Rating: 
Summary: Evolution hurts ....
Review: Unfortunately, I suspect that a lot of people with a comprehensive and advanced background in math will regard fuzzy logic with a sense of distress, desperately trying to convince themselves that this is no more than what has come before, not the distinct paradigm shift it is, but rather, as little more than a convoluted way to approach exactly what they have staidly regarded as mapped territory. Theirs.This need to funnel this delightfully amorphous peg into the perfectly round abstract hole of classical mathematical structures is precisely what this compact tome handily undercuts with its open style and aggressive posture. Oh--you've seen the theorems? Done the work? Ultimately 100% true? Finally 100% false? Um. No. Not really. This math deals in degrees of utility, not certainty. Aristotle's back is quite neatly broken, broken logically and empirically, despite the needful claims of the "learned." Stressing out predigested templates of understanding, while amusing, does nothing to further the classical cause. And the fact that it's working in the field, really working, and working usefully and effectively and getting more effective all the time, being improved and even improving itself, goes a long way toward validating this view as no semantic parrying ever can. A mathematical approach that lives and breathes and grows and reproduces? How novel. How fresh! How like the life it seeks to reflect. How uncomfortably, infuriatingly, creative and new--equations that ultimately prove themselves. "That's just not true! It's not, it's not, it's not, no no no! You vastly oversimplify and personify and you obviously haven't the faintest grasp of--well look! It's just one more fad seized by the lay-people to self-importantly trumpet; yet another nothing notion unfairly popular among so very many more legitimate and obscurer maths, held aloft as a trophy to let them feel a moment of importance, so happy they are to at last feel they have a glimmer of understanding, pridefully daring to place themselves on equal footing in this world beside we who diligently toil in the field!" What can I say, pal? I'm 100% sure that to some degree this is true .... <rim-shot>
Rating: 
Summary: surprisingly bad
Review: Well, I got about 1/2 way through the book and then gave up - in disgust. This is one of the worst popular science books I have come across, excluding obvious whacko books such as by the likes of Velikovsky. First of all, I want to say that I have no doubt that fuzzy logic is a very useful branch of maths with important applications to engineering etc and I have no doubt that Kosko has made important additions to the subject through his research. The serious objection I have is the claim that fuzzy logic is somehow breaking ties with Aristotelian logic. It is not. At the center of fuzzy logic is the concept of a fuzzy set. Instead of an element having {0,1} membership - either you're in the set or you're not - the rules of the game are that you can have degrees of membership lying in the real line segment [0,1]. Simple concept. Now develop a theory based on this... If you read any mathematical text on fuzzy set theory you will see definitions, theorems and proofs just as in any other branch of maths. Until a hole is found in a proof of a conjecture it is a theorem ie 100% true. If a conjecture is discredited by a counter-example or proof by contradiction (techniques that are established in all branches of mathematics) then until a hole is found the conjecture is 100% false. The point is that any well-formed conjecture in any axiomatic mathematical system is either true or false although finding the answer can be extremely difficult (eg the 4-colour problem - solved using a computer - or the Goldbach conjecture - unsolved to this day). This is the same for theorems about fuzzy sets. The object (a fuzzy set) may be more exotic, but the principles of reasoning (eg modus ponens) for asserting truths about these objects has not changed from the times of Aristotle. Unfortunately, I suspect that a lot of people without a comprehensive and advanced background in maths will regard fuzzy logic with a sense of awe and mystery as if fuzzy logic somehow represents a distinct paradigm shift. Remember folks, fuzzy logic is just another branch of maths just like its trendy cousin chaos theory and just like considerably more obscure branches of maths such as K-theory, universal algebra and differential geometry which are likely to receive blank stares at dinner parties. Well, as to the other problems with this book... I suspect that for all the travels to Japan that Kosko has done his grasp of Eastern thought is at best tentative and naive... I'm really dubious about his connections between fuzzy sets and yin-yang concepts. And to cap it off, I found the book to be very repetitive - in the same vein as Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus - so maybe if you liked that book you'll love Fuzzy Thinking. Finally a word about grey. Grey is one of my favourite colours (I'm serious!). Kosko goes on about grey a lot. And I mean an awful lot. I mean on the scale of "a lot-ness" he probably gets about 9/10. Well, I, just like you, dear reader don't like to be pigeon-holed as a 100% "commie" or a 0% "tall" person. Seriously, it's kind of ridiculous how survey agencies like to put us into neat parcels such as "white" or "employed" or "happy" or whatever. Life is complex and full of shades of grey and I certainly applaud any attempt to acknowledge that fact.
Rating: 
Summary: Kudos to Kosko, GREAT book!!!!!!!
Review: While going through an industrial engineering BS program, it seemed that many models and modeling techniques for various things left something to be desired. Fuzzy Thinking takes us out of the binary world, and into the fuzzy world, the way people think, and the way systems behave. This book is non-technical (easy to understand), intuitive, and provides a great introduction to Fuzzy logic, including anything from the philosophic origins of fuzzy thinking to existing and future applications of Fuzzy Logic. In was like reading one of Goldratt's books, (The Goal, It's Not Luck, Critical Chain) in the sense that it filled in missing links, that aren't presented in engineering, science, math, and business classes. If you are looking for a new way to view the world, or just some interesting, thought provoking reading, GET THIS BOOK!! It is well worth the investment.
Rating:
Summary: Over-hyped; useless
Review: Yes, I agree with the other reviewer that Fuzzy Logic is one of the most over-hyped concepts of the last century. I found this book a waste of time. I was reading this book trying to understand just what the author thought fuzzy logic was and came away with no clear picture. When the author was trying to explain Fuzzy Logic circuits, I thought, Hey wait a minute, aren't we talking about analog circuits here? So, he has put a new label on an old idea. I know, that is not all what FL is supposed to be about, but I think the author is making a cottage industry out of something that is not that big of a deal.
Rating:
Summary: This book - 96% bad!
Review: You will like this book if you like reading about : How the West is so stupid and rigid in its definitions. How Bart Kosko is enlightened with earth-shattering epiphanies while meditating in lotus position. The same things repeated over and over and over again with no apparent direction. The new panacea that will enable us to live in the world of George Jetson. You will not like reading this book if you like reading about : Which problems are best solved by the use of fuzzy engineering, why, and how to develop solutions, elucidated in a concise manner.
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