Search results for ""Author Clifford A. Pickover""

A History of the Future that's Happening Right NowArtificial Intelligence: An Illustrated History explores the historic origins and current applications of AI in such diverse fields as computing, medicine, popular culture, mythology, and philosophy. Through more than 100 entries, award-winning author Clifford A. Pickover, offers a granular, yet accessible, glimpseinto the world of AIfrom medieval robots and Boolean algebra to facial recognition, and artificial neural networks. First released in 2019, this updated paperback edition brings readers up to speed with coverage of technologies such as DALL-E and ChatGPT, and it explores the very real fear that AI will alter the course of humanityforever.

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An illustrated journey through the past, present, and future of artificial intelligence, from popular science author Cliff Pickover. From medieval robots and Boolean algebra to facial recognition, artificial neural networks, and adversarial patches, this fascinating history takes readers on a vast tour through the world of artificial intelligence. Award-winning author Clifford A. Pickover (The Math Book, The Physics Book, Death & the Afterlife) explores the historic and current applications of AI in such diverse fields as computing, medicine, popular culture, mythology, and philosophy, and considers the enduring threat to humanity should AI grow out of control. Across 100 illustrated entries, Pickover provides an entertaining and informative look into when artificial intelligence began, how it developed, where it's going, and what it means for the future of human-machine interaction.

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From astronomy to psychology, this beautifully illustrated chronology presents the most important and groundbreaking milestones in science. Award-winning author Cliff Pickover (The Math Book, The Physics Book, and The Medical Book) gathers into one fully illustrated volume the most important thinkers and ideas in the history of science. This unique omnibus edition includes 250 thoughtfully selected entries from many of the science-based books in the Sterling Milestones series, including math, physics, medicine, biology, chemistry, engineering, psychology, and space. With a new introduction by Pickover explaining how this impressive collection was curated,The Science Book showcases humanity’s greatest achievements and provides readers with a sense of wonder at the diversity of scientific discovery.

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Humanity's love affair with mathematics and mysticism reached a critical juncture, legend has it, on the back of a turtle in ancient China. As Clifford Pickover briefly recounts in this enthralling book, the most comprehensive in decades on magic squares, Emperor Yu was supposedly strolling along the Yellow River one day around 2200 B.C. when he spotted the creature: its shell had a series of dots within squares. To Yu's amazement, each row of squares contained fifteen dots, as did the columns and diagonals. When he added any two cells opposite along a line through the center square, like 2 and 8, he always arrived at 10. The turtle, unwitting inspirer of the "Yu" square, went on to a life of courtly comfort and fame. Pickover explains why Chinese emperors, Babylonian astrologer-priests, prehistoric cave people in France, and ancient Mayans of the Yucatan were convinced that magic squares--arrays filled with numbers or letters in certain arrangements--held the secret of the universe. Since the dawn of civilization, he writes, humans have invoked such patterns to ward off evil and bring good fortune. Yet who would have guessed that in the twenty-first century, mathematicians would be studying magic squares so immense and in so many dimensions that the objects defy ordinary human contemplation and visualization? Readers are treated to a colorful history of magic squares and similar structures, their construction, and classification along with a remarkable variety of newly discovered objects ranging from ornate inlaid magic cubes to hypercubes. Illustrated examples occur throughout, with some patterns from the author's own experiments. The tesseracts, circles, spheres, and stars that he presents perfectly convey the age-old devotion of the math-minded to this Zenlike quest. Number lovers, puzzle aficionados, and math enthusiasts will treasure this rich and lively encyclopedia of one of the few areas of mathematics where the contributions of even nonspecialists count.

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Following his hugely successful "The Math Book" and "The Physics Book", Clifford Pickover now chronicles the advancement of medicine in 250 entertaining, illustrated landmark events. Touching on such diverse subspecialties as genetics, pharmacology, neurology, sexology and immunology, Pickover intersperses obvious historical milestones; the Hippocratic Oath, general anesthesia, the Human Genome Project, with unexpected and intriguing topics like truth serum, the use of cocaine in eye surgery and face transplants.

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CALCULUS + PEPPERONI / FUN = MATH SUCCESS Do you want to do well on your calculus exam? Are you looking for a quick refresher course? Or would you just like to get a taste of what calculus is all about? If so, you've selected the right book. Calculus and Pizza is a creative, surprisingly delicious overview of the essential rules and formulas of calculus, with tons of problems for the learner with a healthy appetite. Setting up residence in a pizza parlor, Clifford Pickover focuses on procedures for solving problems, offering short, easy-to-digest chapters that allow you to quickly get the essence of a technique or question. From exponentials and logarithms to derivatives and multiple integrals, the book utilizes pepperoni, meatballs, and more to make complex topics fun to learn-emphasizing basic, practical principles to help you calculate the speed of tossed pizza dough or the rising cost of eggplant parmigiana. Plus, you'll see how simple math-and a meal-can solve especially curious and even mind-shattering problems. Authoritatively and humorously written, Calculus and Pizza provides a lively-and more tasteful-approach to calculus. "Pickover has published nearly a book a year in which he stretches the limits of computers, art, and thought."—Los Angeles Times "A perpetual idea machine, Clifford Pickover is one of the most creative, original thinkers in the world today."—Journal of Recreational Mathematics

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Throughout history, the nature and mystery of death has captivated artists, scientists, philosophers, physicians, and theologians. This eerie chronology ventures right to the borderlines of science and sheds light into the darkness. Here, topics as wide ranging as the Maya death gods, golems, and séances sit side by side with entries on zombies and quantum immortality. With the turn of every page, readers will encounter beautiful artwork, along with unexpected insights about death and what may lie beyond.

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The history of medicine is as old as the history of human civilization. In The Medical Book, popular science writer Clifford A. Pickover explores 250 milestone discoveries in medicine that span more than 12,000 years. Whether writing on 'hard science' topics such as DNA structure, reverse transcriptase and AIDS, polymerase chain reaction, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or ideas from the medical fringe such as witch doctors, patent medicines, bloodletting, and near-death experiences, Pickover brings insight and acumen to the broad spectrum of medical studies and makes it understandable to all readers. This volume is abundantly illustrated in full colour with clinical and historical art.

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