Rating: 
Summary: Very interesting!
Review: I enjoyed reading this book but as a serious checker player was hoping there was a detailed list of new moves , 4, against 3, Ect.. a listing of cooks, detailed, a checker learning experence Something teaching me, some new endgames, something. New openings, challenging the existing openings. Im sure computer/checker players would love this book Since Jonathan chose to not use standard numeric notations as in most checker books, the helpful way would have identified the notations in each illustration of the checker board.
Rating: 
Summary: OK, But
Review: I enjoyed reading this book but as a serious checker player was hoping there was a detailed list of new moves , 4, against 3, Ect.. a listing of cooks, detailed, a checker learning experence Something teaching me, some new endgames, something. New openings, challenging the existing openings. Im sure computer/checker players would love this book Since Jonathan chose to not use standard numeric notations as in most checker books, the helpful way would have identified the notations in each illustration of the checker board.
Rating: 
Summary: Exciting and balanced portait of flawed people and machines
Review: I'm a biased reviewer since I was involved in the Chinook project and I'm mentioned a number of times in the book.Others have already pointed out how this book reads like a thriller. I agree completely. Each time that I re-read this book (which is almost like a yearbook for me), I get a rush out of how effectively Jonathan takes the reader into his own mind, the (computer) mind of Chinook, and the minds of Chinook's opponents (often through their own comments and game annotations). I squirm at the retelling of how Chinook lost the first two matches in Hot Springs (1992) where I sat Poker-faced as I operated the computer. Another strength of this book is how Jonathan fearlessly pulls no punches in presenting balanced portraits of the many people involved in the Chinook story. Don't expect a forgettable puff piece. Scientists and champions are not immune from human foibles. In dispelling that illusion, Jonathan tells a honest and valuable story. Nobody escapes Jonathan's (sometimes) sharp criticism: not myself (deserved), not some of the luminaries of checkers (accurate, in my opinion), and especially not Jonathan himself. But Jonathan balances this with genuine praise, affection, and respect in almost every case. Consequently, the book contains many insights on human nature, the nature of AI, and what happens when they cross paths.
Rating:
Summary: Exciting and balanced portait of flawed people and machines
Review: I'm a biased reviewer since I was involved in the Chinook project and I'm mentioned a number of times in the book. Others have already pointed out how this book reads like a thriller. I agree completely. Each time that I re-read this book (which is almost like a yearbook for me), I get a rush out of how effectively Jonathan takes the reader into his own mind, the (computer) mind of Chinook, and the minds of Chinook's opponents (often through their own comments and game annotations). I squirm at the retelling of how Chinook lost the first two matches in Hot Springs (1992) where I sat Poker-faced as I operated the computer. Another strength of this book is how Jonathan fearlessly pulls no punches in presenting balanced portraits of the many people involved in the Chinook story. Don't expect a forgettable puff piece. Scientists and champions are not immune from human foibles. In dispelling that illusion, Jonathan tells a honest and valuable story. Nobody escapes Jonathan's (sometimes) sharp criticism: not myself (deserved), not some of the luminaries of checkers (accurate, in my opinion), and especially not Jonathan himself. But Jonathan balances this with genuine praise, affection, and respect in almost every case. Consequently, the book contains many insights on human nature, the nature of AI, and what happens when they cross paths.
Rating:
Summary: short of ink
Review: im enjoying this a bit but im also a checker player and would defintely like the checker coordinates ( numeric notations) shown in every instance as I dont have them memorized, so I can follow the book better. I would not buy it as its more about the ego of the programmer than about checkers.
Rating:
Summary: short of ink
Review: im enjoying this a bit but im also a checker player and would defintely like the checker coordinates ( numeric notations) shown in every instance as I dont have them memorized, so I can follow the book better. I would not buy it as its more about the ego of the programmer than about checkers.
Rating:
Summary: Very readable account of a major AI project
Review: It is rare for programmers and computer scientists to be good writers, and even rarer for them to write their own popular accounts of a major research project. Schaeffer has succeeded in doing that and his book both entertains and enlightens even those who have a casual interest in Artificial Intelligence.
In some cases the book reads like a thriller, as the reader gets caught up in Schaeffers quest to beat the world's reigning checkers champion. I particularily enjoyed his explanations of some of the more technical parts of the project, debugging software, problems with paralell computing etc. All of this is written a very accessible level.
Rating:
Summary: A personal account of the quest for supremacy at Checkers.
Review: Jonathan Schaeffer's book is a must-read for people interested in making computers behave intelligently.
Rating:
Summary: Very interesting!
Review: Once I started to read this book I found it difficult to put down. Granted I am addicted to playing checkers against my computer when taking breaks at work, but still.... This is very interesting material for checkers players and computer programmers alike. However, I do have a couple of problems with the book. First, it is very poorly edited. There are a number of grammatical mistakes, [one right on the first paragraph], the author at times goes into unnecessary tangents and, in general the book is too long and repetitive. In addition, it bothered me that, perhaps because of the author's familiarity with chess, he decided to use chess notation to describe the games. This makes it more difficult for checkers players to follow the games while reading the book. The author/editor should have made the effort to use checkers notation or to provide better diagrams.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting subject, checkers and computing
Review: This book is about one man's obsession to develop a computer checkers program to beat a World Champion. The world champion in checkers is not just another world champion but a man widely accepted as the greatest checker player of all time - Terrible Tinsley. The book documents how the author developed and nurtured a weak checker program to become a world class program. Ultimately he fails but unfortunately doesn't admit this and has excuses and accusations on most of the latter pages. The author is perhaps a little immature and certainly self-centred and I await a revised edition where the author has the benefit of hindsight to recognise the failings in himself as an individual, and the bad feeling he has probably left in a game playing community which went out of their way to help him achieve his aim. A psychologist would find this book interesting - a study of a man who is afraid to lose, afraid to admit defeat and thinks he was the star of the show. There are only two stars in this book; Terrible Tinsley and a man named Lafferty. The author bad-mouths everyone in this book from Tony Buzan, a mind-mapping expert, Tinsley, Lafferty, a christian named Walker, his team, in fact everyone. Overall, though, a good book to pick up from Amazon if you accept that the author is far from perfect as an individual.
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