-Byte, September 1995 I can't begin to tell you how many pleasurable hours of study and recreation they have afforded me! I have pored over them in cars, restaurants, at work, at home... and even at a Little League game when my son wasn't in the line-up. -Charles Long If you think you're a really good programmer... read [Knuth's] Art of Computer Programming... You should definitely send me a resume if you can read the whole thing. -Bill Gates It's always a pleasure when a problem is hard enough that you have to get the Knuths off the shelf. I find that merely opening one has a very useful terrorizing effect on computers. -Jonathan Laventhol The second volume offers a complete introduction to the field of seminumerical algorithms, with separate chapters on random numbers and arithmetic. The book summarizes the major paradigms and basic theory of such algorithms, thereby providing a comprehensive interface between computer programming and numerical analysis. Particularly noteworthy in this third edition is Knuth's new treatment of random number generators, and his discussion of calculations with formal power series. Ebook (PDF version) produced by Mathematical Sciences Publishers (MSP), http: //msp.org

    The Third Edition features material on descriptive statistics. Cramer-Rao bounds for variance of estimators, two-sample inference procedures, bivariate normal probability law, F-Distribution, and the analysis of variance and non-parametric procedures. Contains numerous practical examples and exercises.

    It marked a historical turn in artificial intelligence, and it is required reading for anyone who wants to understand the connectionist counterrevolution that is going on today.Artificial-intelligence research, which for a time concentrated on the programming of ton Neumann computers, is swinging back to the idea that intelligence might emerge from the activity of networks of neuronlike entities. Minsky and Papert's book was the first example of a mathematical analysis carried far enough to show the exact limitations of a class of computing machines that could seriously be considered as models of the brain. Now the new developments in mathematical tools, the recent interest of physicists in the theory of disordered matter, the new insights into and psychological models of how the brain works, and the evolution of fast computers that can simulate networks of automata have given Perceptrons new importance.Witnessing the swing of the intellectual pendulum, Minsky and Papert have added a new chapter in which they discuss the current state of parallel computers, review developments since the appearance of the 1972 edition, and identify new research directions related to connectionism. They note a central theoretical challenge facing connectionism: the challenge to reach a deeper understanding of how "objects" or "agents" with individuality can emerge in a network. Progress in this area would link connectionism with what the authors have called "society theories of mind."

    When reading what I had written, I was not always too satisfied.