An Introduction to Natural Computation (Complex Adaptive Systems)

Rating:
Summary: Very informative - but you'll need an icepack for your head
Review: Fifteen years ago I did research in this area and had just completed a math degree. I thought it would be interesting to get back up to speed.
I found the book fascinating, tremendous work has been done in this field and this is a good broad treatment of it. For anyone who is into computer science but has never studied the brain it will be a tremendous eye opener.
But boy, was it hard work. I found I had to read & re-read sections just to understand some of the math involved. In fairness the book does cover everything you need but if you have never done college level math, or you have forgotten most of it, then don't tackle this book when you are tired!

Rating:
Summary: From Caltech
Review: This book is one of the two main books used in Caltech's Neural Computation class (the other is Introduction to the Theory of Neural Computation by Hertz, Krogh, and Palmer). This book covers a wider spectrum of learning models than most books, including Hertz, et al. It is still fairly mathematically rigorous, although not as much as Hertz, et al. It is ideal for somebody who wants a fairly mathematically rigorous description of the subject, but also wants something more comprehensive than Herts, et al.

Rating:
Summary: From Caltech
Review: This book is one of the two main books used in Caltech's Neural Computation class (the other is Introduction to the Theory of Neural Computation by Hertz, Krogh, and Palmer). This book covers a wider spectrum of learning models than most books, including Hertz, et al. It is still fairly mathematically rigorous, although not as much as Hertz, et al. It is ideal for somebody who wants a fairly mathematically rigorous description of the subject, but also wants something more comprehensive than Herts, et al.