xi, [1], 291, [1] pages. Illustrated endpapers. Illustrations. Glossary.

xi, [1], 291, [1] pages. Illustrated endpapers. Illustrations. Glossary. References. Index. Ex-library with the usual library markings. DJ is in a plastic sleeve which is taped to the boards. Imagine living during the Renaissance and being able to interview that era's greatest scientists about their inspirations, discoveries, and personal interests. The latter half of our century has seen its own Renaissance--information technology has changed irrevocable the way we live, work, and think about the world. We are fortunate, therefore, that the authors of Out of Their Minds have been able to talk so candidly with the founders of computer science. The fifteen are divided into Linguists, Algorithmists, Architects, and Sculptors of Machine Intelligence. The individuals are John Backus, John McCarthy, Alan C. Kay, Edsger W. Dijkstra, Michael O Rabin, Donald E. Knuth, Robert E. Tarjan, Leslie Tamport, Steven Cook, Leonid Levin, Frederick P. Brooks, Jr., Burton J. Smith, W. Daniel Hillis, Edward A. Feigenbaum, and Douglas B. Lenat. "Out of Their Minds" profiles 15 of the planet's foremost computer scientists, including eight winners of the Turing Award, computing's Nobel Prize. Based on recent interviews, the scientists are revealed in fascinating anecdotes about their early inspirations and influences, contributions, and thoughts on the field's explosive future. "A fascinating collection of profiles and interviews with some of the men...who brought us (to the computing age)"--"The New York Times". Dennis Elliot Shasha is an American professor of computer science at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, a division of New York University. [1] He is also an associate director of NYU WIRELESS. [2] His current areas of research include work done with biologists on pattern discovery for microarrays, combinatorial design, network inference, and protein docking; work done with physicists, musicians, and professionals in finance on algorithms for time series; and work on database applications in untrusted environments. Other areas of interest include database tuning as well as tree and graph matching. Cathy Lazere is a freelance writer who specializes in international corporate finance and technology. She has worked as an editor at McGraw-Hill and Business International, a division of the Economist Group. Ms. Lazere holds a B.A. from Yale and an M.B.A. from New York University.