Book Description
In the middle of the last century, Norbert Wiener-ex-child prodigy and brilliant MIT mathematician -founded the science of cybernetics, igniting the information-age explosion of computers, automation, and global telecommunications. Wiener was the first to articulate the modern notion of "feedback," and his ideas informed the work of computer pioneer John von Neumann, information theorist Claude Shannon, and anthropologists Gregory Bateson and Margaret Mead. His best-selling book, Cybernetics, catapulted him into the public spotlight, as did his chilling visions of the future and his ardent social activism. So what happened? Why is his work virtually unknown today? And what, in fact, is Wiener's legacy? In this remarkable book, award-winning journalists Conway and Siegelman set out to rescue Wiener's genius from obscurity and to explore the many ways in which his groundbreaking ideas continue to shape our lives. Based on a wealth of primary sources (including some newly declassified WW II and Cold War-era documents) and exclusive interviews with Wiener's family and closest colleagues, the book reveals an extraordinarily complex figure, whose high-pressure childhood, manic depression, and troubled relationships had a profound effect on his scientific work. No one interested in the intersection of technology and culture will want to miss this epic story of one of the twentieth century's most brilliant and colorful figures.
Customer Reviews:
100,000% Shovelware.......2007-08-18
From a historical and economic and sociological perspective, this book is utter propaganda.
For example, from page 340, "To date, India's engineers and entrepreneurs have had the most success following the path Wiener chartered for their country's advancement, and while their numbers are still small compared to the whole of their population, they are reaping many of the benefits Weiner envisioned without the drawbacks of older models of industrialization."
WHAT A F--KING JOKE!!! I'm dying of laughter!
There is categorically no relationship between India's newfound economic success and Norbert Wiener. None. Na-da. Nothing. Zip-0!
And that was just a single sentence from this text. Just imagine what else lurks in 400 pages of writing from what are two absolute fools. Flo conway and Jim siegelman are the stupidest writers ever!
A tale of what might have been.......2007-06-02
My own introduction to Wiener was through the extraordinary insight and published works of Stafford Beer (acknowledged by Wiener as the inventor of Management Cybernetics). Beers insights into Industrial Engineering, Operations Research and Management Cybernetics, seem to have more and more relevance for managers, as the world we live in becomes more and more complex.
I am of the opinion that Cybernetics provides a Philosophical and Technical Framework that helps to explain why the widely practiced and innovative business-improvement approach of Lean - Six Sigma has been so successful.
This is what Beer had to say about Wieners seminal text on Cybernetics "Difficult, quixotic, immensely stimulating (then and now), Cybernetics split the scientific world (for those who read it) down the middle. Think of it like this: the great man (he really was) holds forth to his friends after dinner, ruins the tablecloth by scribbling mathematics all over it, sings a little song in German, and changes your life. It is tough going; you have to stay the night"
Beers review grabbed my attention and encouraged me to learn more about Wiener; and then a couple of years ago I was troubled by the following review from the prolific, oftentimes, acerbic polymath Cosmo Rohilla Shalizi A Professor Of Statistics at Carnegie Mellon University - . "A science which seems to have dissolved into the others. A lot of good science was done under this banner; it just doesn't seem to hold together ......As a study of abstract machines in general, it becomes identical with dynamics, or computation theory, or some amalgam of both; algebra, even. As a more limited science of "communication and control" it suffers from the fact that communication and control in animals is, when you get down to blood and guts, rather different from communication and control in machines, and neither resembles the mechanisms of C&C in society..... It may be that we haven't exhausted the potential of a science of communication and control, but I think at this point the burden of proof would be on the optimists. Dissolved? Not entirely. There's an old joke that if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate, and not everything associated with cybernetics has gone into solution. Caked on the bottom of the reaction vessel we find: A prefix which seems indispensible to marketroids; the occasion for a great deal of vaporizing in the social sciences and humanities; and a peculiarly navel-gazing sub-sect of systems theory, which isn't exactly God's gift to the advancement of learning in the first place."
Clearly Cosmo is no ones fool. Are, those of us who still think that the work of Wiener and Beer is relevant for today's problems, really part of a peculiar naval gazing sect?
