The Crazy Makers: How the Food Industry Is Destroying Our Brains and Harming Our Children

Average customer rating:

"In the Top Ten of my All-Time Favorite books"

Excellent book on nutrition in today's world.

Good Book

This book is awesome!

The Crazy Makers: How the Food Industry Is Destroying Our Brains and Harming Our Children

The Crazy Makers: How the Food Industry Is Destroying Our Brains and Harming Our Children
Carol N. Simontacchi
Manufacturer: Tarcher
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Nutrition | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Food Additives | Nutrition | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
General | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Social Services & Welfare | Poverty | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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The Hundred-Year Lie: How Food and Medicine Are Destroying Your Health

ASIN: 1585421049
Release Date: 2001-03-29

Amazon.com

We already worry that our food makes us fat, dull, disease-prone, and sleepy. Now we have to worry that it also makes us crazy. According to certified clinical nutritionist Carol Simontacchi, the food industries that give us packaged, processed, artificially flavored, chemical-ridden, artificially colored, nutrient-stripped pseudo foods such as sodas, processed soups, sugared cereals, and fiberless bread "wantonly destroy our bodies and our brains, all in the name of profit." We Americans (adults and children) eat 200 pounds of sugar and artificial sweeteners each year. Our children's test scores and grades drop. We become violent, illogical, moody, depressed, drug-addicted, and crazy. The reason, according to the author, who is pursuing a doctorate in brain nutrition, is that we're starving our brains with lack of nutrition.

This isn't a process that begins when teenagers start snacking on sodas, chips, and ice cream. Rather, this nutrition deprivation starts in the womb: mom doesn't get the right nutrition (essential fatty acids, high-quality protein, unrefined carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and water), so baby is born already brain-nutrient deficient, says the author. Infant formulas, processed baby food, and sugared cereals exacerbate the problem through the stages of childhood, with kids not getting the nutrition their growing brains need. Simontacchi also skewers prepared foods, additives, over-processed grains, school vending machines, and fast-food chains.

This book isn't only about children. Starbucks and its ilk get a "Crazy Maker Award" for "encouraging us to self-medicate with stimulating beverages that mask the symptoms of nervous system and adrenal exhaustion." We adults are genuinely fatigued, but instead of getting the sleep and rest we need, we succumb to the "marketing hype of sophisticated companies that convinces us that self-medicating with an addictive substance is the answer to our energy crisis." You may not accept all Simontacchi's views, but once you've read this book, you won't reach for a café latte or feed your kids sugar-frosted cereal with the same complacency. --Joan Price

Book Description

An unprecedented and impeccably reported look at how American food manufacturers and their "products" may be endangering our minds.

In The Crazy Makers, nutritionist Carol Simontacchi reveals that brand-name consumer food producers may be putting items on the market that redefine what we commonly think of as "food." From infant formulas to supposedly health-conscious packaged meals, these pseudo-foods may be causing chemical levels in the brain to rise to alarming heights.

Based on new research, epidemiological evidence, and a formal study of schoolchildren's eating habits conducted by Simontacchi, The Crazy Makers will open your eyes as it identifies how the latest food products may be driving you crazy-and will tell you what you can do about it. Notes. Index.

Customer Reviews:

"In the Top Ten of my All-Time Favorite books".......2007-05-12

Already wrote a review on this book.

Excellent book on nutrition in today's world........2006-08-10

The book describes the essentials to providing excellent nutrition for babies, children and teens specifically when it comes to brain development and health. It details the dangers of allowing the food industry to decide what your kids should eat. If you want your kids or future kids to thrive and succeed in life, this is book hits the importance of doing it right from the start.

Good Book.......2005-11-26

I really enjoyed this book.
I have been saying forever that sugar and formula is what's wrong with health and kids now a days.
I think everyone needs to read this book, and really rethink what you are feeding your kid.
I wonder if the food company is in cahoots with the entertainment business, working together to the dumbing down of America?

This book is awesome!.......2005-11-11

Not only does it get the sensationalist words "crazy" and "destroying' worked into the title, but it also ties them into other such sensitive topics as (1) our brains and, (2) our children. The only other things it could have mentioned is (1) the elderly, (2) kitty-cats, (3) puppies, (4) rainbows, (5) gumdrops and sugarplums, and, (6) Jesus. Maybe the author can re-think the title to work all those things in to make it more dramatic and appealing to the masses.

