[timj219]

Originally Posted by markem

I'm reading several things on the kindle but thought that some here might be interested in my latest e-book selection. It is by one of my colleagues here at Portland State, Melanie Mitchell (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanie_Mitchell, http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~mm/). If any of you have read Godell, Escher, Bach: The Eternal Golden Braid, know that her PhD advisor authored that book.

Complexity: a Guided Tour (http://www.amazon.com/Complexity-Gui.../dp/0199798109) is very well written (at least so far) and targeted at the non-technical audience. I've always been impressed with Melanie's clear communications style and am anxious to see it in action in a setting for the non-technical. And in this area, I am definitely the non-technical.

If you are interested in artificial life, machine learning, and such, this is likely a very good book. I'm just starting in so will have more to say in a week or so.

Looks good I'm going to pick that up for my nook. I wonder what it's like to spend that much time with Hofstadter? I don't know if I'd get smarter by osmosis or if I'd burn out what little brain I do have trying to keep up with him!
Your colleague and Hofstadter must think along the same lines I see she wrote a book called "Analogy-Making as Perception" in '93 and that's pretty close to the subject matter of Hofstatder's latest.