As far as Management Cybernetics is concerned, irrespective of what old Cosmo thinks, Management Cybernetics really does provide all of us who deal with systems and organisations - I guess that's every one of us - with insightful and practical solutions for managing complexity. Beer like his mentor Wiener has been a neglected and oftentimes maligned prophet - just look at his poor reviews on this site. Management Cybernetics is, however, very much alive and well. One of the fastest growing consultancies in Europe, and a much respected competitor to my own practice - The Malik Group in Switzerland - have built their business model on cybernetic principles and are providing truly innovative solutions for their blue chip clients. Interestingly they have people with the title cybernetician on the pay role - Norbert still rules as far as they are concerned!
As for Cybernetics contribution to main stream science - Cosmo is, sadly, correct. In mainstream academia Cybernetics has been largely subsumed by other disciplines. But, until I read this book it puzzled me why. Why, given the impressive start and promising march towards becoming a truly systemic and integrative scientific discipline, was Cybernetics stopped dead in its tracks?
Conway and Siegleman's provide us with the answer to this question, and, by the way, it has absolutely nothing to do with science or logic!
Hopefully their tale will leave you, as it did me, with a profound sense of what might have been, had cybernetics progressed in line with the Philosophy and Vision of the Original Knights of Circular Causality.
This is a brilliant biography.
Dark Hero of the Information Age recounts his life and discoveries - and the consequences of his discoveries........2006-11-06
Dark Hero of the Information Age: In Search of Nortbert Wiener the Father of Cybernetics tells of an ex-child prodigy and MIT mathematician who founded cybernetics - and then spent the rest of his life warning the world of the consequences of the new technologies he helped foster. Surprisingly, his works and his warnings are relatively unknown today - despite the fact many of his concerns and predictions came true. Dark Hero of the Information Age recounts his life and discoveries - and the consequences of his discoveries.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
superbly researched and quite interesting.......2006-08-10
Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman have put an immense effort into writing an exhaustive review of Norbert Wiener, one of the great geniuses of the last century. Wiener spoke an ungodly number of languages, got his PhD from Harvard at the age of 19, made immense contributions to mathematics, biology, computer sciences, medicine, political thought - even in McCarthy's heyday he had no qualms about speaking his mind -, etc, etc.
As generally is the case with biographies of Wunderkinder, the authors ultimately are not equal to their subjects, not for lack of effort, but for lack of having the intellect necessary to understand and do justice to an über-prodigy. And so it is with this book; rather than to analyze and judge Wiener's various accomplishments and beliefs, which range from phenomenal scientific accomplishments to believing that he had been reincarnated, the authors prefer to "tell it as it was" and let the reader draw his or her conclusions.
Despite these inevitable limitations, this book is well worth reading, albeit thoughtfully.
I was there as Prof. Weiner's Student.......2005-10-11
When I first saw the title "Dark Hero of ...." I had to chuckle with the image it engendered of Norbert, dressed in a floppy Batman constume, goutee, thick glassed over his mask which of course hid his identy waddling down the corridors of Building 2, fighting crime in Tauberian Theorems.
The authors wrote a magnificent opus on a great man who, in today's environment, would have been classified as a victim of child abuse. Their facts and presentation carried me back to that era. But, I am uncomfortable with the intensionality that the term 'Dark' might leave in the reader so grant me the right to give an added facet.
As a senior at MIT during the 1959-1960 semesters I had the honor working with Weiner. Up front, my review arises from an unabashed gratitude and affection for a man whose influence and help were instrumental for all the good things that later transpired in my life over the last 45 years.
One day in the fall of 1959 I was walking near Weiner's office after having come out of Dirk Struik's office from a discussion of an item in the Advanced Tensor Analysis course I was taking from him. Just as I was passing by his office the classical Norbert Weiner yelled out " young man, can you come in and finish the calculations on the board". Honestly, I was totally naive and did not know anything about him except having seen him in the corridors.