But, as for the book itself, I was amazed. I had no idea that my brain was being so adversely impacted by the food industry, particularly when I have so strictly followed Dr. Colbert's diet outlining what Jesus would eat and how Jesus would cook it. Nevertheless, it seems the food industry has it in for me, and for you (and for themselves). Apparently though, the food industry, while destroying our brains, is only *harming* our children. Their brains are being left intact. Thank God for that. We have to have some generation to look after us. But, I'll admit, I'll never look at a box of Ding-Dongs again.

The Crazy Makers: How the Food Industry Is Destroying Our Brains and Harming Our Children.......2005-09-30

I Loved this book. I bought it on a whim at a local natural foods store and have
bought a few more to give to my friends and family. It is a very complete, yet readable
handbook on all the additives, chemicals and such that is put into our foods. It is definitely something I would recommend to anyone with a passion or interest in the
foods they eat.

Average customer rating:

A good history of AI . . .
Fascinating Facts, Questionable Interpretation

The Brain Makers
HP Newquist
Manufacturer: Sams Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

History | Business & Culture | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0672304120

Customer Reviews:

A good history of AI . . ........2005-04-26

Having been involved in the technology business for way too many years, I found Newquist's book to be a pretty accurate account of what went on in the AI world. It's not a book about technology or programming, so if you're looking for technical data, try a textbook. But if you want to know why artifical intelligence died a slow and ugly death, you'll have all your questions answered here.

The book, as its subtitle suggests, is about "genius, ego, and greed"--the personalites involved in AI. It's not about the importance of neural networks vs the relevance of expert systems. As for the "discot" review that says to take some of the information with a grain of salt, Newquist includes nearly 15 pages of footnotes to back up his research. That should be good enough for most readers.

All in all, I found this book to be an insightful observation and reflection on what AI could have been. I'd recommend it over books by AI participants like Raymond Kurzweil, who obviously have personal motivations to keep selling AI snake oil in their self-promoting books.

Fascinating Facts, Questionable Interpretation.......2001-12-03

I found this book both interesting and limited. Having encountered AI technologies and personalities at various points in my career, it was interesting to get from the author a more comprehensive view of what was going at the personal and organizational levels during the period covered by the book. The author's view of these matters was culled primarily from his experience as editor of a newsletter called AI Trends during that period. I visualize the author writing this book by pulling from stacks of old newsletters, article clippings, corporate brochures, and notes from interviews and discussions he had as a journalist on the beat. I see this book's value mainly in that it summarizes a lot of information about AI people and organizations in one place, organizing it into thematic chapters.
The author inserts his own perspective throughout the book, with mixed results. He is attracted to the dirt, the scandal, the quirky personality, and this leads to some interesting reading, interesting in the way you might listen to the town gossip, in spite of yourself. I had to take his gossip with a grain of salt, because some of it was based on questionable interpretations of the author, but enough was substantiated to be interesting. For example, the rise and fall of AI companies is an interesting story that parallels that the recent dot com cycle, and the AI era has lessons to teach us about the business and management of technology. However the author's bias toward airing dirty laundry sometimes comes across as a sneering attitude, or at least over-dramatization, and some of the ugly pictures he paints seem ugly because of his paint, not the events he reports. For example, he presumes to classify management talent as "A-teamers" (capable) or "B-teamers" (less capable), then identifies hiring B-teamers as evidence of poor management in some companies.
The author clearly does not have a deep understanding of AI technology, and this limits his ability to achieve two things he tries to do in the book: (1) explain AI in laymen's terms, and (2) interpret the technical significance, shortfalls, and potential of AI technology. He is on target some of the time, and sometimes misleading, or even wrong. For example, as the author correctly points out, the publication of the book Perceptrons by Minsky and Papert was an intriguing chapter in AI, since it effectively shut off research in neural networks for a long time. However, his discussion of the essence of Perceptron's criticism of neural networks is misleading: he says it was that neural networks cannot ".. learn new things from past experience..", when actually the main criticism was that certain kinds of problems can never be solved by neural networks. His discussion of how researchers eventually countered Perceptron's arguments is also misleading: he cites Hopfields's showing that recurrent neural networks can do things the brain does (an important contribution), when the more relevant direct answer to the Perceptron dilema was the development of good training algorithms for multi-layer nets that could solve the "impossible" problems.
I enjoyed reading this rather long (488 pages) book. It moved along quickly, and it was interesting to find answers to a lot of "whatever happened to ..... ? " questions. The AI era covered by this book was filled with fascinating stories and people. I would have preferred a more penetrating and knowing analysis of AI technology itself, that would make it easier to separate good ideas from business blunders, circumstances from fundamental flaws. And I wanted to have less of a feeling that the author was just guessing at some of his insider insights.

