sources and studies.
  
  On the positive side, I feel it covers quite well the part about "AI taking over people's job".
  
  
• 
  Daniel Chen

  An engaging broad overview of the recent boom of studies in artificial intelligence that veers a little too sharply towards wild conjecture towards the end, though I suppose that is the point of A.I. research. I would have appreciated a more focused and streamlined look at ways A.I. has evolved in terms of both academic research and business-driven research, whereas Dormehl preferred to focus on the latter. Contrast and structure are always important. It was overall an enjoyable and thought-provoking read.
• 
  Gabriel Thurau

  This book was OK. It did its job, provided an overview, and ultimately the writing was polished enough to pass as status quo journalism. This may sound like a backhanded compliment, but writing is difficult, so producing a status quo overview on AI is a commendable accomplishment.
  
  I learned a few things - but as other readers have expressed, I expected a deeper dive into neural networks. To me, the most interesting parts of AI didn't get the camera time they deserved, and the book suffered because of its surface level gloss.
  
  Even as a non-expert though, I feel like I could have written the book. Which is pretty cool to think there's enough information out there to compile a reasonable overview of a difficult subject. But would I write "that book" just because I could or had a considerable interest? Probably not unless I had something much more interesting and original to say than simple reportage of the evolution of AI.
  
  If this book was an AI system, it would be good old fashioned AI. Nothing new was introduced into the mix. But the author still has writing chops. And despite reading a few disagreements with his autobiographical interjections, I liked when he related AI to his personal life.
• 
  Deb

  it was very slow buildinf at first, to go over all the history behind the building of AI as we know (or not know) of today. it reminded me a lot about my grduate work in neuroscience and some of the lectures that i had discussing about connectome and where neuroscience as a whole was growing in parelle to what AI and what we know how we know things are being researched. i am happy to say that I am not only part of what makes AI (or I guess, AGI) is going to soon become but also will be able to see what would come of AI and all the ethical questions that are mentioned in this book to come alive right before my eyes. very interesting read.
• 
  Shenard Robinson

  Challenge yourself to pick-up a copy of this book and read up on why Artifical Intelligence (AI) is more than a computer generated program. Can you live in a world that is self-sustaining? The answer is that we already do, now imagine living in a world that is artifically sustained. Will the parallels intersect much like space travel from one universe to another, and with the discovery of another universe the plausibility of travel between "worlds" is no longer philosophical, theoritical, or cost-prohibitive. Definitely worth a close study for context and concept, however, as a general read this books serves as the perfect front porch conversation in an AGI derived reality.
• 
  Michael Tapp

  I feel like this book is aimed at people who don’t know much about the current state of AI and want to get a general surface level grasp on it. I fall into that camp and I learned a lot from this book. I am 34 and writing this review in 2017 and my takeaway is that the world is going to drastically change within my lifetime. "47% of jobs in the US are susceptible to automation within the next 20 years” <- I am still processing that one. No one knows what the future holds but Thinking Machines clues you in to what’s happening now and what could be around the corner.
• 
  Gabrielle

  A really easy read (and I mean that as a positive) for anyone looking to dip their toes into the world of Artificial Intelligence. A light book that skims across a wide range of AI topics and some of the most important figures and movements in its history. While this likely won't satisfy those well-read on the subject, I'd highly recommend this to someone curious about AI and looking for a solid starting point. There's a snappiness and modernity to the writing that I think would appeal to a lot of younger readers!
• 
  Ross

  This is a nice little overview of the history of the development of machine intelligence for a general audience. The author touches briefly on the issue of whether machines will finally be developed that are more intelligent than human beings. He gives arguments on both sides of the question.
  He doesn't mention the famous statement "It will be a very long time before computers are smarter than human beings. It may take a 100 years." In other words, just a second or two in real historical time.
• 
  Doug

  Stopped after about the first third of the book. The beginning was a decent review of the history of AI and the personalities involved. As a software engineer who has lived through much of that history, I found it reminiscent. Then the author transitioned into futurist promises of utopia where AI-driven machines make ours lives carefree and every move we make is monitored. From my perspective, such a society is a dystopia. My genre of choice is non-fiction and all the fore-telling in the book resulted in it feeling like fiction.
• 
  Tyler

  It's more of an explanation of the history and world of AI than exploration of ideas. It's about the 3rd book I've read on AI and it is almost exactly the same. They all talk about IBM's Watson, which I've read up on and it's kind of a joke. Fairly disappointing but adding a star for giving a good history on AI.
• 
  Shar

  This is a good overview of the history of AI in layman's terms. I found it a fascinating look at where AI came from and where it's headed. Bonus is finding out that IBM's Watson not only authored a cook book but also has an app to help you make something great out of whatever you have lying around your kitchen.
• 
  Jon

  Past, present, and future of AI. It's on the science side, but not too heavy. When I was reading, I was interested. When I put it down I didn't have a strong urge to pick it up. I don't know why. It seemed well put together.