30 review for The Armchair Universe: An Exploration of Computer Worlds

1. 

   5 out of 5

   Robert – Dec 09, 2013

   First there was Martin Gardener, then there was Doug Hofstadter, then here was...this Dewdney dude. They were successive writers of the "recreational" column in Scientific American. Dewdney's was "Computer Recreations" and here they are, neatly collected up in a book and updated, too! Except the column ran from 1984-86 and my brother helpful scrawled "1988" in his copy - so it's hideously out-of-date now. There isn't a topic in here that hasn't advanced enormously in the intervening time, perhap First there was Martin Gardener, then there was Doug Hofstadter, then here was...this Dewdney dude. They were successive writers of the "recreational" column in Scientific American. Dewdney's was "Computer Recreations" and here they are, neatly collected up in a book and updated, too! Except the column ran from 1984-86 and my brother helpful scrawled "1988" in his copy - so it's hideously out-of-date now. There isn't a topic in here that hasn't advanced enormously in the intervening time, perhaps most alarmingly in the discussion of malware, which provoked some readers to write their own disc or network propagated viruses! That said, because these are recreations, the book has in an important sense not gone out of date; one can still have a go at implementing the simple and not so simple programs discussed oneself - which is the point of these columns, after all - just don't expect to be contributing to the cutting edge of any of these topics anymore. Some topics were more interesting than others but I think individual opinions on which are most engaging will vary a lot. It's a diverse collection ranging from chaos theory and fractals to mathematical automata (which are a lot more fun than they sound) to simulated zombies and banks to anagrams and pangrams to the aforementioned malware and simple genetic algorithms (which interested me a lot). The coding challenges seem to become greater as the book progresses but one need not try any of them in order to derive some amusement from this collection - one can live vicariously through the author's discussion of the efforts of the readers of the original articles and see how they got on.

2. 

   5 out of 5

   Erin Ramsay – Feb 18, 2021

   A really fun read. I’m not familiar with computer programming, so I found the long coding descriptions a bit hard to get through, but overall with a sound enough knowledge of mathematical and scientific principles I was able to enjoy the descriptions of the various computer “worlds”. There are so many beautiful patterns and phenomena to be found in both the digital realm and the natural world, and this book deals with both!

3. 

   4 out of 5

   Bryan Gillespie – Jun 15, 2013

   "The Armchair Universe: An Exploration of Computer Worlds" is a charming collection of Scientific American columns from the pen of mathematician and computer scientist Alex Dewdney. The columns describe, in accessible language and with illustrations, a veritable smorgasbord of mathematical and computational novelties--varying from well-popularized topics such as the Mandelbrot set and Conway's game of life to less-known gadgets, algorithms and simulations. The book is somewhat dated, having been "The Armchair Universe: An Exploration of Computer Worlds" is a charming collection of Scientific American columns from the pen of mathematician and computer scientist Alex Dewdney. The columns describe, in accessible language and with illustrations, a veritable smorgasbord of mathematical and computational novelties--varying from well-popularized topics such as the Mandelbrot set and Conway's game of life to less-known gadgets, algorithms and simulations. The book is somewhat dated, having been published in 1988, but the contents are still engaging and relevant as a starting-point for many more-modern notions in theoretical computer science. I had the opportunity to read this compilation in high school, when I found the understated tome in a box of books that a family friend was giving away. As a collection of columns, it is the sort of book that affords casual perusal, and indeed over the next month or so I casually perused that copy--tenaciously. I just couldn't help myself! The columns are addictively-formulated bite-sized morsels of abstract computer goodness! Section by section, this book gave me one of my first glimpses into the hidden subtle world of computation and logic--and twelve years later I'm now a graduate student in theoretical mathematics, so beware! This book is a captivatingly grand trip down a computational rabbit-hole, and I eagerly encourage the curious reader to give it a look.

4. 

   5 out of 5

   Bernard Schmitz –

5. 

   5 out of 5

   Paul Vittay –

6. 

   4 out of 5

   John Metcalf –

7. 

   5 out of 5

   Gregg –

8. 

   5 out of 5

   Jeff Kaplan –

9. 

   4 out of 5

   Andrew Bartels –

10. 

    4 out of 5

    Mr Richard M Marsden –

11. 

    5 out of 5

    Mike Lietz –

12. 

    5 out of 5

    Daniel Plata –

13. 

    5 out of 5

    Mei Dean Favela –

14. 

    5 out of 5

    psikonauta –

15. 

    4 out of 5

    Mitch Allen –

16. 

    4 out of 5

    Joseph Peterson –

17. 

    5 out of 5

    Ken Gentle –

18. 

    5 out of 5

    Joey –

19. 

    4 out of 5

    Mathew –

20. 

    4 out of 5

    Gianluca Insolvibile –

21. 

    5 out of 5

    Juk –

22. 

    5 out of 5

    Luca Masters –

23. 

    5 out of 5

    Terry –

24. 

    5 out of 5

    Jay –

25. 

    4 out of 5

    Steven Stadnicki –

26. 

    5 out of 5

    Bricoleur (David) Soul –

27. 

    4 out of 5

    Jeff Keys –

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    4 out of 5

    Nicole –

29. 

    5 out of 5

    Brad Polant –

30. 

    5 out of 5

    Matt Pavelle –