"Sure" I said. As I entered the office he walked out. There on the dusty chalk board were a facsimile of a spread sheet, with rows of numbers scribbled across the board. I could not admit that I had no idea what the numbers represented, let alone what I was to do. Ego is a wonderful goad for creative problem solving. Seeing a number that looked like the sine of 30 degrees I quickly deciphered that the alternating lines were discrete values of the sine function, the parallel lines were filled with some varying numbers from a seemingly smooth function, and the next line looked like some multiplication/ addition of both. Norman Levinson's course in Complex Anaylsis came to the rescue. Weiner was performing a discrete fast Fourier Transform. Ten minutes later Weiner came in and saw that I had almost completed the spread sheet.
Looking over his glasses he asked "What are you doing here?". "Helping you, Professor" I responded, startled. "Can you come back tomorrow for some more work?" "Sure"
It turned out that he was perfroming a spectral analysis on a section of EEG readings Dr. John Barlow had given Weiner.
I eventually had to hand read the red graph and number the amplitudes. The picture appears in CYBERNTETICS 2nd edition.
One Saturday he directed me to "sit down and write". After a few lines I had the timerity to inquire what the heck was I doing.
His answer: "I'm dictating the upgrade to my book CYBRENETICS". My mistake was to inform him that I could touch type. Zap! Three hours later I threw in the towel. From then on, after math classes I would be sitting typing and learning more ideas and mathematical insight than any of the past 3.5 years. Note, no word processor, no electric type writer. The old fashioned finger toughening for Karate thrust kind.
My many mistaken sheets were then handed over to Weiner's secretary who produced a finished draft.
When the galleys came out I, among many others, reviewed and corrected them.
Weiner informed me that he considered "his students as colleagues" and he gave me the honor and respect that it entailed.
I noticed over the years that the truly great and self assured, including Doc Edgerton in Electric Engineering, treated with respect f those 'under' them. The not so great and their undeserved pomposity are legion in all walks of life.
A few vignettes of his Puckish sense of humor which were seen quite often are in order.
One Saturday, Weiner, who had to check his urine for sugar, came into the office to check it. "Good, all is well", he smiled, "Here, take it and dispose of it".
My response was as brash as anything I had ever done "Prof. Weiner, I have the deepest respect for you. I have had my rump fall asleep while tying your manuscript for hours. But, you take your G.. D....d sample yourelf"
Weiner burst out in laughter "Well, I tried." and waddled off. I just keeled over with laughter.
Weiner was subject to many folks who came to 'worship at his feet' and try to have him help on hair brained schemes.
Once such soul came in one day and proceded to blather. Norbert rose, took him by the elbow with a "I know someone who will really be able to help you", and dumped into Struick's office. From across the hall we heard Struik's Dutch yelling, while chasing the man out. Then, flushed faced, Dirk leaned into the office and hissed "Norbert, stop dumping your garbage into my office!" , and popped out. Norbert broke into a loud chuckle, looke at me, and just smiled.
A few years later Mrs. Weiner called and told me that Norbert was in Mass.General as he had fallen down and done serious damge to himself. I overcame my deep antipathy to hospitals and took my self over.
She informed me that the Professor was in a bad way and Prof. Lee had just left, totally depressed at seeing his mentors state. She told me not to stay too long but to see if I could get him to respond.
Entering his room, I heard Norbert moaning, leaning away from the door. How the wonderful inspiration came to me I have never figured out.
As I walked to his bed , in my most stentorian voice, I said "What 14 carat plated phoney!" He moaned, tried to turn, and went back to moaning.
"There is nothing wrong with you. I know you well enough to know that you faking it, just to avoid being drafted".
Much as he tried not to, he let out a loud laugh. I continued "I bet you are pestering all the doctors like Barlow, that Fourier Anaylysis and Tauberian Theorems can solve all medical problems. They have to listen to you!"
At that he slowly sat up, reached for his glasses and then went into a long story of how indeed he had such ideas, etc.
Mrs. Weiner was clearly taken aback at my brashness and when Norbert sat up she did not know what to do. While happily pontificating Norbert said "Margaret, light up a cigar for me". She lit up one his 'stinkies', handed it to him, and Norber was on his way. Soon after Frau Professor chased me out but I was elated beyond words.
