The Computer and the Mind : An Introduction to Cognitive Science

In [this book] Philip Johnson-Laird, one of our leading cognitive psychologists, escorts the educated layman through the fantastic landscape of 'cognitive science'--the modern science of the mind, and of possible minds...It is an admirably well-balanced introduction to contemporary thinking about people's mental and physical capacities...[An] admirably written and stimulating book. London Review of Books The idea that the computer can be in some way induced to replicate the processes of the human brain has long attracted the attention of psychologists and computer scientists. This remarkably readable description of these inquiries will interest both the general reader and the specialist...Each section begins with careful, reflective summaries of often opposing philosophical views on how and why the human animal does whatever it does and what the author's position is. Each chapter ends with brief recommendations for further reading on various concepts that were introduced...This is a very fine book. -- Robert Bodine Science Books and Films The computer metaphor of mind has been in currency for some time. For anyone who wants to understand it better, Johnson-Laird's book is a very good starting point...He writes on cognition with enviable clarity and wit, and with a breadth of vision that allows him to use music, art and literature in a natural way to make his points. -- L. Henry Shaffer Nature [The book] is a tour de force...It provides a wider coverage than any comparable book, ranging from speech understanding to vision and from motor skills (the only slightly opaque chapter) to simulated neural networks in which the information and procedures are distributed throughout the whole system...The writing is always lively, with a sprinkling of witticisms: of the views of the mind held in the days of behaviorism...It is unlikely that such a readable, comprehensive and accurate account of cognitive science will appear for many years. It should serve equally well as an introductory text and as a book for the lay-reader who wants to know about this fast-developing subject. Although as Johnson-Laird writes, 'the book is intellectually demanding,' readers will find it well worth the effort. -- Stuart Sutherland Times Higher Education Supplement