Computers, Information Technology, and Robotics

[Kirsten Sanford]

The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives - Leonard Mlodinow

The Age of Spiritual Machines - Ray Kurzweil

"Freakonomics" by Steven D. Levitt & Stehen J. Dubner is a remarkable book that applies the science of economic analysis to everything from analyzing the crime statistics in the USA to catching cheating teachers in the Chicago school system. It provides several examples of the application of correlation methods to areas that might not seem obviously fertile grounds for analysis.

The Singularity is Near - Ray Kurzweil

[PaulaT]

I heard this one is good: Numerati by Stephen Baker

[Dale]

One of the guys who does the floors at work gave me some books he ordered out of the back of Scientific American magazine. He said he tried to read them and didn't understand a single thing. One of them was The Drunkard's Walk. I'm so happy! I love free stuff! So I'd suggest the Drunkard's walk as one of our next reads because I got it for free and it actually does look interesting.

[PaulaT]

Free books, it's like Christmas all over again!

Paula T.

[PaulaT]

Another one I read a review on recently is "Super Crunchers" by Ian Ayres.

Paula T.

[PaulaT]

I vote for Drunkard's Walk.

Paula T.

[mamapadawan]

I've read Freakonomics - excellent book. I've heard great things about The Drunkard's Walk, so I'll have to vote for that one.

[Kirsten Sanford]

I have both Numerati and the Drunkard's Walk, so if we are choosing on the basis of what books came to us free of charge, it will be a hard decision for me. The reality is that I've wanted to read Kurzweil's books for a while. Argh! Such choices...

I vote for The Numerati... The Drunkard's Walk (It has lots of references in back... that's good, right?)

[Richard Baker]

How about Charles Petzold's Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software? It's about ten years old but I've heard lots of people say that it's very good.

[Thomas]

I'll just pick something randomly... The Drunkard's Walk.

[PaulaT]

For the next book, I will also vote for one of Kurzweil's books, either one is fine with me.

Paula T.

[LabRat]

I vote for Drunkard's walk as well.

[Bill Burris]

The Age of Spiritual Machines - Ray Kurzweil
The Singularity is Near - Ray Kurzweil
Beyond Human - Gregory Benford & Elisabeth Malartre