Reasoning about Rational Agents (Intelligent Robotics and Autonomous Agents)

Rating:
Summary: A rarity - a user-friendly book of formalism
Review: An excellent treatment of the formal modelling of what Mike calls Rational Agents and others have (more provocatively) usually termed Intelligent Agents. What sets this apart from other books on the subject are Mike's refreshingly direct, no-nonsense writing, and his recognition that his audience may not have all of the formal tools at their fingertips. The Appendix "Formal Foundations" would be a good choice for anyone who wanted to understand modal logics, especially as they apply to time and intention. Even software engineers who would rather hack code than grapple with formalism will find this accesible, stimulating and useful.

Rating:
Summary: A rarity - a user-friendly book of formalism
Review: An excellent treatment of the formal modelling of what Mike calls Rational Agents and others have (more provocatively) usually termed Intelligent Agents. What sets this apart from other books on the subject are Mike's refreshingly direct, no-nonsense writing, and his recognition that his audience may not have all of the formal tools at their fingertips. The Appendix "Formal Foundations" would be a good choice for anyone who wanted to understand modal logics, especially as they apply to time and intention. Even software engineers who would rather hack code than grapple with formalism will find this accesible, stimulating and useful.

Rating:
Summary: Both Enjoyable and Thorough
Review: You simply cannot choose a better overview of intelligent agent modeling. Wooldridge brings the reader from an extremely non-threatening, non-technical treatment of the basics to formal modeling of individual agent properties and multi-agent interaction using (essentially) constructions of formal logic.
This book is clearly intended to communicate a particular theory in a very effective manner. However, it does not (nor does it pretend to) provide a path to implementing any of the theory, so dilettantes beware.

Rating:
Summary: Both Enjoyable and Thorough
Review: You simply cannot choose a better overview of intelligent agent modeling. Wooldridge brings the reader from an extremely non-threatening, non-technical treatment of the basics to formal modeling of individual agent properties and multi-agent interaction using (essentially) constructions of formal logic.
This book is clearly intended to communicate a particular theory in a very effective manner. However, it does not (nor does it pretend to) provide a path to implementing any of the theory, so dilettantes beware.