Beauty and the Brain (The Dream Maker) (Zebra Romance) (Ballad Romances)

Average customer rating:

Dreams do come true -- Very highly recommended
Dreams do come true -- Very highly recommended
A fun romantic romp

Beauty and the Brain (The Dream Maker) (Zebra Romance) (Ballad Romances)
Duncan Alice
Manufacturer: Zebra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Romance | Subjects | Books

General | Historical | Romance | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0821768794

Customer Reviews:

Dreams do come true -- Very highly recommended.......2001-06-12

The silent motion picture industry once again provides the fascinating backdrop for Alice Duncan's BEAUTY AND THE BRAIN. For readers who enjoyed COWBOY FOR HIRE, the second novel of The Dream Maker series proves to be as equally entertaining as the first.

Peerless Studios begins filming I in the San Bernadino Mountains in 1907. Martin Tafft, the man in charge of the film's production, assembles a fascinating crew for the filming. As his responsibilities to Peerless escalate, Martin hires Colin Phillips as his assistant for the summer.

Unfortunately, Colin has spent most of his life with his head inside various schools and universities. As much as he understands facts, Colin is not equiped for emotions. A child protege and now an assistant professor, the summer job with Peerless Studios allows him to learn more than this new and booming industry. Fascinated by motion pictures, he's not prepared for the necessity of sacrificing accuracy for completing production.

Brenda Fitzpatrick abandons Broadway to accept the lead female part in Indian Love Song. Although she loved the stage, her financial responsibility to her family dictates that she accept the high paying salary associated with motion pictures. Brenda makes her living with her looks, masking her intelligence in an eye-pleasing package that belies her intelligence. She's never minded men assuming that she has no brains, at least, until she meets Colin. Although she's not aware that her accent labels her an unlettered booby in Colin's eyes, she does quickly realize that he does not believe in the sincerity of her questions. Indeed, Colin scoffs at her dream of being a librarian rather than an actress, and does not appreciate the sincerity of her desire to retire with a room full of books and the leisure to enjoy them.

BEAUTY AND THE BRAIN is a refreshing, light-hearted novel that underscores the foolish assumptions lovers make. The classic case of not understanding the opposite sex, or even one's self, makes for a lovely conundrum. Further, the film industry background, sandlot baseball, and gently mentioned social commentary result in a vividly realized, fabulously entertaining read. BEAUTY AND THE BRAIN comes very highly recommended.

Dreams do come true -- Very highly recommended.......2001-05-30

A fun romantic romp.......2001-04-28

In 1907 San Bernardino Mountains, California, Peerless Studio movie director Martin Tafft begins filming Indian Love Song. One of the stars is Brenda Fitzpatrick, a beautiful woman who hides her above average intelligence so she can make it as an actress. Martin's research assistant on the movie picture is Boston College graduate Colin Peters a hunk who hides his devastating looks behind nerd glasses so he can make it as an intellect.

However, Colin becomes disenchanted with the blatant errors that the film contains as Martin brushes off his feedback for the most part as unnecessarily unimportant. Colin finds himself attracted to Brenda, but believes the brainless beauty could never fall for a civilian like him. Brenda finds herself attracted to Colin, but believes a brilliant brain could never fall for an actress.

BEAUTY AND THE BRAIN, the second Dream Maker novel (see COWBOY FOR HIRE), is an entertaining historical romance that brings to life a bygone fascinating era of Americana history. The story line contains tidbits of early Hollywood (on location) through a lovable cast. The lead couple is fun to observe as sparks fly, but neither can see beneath the mask of the other although both Brenda and Colin sense something off kilter. The secondary characters augment the intriguing plot with a feel for the period and propel the story line forward. Alice Duncan's homage to the silent screen is another triumphant novel.