That was the last time I ever saw Weiner but this wonderful book captured so many facets of this rare, great human,
My gratitude. I was there
John C. Kotelly MIT '60
Book Description
This digital document is an article from ETC.: A Review of General Semantics, published by Institute of General Semantics on January 1, 2006. The length of the article is 433 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Dark Hero of the Information Age: In Search of Norbert Wiener the Father of Cybernetics.(Book Review)
Author: Terence M. Ripmaster
Publication:
ETC.: A Review of General Semantics (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2006
Publisher: Institute of General Semantics
Volume: 63
Issue: 1
Page: 120(2)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Average customer rating:
- If you are a golf fan, then a decent read
- Better title: Learning to Choke by the Biggest Choker Ever!
- Fantastic ! Insightful and very readable
- Terrible!
- A good book
|
Stalking the Shark: Pressure & Passion on the Pro Golf Tour
Carl Vigeland
Manufacturer: Contemporary Books
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0809230321 |
Customer Reviews:
If you are a golf fan, then a decent read.......2002-07-24
Decent read although it became boring at times and the author tends to jump around alot. If you are a golf fan or an avid golfer you will find the book interesting. Poorly edited with some blatant errors such as describing a typical par 72 course as consisting of "four par threes, four par fives, and twelve par fours". With that the author seemed to lose some credibility and made me wonder how he gathered the tidbits of information and dialogue supplied throughout the book.
Better title: Learning to Choke by the Biggest Choker Ever!.......2002-07-17
Ever wonder who is the biggest choker in the history of sport? Then you have found your answer with Greg Norman. Years of rumors about Norman's off the course problems are not even touched in this book. Instead it is PR. Don't bother with this book. Buy something about Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer or other great golfers who did not throw their talent away by indulging off the course activity.
Fantastic ! Insightful and very readable.......1999-05-14
Carl Vigeland has done a great job showing the reader what makes the Shark so dangerous on the course and so interesting off the course. Well written and very enjoyable reading
Terrible!.......1998-03-29
Terrible! Time would have been much better spent re-reading "A Good Walk Spoiled".
A good book.......1998-01-09
This look at Greg Norman tells those who think he chokes in the big ones something they have not perhaps thought of. The reason Greg Norman has lost so many tournaments in the final round or final hole is because he is in contention on more of them than anyone else. A good look at the fiercest competitor in golf since Arnold Palmer.
Book Description
Vision and the gaze are key issues in the analysis of racism, sexism and ethnocentrism. In recent radical theory, generally, and French theory in particular, vision has been seen as a means of control. But this view is often unnuanced. It bypasses questions such as: Why is it that contemporary theories have been so critical of vision, and generous towards listening (in psychoanalysis) and language (in philosophy)? This collection of original essays brings together historical studies and contemporary theoretical perspectives on vision. The historical papers focus in turn on Ancient Greece, medieval theology, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and the nineteenth century. These historical studies are themselves thoroughly informed by poststructuralist theory. They provide a rigorous background for several new, exciting articles on vision and its bearings for feminism, race, sexual orientation, film and art. This collection is the first of its kind in juxtaposing historical and contemporary
Book Description
Detective, monk, father, herbalist, Crusader, sailor, Celt, friend—author Ellis Peters bestows all these attributes on her twelfth-century Benedictine monk-detective Brother Cadfael. As a detective, Cadfael uses his analytic mind to solve crimes and administer justice. As a man of God, he also dispenses mercy along with his famous cordials.
Why, essays ask, is a cloistered monk solving murders? How can an author combine a valid detective and an effective healer?
Customer Reviews:
Cadfael--Beyond the books........2007-03-08
This is a delightful source of information (historical and social) for the region and time of the Cadfael books. The chapters are authored by a variety of experts in the field and vary from entertaining and informative to "Oh my God, am I going to be tested on this?". All in all I highly recommend it to Cadfael fans.
Book Description
The Boston Team Party!!
For many years, the team of
Henry Hook,
Emily Cox, and
Henry Rathvon have been entertaining Boston-area puzzle fans with their Sunday Globe crosswords. Now, puzzlers across America can try their hand at some of the cleverest crossword creations anywhere—contemporary, witty puzzles of New York Times caliber.
