Rating: 
Summary: A must-read if you are interested in how the mind works.
Review: The fundamental assumption underlying the principles in the book is that the mind is a result of many small and independent pieces that act in a predictable way and CANNOT think for themselves - but that the result (the mind) CAN think. Of course, the title 'The Society of the Mind' is not a good fit to the ideas in the book because Society and its parts (individual minds) can BOTH think. But leaving these kind of simple inconsistencies and incongruencies (I discovered at least a couple after some deep thinking) to the side, this book makes for an absolutely fascinating read if you are interested in the subject of how the mind works. The approach is very unique, and the ideas are thought provoking. There are 270 components in the book grouped into 30 chapters and each component takes up 1-2 pages to explain the idea and some basic logic supporting the idea presented in that component. The book has 339 pages in case you are wondering (including the index). The format of the book makes it very convenient to pick up the book once in a while and read 5-6 ideas in a 15 minute sitting. Of course, to get the most benefit from the book, you have to read one chapter at a time as each chapter contains ideas that are interconnected. The best approach would be to finish reading the book in 2 or 3 sittings so you can connect all the ideas. The author does warn you at the beginning that there are a lot of cross-connections between the different ideas that you may miss. You have to take this advice into consideration and pay extra attention to connecting the ideas in order to get the real theory that the author is trying to communicate. He never actually explains the theory in a nutshell. He leaves it to the reader to come to some conclusions that hopefully will match the author's theory. Marvin Minsky cofounded the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT and this book gets accolades from some very well known and popular figures like Douglas Hofstadter, Michael Crichton, and Gene Roddenberry. The book has numerous thought experiments that are fun to do! There are also references made to the works of some very eminent scientists and thinkers. The best part about the book is the simplicity of Dr. Minsky's theory on how the Mind works. The second best part about the book is the really elegant way he explains his theory. The first downside to the book - the actual theory is never explained explicitly but contained implicitly in the different ideas presented throughout the book. The second downside to the book - there isn't clear logic backing some of the ideas and you have to take the author's word for it. My opinion in a nutshell - this is a book definitely worth buying for your personal book collection. I have thoroughly enjoyed this book for several years now and even though I personally disagree with some of the ideas in the book (you may quickly find yourself feeling the same way), I believe that it is a beautiful work. Enjoy reading this book, you won't regret the time or the few dollars spent.
Rating:
Summary: Minsky's Great Exposition of his Theory
Review: This is an excellent introduction to one school of thought in cognitive science and Artificial Intelligence, namely, the "bottom-up" approach. Written in a serial style, with each chapter occupying a single page, and relatively jargon-free (Minsky only introduces his technical vocabulary when necessary), the theory expounded in this book will surely yield astounding results when the hardware in our computers are capable of implementing it.
| 