Book Description

Childhood brain tumors are a diverse group of diseases characterized by the abnormal growth of tissue contained within the skull. Other than leukemia and lymphoma, brain tumors are the most common type of neoplasms that occur in children. The leading cause of death from childhood neoplasms among persons up to 19 years is brain tumors. As such, this book is a review of the most recent molecular biological research concerning brain tumors with references and comparisons to a variety of neoplastic disorders. The book then uses this information to foreshadow the direction that future anti-neoplastic therapies will take. Because of the wide spectrum of the objectives of the book, any individual involved in cancer research will greatly benefit from the work. Histopathologists, neuropathologists, clinical and research oncologists, and medical students will find this book to be an invaluable resource as a reference guide. Patients and their families will also find the book useful as it offers a comprehensive update on new, non-classical therapeutic modality options and contains a detailed description and analysis of brain tumors. Such an endeavor has yet to be undertaken by any other book and may prove to be the most comprehensive book on brain tumors thus far.

THE TOMORROW MAKERS a Brave New World of Living Brain MacHines

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THE TOMORROW MAKERS a Brave New World of Living Brain MacHines
Grant Fjermedal
Manufacturer: MacMillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NU4MCY

Average customer rating:

THE TOMORROW MAKERS: A BRAVE NEW WORLD OF LIVING-BRAIN MACHINES
Grant Fjermedal
Manufacturer: MacMillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000J3L9QM

Average customer rating:

Technology survives through government funding or open market sales. Open market survival is always better.
remarkably prescient

The Tomorrow Makers: A Brave New World of Living-Brain Machines
Grant Fjermedal
Manufacturer: Microsoft Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Operating Systems | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Engineering | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1556151136

Customer Reviews:

Technology survives through government funding or open market sales. Open market survival is always better........2006-04-11

The Thinking Machine had 64,000 processors wired together in a network. Each of the units had a small amount of memory and required a small amount of power. The architecture allowed a great number of small calculations to be done simultaneously. Hillis stated about Thinking Machines, "Basically it is a step toward parallel processing. We know that the human brain is able to do amazing things with switching components that are basically slow-namely neurons. With a switching component that takes millisecond we are able to walk and talk and see pictures and all kinds of things that we can't get ordinary computers to do, even though ordinary computes are made out of components that are thousands of times faster." "The connection machine like the brain, do million of things at once." The connection machine could be rewrited in a millisecond just by writing a command to do so. In one moment it could be using its processors to process vision and the next moment it could be searching a tree analyzing AI logic computations and searches. "There will never be a day that a person turns on a computer and everybody agrees the computer thinks. What is going to happen is that as machines do more and more tasks only humans could do, it will become harder and harder to draw the lines between what's thinking and what's not thinking. And there will become a point that everyone agrees they are thinking". Hillis is not a genius; human equivalent thinking requires for AI research either too write better software; discovery of unknown laws of intelligence and principles of thinking; or more acquire more computation power. Hillis company would rise and fall and he would not be able to build a machine that capable of being proud of him.

Daniel Hillis and Marvin Minsky were determined to build a connection machine as a tool for developing software applications written in LISP too solve AI problems. They went to Sheryl Handler for help. Handler had participated in the startup of Genetics Institute. Handler introduced CBS founder William Paley, who agreed to invest $16 million in venture. Paley believed that Hillis could build a thinking machine. Hillis and Handler wanted to build a machine whose maximum impact would be as a research tool for scientist studying artificial intelligence. Hillis envision a sort of public intelligence utility where people would tap their home PCs and thereby bring AI into their world. Howard Res-nikov argued for a more flexible architecture that could support solving real-world problems. CM-1 was complete but few AI labs could afford the $5 million price tag. Res-nikov was right in his prediction. In 1986, CM-2 arrived and it was able to run Fortran and to do floating-point operations. The CM-2 still needed new special software which meant the programmers needed to learn new programming techniques. The CM-2 floating point operations did not effective take advantage of the 64,000 single-bit processors. Moderately parallel became popular. Moderately parallel uses cheap, off-the-self PCs and clustered them using network software into a single supercomputer that could work with existing software. The functional advantage of Moderately parallel seemed overwhelming and few customers outside the AI community had interest in Thinking machines massively parallel design. Databases became the killer application for data mining, however Hillis and Handler remaining bitter about having to target general scientific computing rather than AI. Oracle would eventual purchase rights to Hillis datamining technology and Sun would buy most of Thinking Machines hardware and massively parallel computing technology.