Difficulty: Medium
Style: Contemporary
Customer Reviews:
A Welcome Change from the New York Times Sunday Crosswords.......2007-01-15
I have been doing the New York Times crossword puzzles for years and welcomed the changes made when Will Shortz took them over. But I have found in recent times that I can more or less think along the same lines as the NYT's puzzle constructors and what should be tough puzzles have become easier for me to do. (The learning curve was steep, but I finally got there!)
With both the Boston Globe and Washington Post puzzles I'm finding that there is just enough difference brought to them by the unique approaches of their constructors that it makes the puzzle-solving new and exciting again. And for this reason I can heartily recommend this and a couple of the previous volumes of the Globe's sunday puzzles. Worth every penny.
Scott Morrison
Average customer rating:
- A must-have if you are serious about multimedia, even if you are not a heavy Linux user.
- VERY VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!
- Into multimedia? Into Linux? This is the book you need.
- Both newcomers and advanced users of Linux learn how to edit images, audio and video, manage music, burn DVDs and VCDs, and more
- Superb collection of easy-to-use media tricks
|
Linux Multimedia Hacks: Tips & Tools for Taming Images, Audio, and Video (Hacks)
Kyle Rankin
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
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Book Description
The fact that Linux has more multimedia application choices than Mac OS X and Windows combined may come as a surprise to many, but not to those who know Linux well. In Linux Multimedia Hacks, author Kyle Rankin showcases the best available multimedia tools so you can maximize the entertainment capabilities of your favorite OS. Included are tips and tricks for connecting to iPods, creating MP3s and Oggs, watching and making DVDs, turning your Linux box into a Tivo ala MythTV, and much more.
You don't have to be a Linux server guru to make use of this book. Linux Multimedia Hacks takes the best of Linux's multimedia tools and with step-by-step instructions shows even novice users how to do cool and useful things with images, audio, and video. It includes entry level hacks that nearly all Linux users will want, such as installing codecs for audio and video playback and managing thousands of photographs. Later, you'll find hacks that cover a variety of advanced projects, from ripping and organizing media files with metatags, to editing video and audio tracks, to creating your own DVDs. Basic or advanced, each hack stands on its own, so you can feel free to jump around to only the sections that interest you.
The book is divided into five easy-to-understand chapters:
- Images: tips range from basic image edits to automated image manipulation
- Audio: hacks include audio format conversion and tweaking metadata within audio files
- Video: learn how to covert between video formats, plus how to create your own VCDs and DVDs
- Broadcast Media: tips include how to access and create you own web broadcasts as well as watch and record TV
- Web: learn how to make your multimedia creations available to the world
As one of the most powerful multimedia platforms around, Linux has far more capabilities and features than meets the eye. This latest Hacks book gives you the technical chops to enjoy them all.
Customer Reviews:
A must-have if you are serious about multimedia, even if you are not a heavy Linux user........2007-03-31
I got this book at a local Linux talk given by the author about a week ago. This book really opens my eyes to see how much resource there is for multimedia on the Linux platform. It's a must-have if you are serious about multimedia, even if you are not a heavy Linux user. As you see, a software dies on Windows PC when the software company (or Microsoft) stops supporting it (or the software company goes under), because you only have the binary code. But the Linux software lives on because you can always pick up the source code from the open source (that is if it's an open source project, of course. Fortunately, most of the Linux software are). Bottom line: this book does what it says ! I am very happy with it !
VERY VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!.......2006-09-16
Do you want to master the entertainment possibilities of Linux? If you do, then this book is for you! Author Kyle Rankin, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that takes the best of Linux's multimedia tools and shows you step by step how to use these tools to do cool things you would not have thought possible with images, audio, and video.
Rankin, begins by defining hacks that are specifically for images. Then, the author describes hacks for all things video. Next, the author shows you how to get the most out of video tools under Linux, which are some of the best in the industry. The author then gives you tips for accessing and creating your own web broadcasts. Finally, he shows you hacks to help you tweak your web browser under Linux so it can get the most out of the multimedia Web.
