- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Princeton University Press; 1 edition (Jan 26 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0691118183
- ISBN-13: 978-0691118185
- Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 16 x 2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 454 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #400,166 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
From Library Journal
In 1997, a computer developed by a team of researchers at IBM shocked the world by defeating world chess champion Gary Kasparov in a six-game match. Hsu began developing Deep Blue, the first computer to achieve such a feat, as a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University. Here he focuses on the events in his career that led to his involvement with the project. He tells the story of how the basic technical ideas took shape in the computer science department and describes the further evolution and culmination of the project at IBM. Not merely a rehashing of the engineering that was poured into creating the "mother of all chess machines," Hsu's account goes beyond the typical man vs. machine angle and attempts to capture the true essence of the contest between men in two distinct roles: Kasparov as performer and Hsu's team as toolmaker. The result is an intelligent, well-written account of a milestone in the history of computer science that stands out from the other books on Deep Blue. Recommended for general readers attracted to the history of chess and computing.
Joe J. Accardi, William Rainey Harper Coll. Lib., Palatine, IL
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Joe J. Accardi, William Rainey Harper Coll. Lib., Palatine, IL
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
Because the two matches that chess champ Garry Kasparov played six years ago against the author's supercomputer were so widely publicized, there's probably going to be a large audience for Hsu's behind-the-scenes account of the epic man-against-machine showdowns. Despite the arcane technical nature of both top-echelon chess and computer programming, Hsu's narrative does not suffer from indecipherable jargon, because he hews to human-interest-oriented storytelling. He starts with his student days at Carnegie-Mellon University, where he had to choose whether his future lay in designing chips for copiers or chess-playing computers. Taking the flashier option, he and his colleagues' first chess products caught IBM's publicity-seeking eye, and Hsu's group decamped for Big Blue. Hsu admits to his competitive desire to defeat Kasparov, who styled his rout of Hsu's first version of Deep Blue in 1996 as a defense of humanity. Stung, Hsu and his mates re-jiggered Deep Blue for the following year's grudge match, a battle regaled with drama and ripostes to Kasparov's disparagement of the electronic victor. A fascinating story. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
In late April 1997, posters for an unusual chess event were appearing on the streets of New York. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
In late April 1997, posters for an unusual chess event were appearing on the streets of New York. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Intriguing story told with lots of heart,
By wxyze "wxyze" (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Behind Deep Blue: Building the Computer that Defeated the World Chess Champion (Hardcover)
For a book on the arcane and technical worlds of computer science and chess, this story is highly readable and entertaining, and often quite funny and deeply poignant. The development of a history-making machine was, in the end, a very human adventure.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Story of Man vs Machine,
By
This review is from: Behind Deep Blue: Building the Computer that Defeated the World Chess Champion (Hardcover)
Loved this book which details an engineer's dream to create the best chess computer in the world. Appreciated the technical explanation as well as the stories of bugs encountered during the development. Could have been 5 stars if not for the writing style which I found to be quite bland.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Slightly Disappointing,
By
This review is from: Behind Deep Blue: Building the Computer that Defeated the World Chess Champion (Hardcover)
I was slightly disappointed with this book, but since much of the material is only available from the author, it was worth reading. Having played tournament chess, having written chess software (non-commercial), and especially having been one of a thousand or so at the final games where Kasparov lost, I had high expectations for this book. Perhaps too high. That might explain why I was disappointed.As the author points out, it is not a book on chess analysis and that seems obvious. However, even the analysis from a software standpoint is weak -- it merely seems to be a hardware let's-build-it-one-thousand-times faster. Come to think of it, the author DID state that he was writing the book that way, so I shouldn't be too surprised. I was delighted that the author liked "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman" (a fantastic book) and that further heightened my expectations. Unfortunately, the book lacked the creativity and humor of anything like that. It was not a "bad" book, just not quite what I expected. That does not discredit the great work done or what might come in the future as a result of it. For that, the accolades are already present.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
Most recent customer reviews |
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Computers & Internet > Business & Culture > History
- Books > Computers & Internet > Computer Science > Artificial Intelligence > Computer Mathematics
- Books > Computers & Internet > Computer Science > Human-Computer Interaction
- Books > Computers & Internet > Computer Science > Software Engineering > Information Systems
- Books > Entertainment > Puzzles & Games > Board Games > Chess
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Computer Science & Information Systems
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Sciences > Mathematics
- Books > Science > History & Philosophy > History of Science
- Books > Science > History & Philosophy > History of Technology
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