In 1990, Fujitsu Limit looked forward to bringing to market a 1,000 processor machine. The Japanese Fifth generation intelligent machines threatened to push Japan ahead in electronics. The Western world began shaking at the thought of Japan becoming the market leader in electronic design. Japan threatened to do to computers what it had done to automobiles and consumer electronics.

This would have been the perfect time for Thinking Machines to go public. Instead, Handler felt the company could get a successful teraflop machine on its own. CM-5 arrived but the standard chips it chose were not ready. DARPA purchase of 24 Connection machines totaling $55 million and KSR and IBM criticized the gift. DARPA funding dried up and Thinking machines had to sell machines on their merits on the open market. 1992, CM-5 was not selling and losses for the year totaled $17 million. Mid 1993 Thinking Machines declared bankruptcy.

Thinking Machines needed to solve general computing problems and reduce costs by using machines too assemble machines and machines to design their machines. Government subsidized projects reduced Thinking Machine survivability odds because it lacked stability. Government funding did not become sure money and Thinking Machines lost time too gain market acceptance and the market abandoned Thinking Machines when they saw the government withdraw. The reasoning for market abandonment was the perception Thinking Machines had lost 20% of its revenues and this was too big of a loss, for the company to survive; so, rather than purchasing superior hardware, they looked long-term for support and since the long-term probability seemed low, they did not invest. Thinking Machines would have done better by building a product sellable on the open market and not forming a dependency on any particular market sector. Thinking Machines emphasized superior hardware performance but failed to focus on create software tools, utilities, and languages that would entice developers to create code communities that advocated the thinking machine product. Thinking machine failed to realize that the AI experts would use the connection machine were not in the company and failed to use a DarpNet board too get feedback. Thinking Machines did prove that Hallis Phd thesis was defendable and that connection machine architecture could be designed and assembled creating some of the fastest computers in the world.

remarkably prescient.......2004-08-16

Considering when it was written, the author of this book should be credit for foresight in taking this supposedly "fringe" stuff seriously. Now that we've got "Wired" into the debate, one might pooh-pooh that, but this was written before the fall of the Soviet Union, much less the rise of the WWW and the dot-com bubble.

I read it in high school, so I don't recall details, but I do remember that it was very entertaining.

Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity (Unabridged)

Average customer rating:

A very simple, incredibly profound book, a must read
Not what I hoped for
Catching The Big Fish
Meditation should ground you in the physical realm
Exceedingly pleasant, but...

Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity (Unabridged)
David Lynch
Manufacturer: audible.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Download
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ASIN: B000M8NLV0

Book Description

In this rare work of public disclosure, filmmaker David Lynch describes his personal methods of capturing and working with ideas, and the immense creative benefits he has experienced from the practice of meditation

Over the last four decades, David Lynch has created some of the best-known and widely discussed screen works of our time. This distinctive writer-director's art bears not only the mark of box-office success but also criticalacclaim and cultural posterity.

Yet Lynch generally reveals little of himself, or the ideas behind his work. Now he provides a rare window into his methods as an artist and his personal working style. In Catching the Big Fish, Lynch writes candidly about the tremendous creative benefits he has gained from his thirty-two-year commitment to practicing Transcendental Meditation.

In brief chapters, Lynch describes the experience of "diving within" and "catching" ideas like fish-and then preparing them for television or movie screens, and other mediums in which Lynch works, such as photography and painting.

In the book's first section, Lynch discusses the development of his ideas-where they come from, how he grasps them, and which ones appeal to him the most. He then shares his passion for "the doing"-whether moviemaking, painting, or other creative expressions. Lynch talks specifically about how he puts his thoughts into action and how he engages with others around him. Finally, he discusses the self and the surrounding world -and how the process of "diving within" that has so deeply affected his own work can directly benefit others.

Catching the Big Fish provides unprecedented insight into Lynch's methods, as it also offers a set of practical ideas that speak to matters of personal fulfillment, increased creativity, and greater harmony with one's surroundings.

The book comes as a revelation to the legion of fans who have longed to better understand Lynch's deeply personal vision. And it is equally intriguing to anyone who grapples with questions such as: "Where do ideas come from?" and "How can I nurture creativity?