For the most part, this most excellent book allows you to look for hacks based on the multimedia type. More importantly, with this book, you'll be able to move quickly beyond anything you previously thought was possible, without spending a small fortune on commercial software.
Into multimedia? Into Linux? This is the book you need........2006-09-06
Most versions of Linux have minimal multimedia abilities without the installation of additional software. Of course there is a lot of Linux software out there that can be used to change your Linux installation into a powerful multimedia computer with amazing capabilities. And, since it is Linux, it can be done at minimal or no cost for the software. Author Kyle Rankin details how to install and configure these products in this book. To keep the information organized he breaks it up into chapters on Images, Audio, Video, Broadcast Media, and Web. Working through the hacks you soon discover everything from how to rip a CD, convert file types, and edit a sound file to how to build a MythTV system where you can record television, watch videos, listen to music, and play arcade games from one system. There's even a tip for automatically removing commercials from digitally recorded television shows. When you are trying to figure out how to get your Linux system to do something special in the area of multimedia this is the first book you will want to turn to for answers. Linux Multimedia Hacks is highly recommended.
Both newcomers and advanced users of Linux learn how to edit images, audio and video, manage music, burn DVDs and VCDs, and more.......2006-05-02
Kyle Rankin's Linux Multimedia Hacks: Tips & Tools For Taming Images, Audio, And Video covers a program which typically disappoints multimedia fans with what seems like shortcomings in playing DVDs or MP3 files. Overcome these seeming detriments with a book which tells how to tweak and build Linux multimedia entertainment systems. Both newcomers and advanced users of Linux learn how to edit images, audio and video, manage music, burn DVDs and VCDs, and much more. Linux Multimedia Hacks isn't just one developer's knowledge base: it reflects contributions from many Linux experts - even the software creators themselves.
Superb collection of easy-to-use media tricks.......2005-12-12
I've spent the last few days going over this book and experimenting with the different hacks on my Fedora Core 4 workstation. I use Fedora Core 4 almost 100% of the time at home, and I've felt the need to manipulate and use multimedia objects for a long time now, but didn't have the practical knowledge at my fingertips to do so. For example, how do I take a screenshot? This book answers this and other questions.
Now I understand how to use ImageMagick, take screenshots, and work with mplayer. I've implemented some hacks with gratifying results and experimented with bits and pieces of other hacks. For example I installed mplayer and the software bits needed to import video from a camcorder with a Firewire (1394) port. Mplayer is now running smoothly, and I'm waiting for a convenient camcorder to come my way so I can plug it into my 1394 port and let it rip. These hacks really seem to work, and they are quickly implemented. The authors of the various hacks give brief explanations that help build multimedia skills. Each hack is written with great clarity.
This book will gently introduce you to the power of scripting in Linux. Simple 1- or 2-line scripts pepper the book, and by using them you can quickly get the effects you want without having to spend long periods of time learning how to do the same thing on a GUI interface. Now, I can dump all 300+ photos from my 1 Gb flash card into a new folder and then use a script to resize them to a size small enough for a web page and for sharing with other folks. Try doing that to hundreds of photos on a GUI interface! With the suggested scripts, you can let the computer do the work, not you, and you can congratulate yourself on your smarts. Each script is carefully explained in plain language. I especially like Rankin's discussion of how to set up a digital camera and download all the photos from it automagically.
Today the Linux desktop is every more GUI-friendly. It is very easy to use; some of my friends have used it without realizing they were on Linux. I can see thumbnails of all my imported photos on Gnome -- it just works. I can expand the thumbnails into new windows with the actual photo. I can plug a compact flash card into my card reader and Gnome will recognize that, too, and offer to download the photos in the card. I can and often do edit photos with the Gimp and email them to my relatives. This books discusses all these things except possibly the emailing bit.
I began to realize that my hard drive is way too small for all the media I hope to work with. I recently ordered a 400 Gb drive to solve this problem.
This book shows you how to work with your media at no cost to you. It rolls up a lot of useful knowledge right at your fingertips. I can't think of another source of well-thought out media hacks either on the internet or in the documentation that comes with your Linux distribution. Every person wanting to work with media on Linux ought to have this book. Rankin and the other hack contributors have done a superb job.
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