Customer Reviews:

A very simple, incredibly profound book, a must read.......2007-10-01

David Lynch is considered by many to be the most artistic film maker of our time and he rarely if ever speaks about his personal life and rarely speaks in public so I was thrilled to see this book. I know some of his films are studied individually for an entire semesters course credit at many universities in the U.S. and probably in other countries as well. I love his style of writing and the references to the Vedic Wisdom of India.
The book is simple, concise and it is as if the man is speaking to you.
There is no fluff and no pretense. A very refreshing book with some very deep knowledge. Thank you Mr. Lynch

Not what I hoped for.......2007-08-29

It wasn't what I was hoping for, so I gave it a lower rating.
That might not be fair.
Just, I was hoping for something that describes TM more. Technique, etc...

What it is, is a fan book.
There are a few tokens of wisdom in there though.

It will have a good place on the coffee table or in the waiting room at the dentist.

Catching The Big Fish.......2007-08-23

How a creative master uses the discipline of meditation to allow creative ideas to florish.

Meditation should ground you in the physical realm.......2007-08-16

There is no excuse for escaping by attempting to transcend. This is possibly the result of an inability to relate to one's physical reality.
It is apparent in the creative works of David Lynch.

Exceedingly pleasant, but..........2007-08-11

This is a slim but delightful book that imparted a feeling of well-being to me. The whimsical writing, the understated tone, and the stream-of-consciousness structure are wonderful.

Unfortunately, it is also very frustrating at times. For one thing, whenever he touches on anything scientific (e.g., Unified Field Theory), it is clear he has no idea what he's talking about. He speaks of physical laws and consciousness as if they're the same thing, which is a bit absurd. Consciousness is a specific biological process which, like everything, functions according to physical laws, but that's about where the relation ends. You might as well say that quantum theory is the same thing as perspiration, or that superstring theory is the same thing as leaves turning red in autumn.

Another problem is that he spends a lot of time talking about how wonderful Transcendental Meditation(TM) is, but then doesn't provide any instruction on how to get started with it, or even a reference to further information. Why go on about how wonderful something is without providing any avenue for further exploration?

Anyway, it's certainly a cheerful read overall, and I'd recommend it for that. But some of it should be taken with a grain of salt.

Getting Started With Brain Maker: Neural Network Simulation Software User's Guide and Reference Manual/Introduction to Neural Networks and Disk

Average customer rating:

Braimaker Neural Network Guide and Manual

Getting Started With Brain Maker: Neural Network Simulation Software User's Guide and Reference Manual/Introduction to Neural Networks and Disk
Mark Lawrence , and Al Petterson
Manufacturer: California Scientific Software
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Certification Central | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 9991846883

Customer Reviews:

Braimaker Neural Network Guide and Manual.......2005-04-24

The book is not a standalone book, textbook nor introduction to neural networks. Though someone with Neural Net experience and knowledge would make sense of it. It has to be used with the Neural Network software sold alongside it. As it says, it is a Manual and User guide.

It is thorough and encompassing, that is after a new and inexperienced user has mastered the intial usage of the software (which would take from three to six months of regular continuous use).

The range of examples and Neural network types is broad, useful and helpful, including the illustrations.

The problem it has, is that it has been written by someone, who produced and wrote the software (never the best idea). So there are a lot of items which are not clear to a beginner, i.e. someone who has just purchased the software. It also omits a number of operational facts, which are a problem, e.g. it does not tell you what the maximum path length is, and there is one; so using the software in this case causes errors without them being apparent. There are other similar technical omissions (which the programer would just take for granted...famous last words...."Well I knew!").

Though it has to be said, that the bulk of the instructions are clear and meticulous.

It also omits a "what if" section, e.g (to use an analogy) if the 'Creme Anglais' (custard) goes lumpy, what do I do?

Included is a section most often missing with other producers of software "Error Messages", in fact there are four sections on different types of messages. That is a very definite bonus, and serves as a good example of the meticulousness, that has been and can be used by the authors.

In marked contrast to the "Error Messages" sections, there is a Chapter on one of the additional tools supplied "Competitor", which has been written in a very unhelpful and inadequate manner, almost as an afterthought. As a result users end up having to sort out the use and methodology of what is in fact, a very useful tool, by trial and error.

Is it it worth $199? Only if you bought the software, and then you do not have much choice, you receive it anyway.

Average customer rating:

The Tomorrow Makers : A Brave New World of Living-Brain Machines
Grant Fjermedal
Manufacturer: Macmillan Publishing Company, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000KPHASA

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