Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Imagine living during the Renaissance and being able to interview that era's greatest scientists about their inspirations, discoveries, and personal interest. The latter half of our century has seen its own Renaissance - informations technology has changed irrevocable the way we live, work, and think about the world. We are fortunate, therefore, that the authors of Out of Their Minds have been able to talk so candidly with the founders of computer science.... The 15 scientists whose work is profiled in the book have each made significant contributions to a part of the creation of the modern files of computer science. Some of the scientists are well-known: Donald Knuth, Alan Kay, Danny Hillis; others worked in areas of algorith development, computation, computer architecture, and design. Among the scientists are seven Turing Award winners, the equivalent of the Nobel Prize.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Contents
• Introduction
• Linguists: J Backus
• Sculptors of Machine Intelligence
• Epilogue
• Postscript
• Glossary
• References

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Consider the problem of writing biographies of great computer scientists: although their accomplishments have had profound impacts in all technology advances, their lives do not provide the action-packed descriptions often used to hold reader interest. And yet, Shasha and Lazere have succeeded in writing a good biography of 15 of these folks, containing summaries of their work in an easy-to-read descriptive form, peppered with personal information and techie-type humor. Much of the material was obtained through personal interviews in which the individuals explained their thoughts in making their discoveries. The book is divided into four sections ("Linguists," "Algorithmists," "Architects," and "Sculptors of Machine Intelligence"), plus an analysis of common traits of these computer luminaries and a peek at the future. Biographies are included for John Backus, John McCarthy, Alan Kay, Edsger Dijkstra, Michael Rabin, Donald Knuth, Robert Tarjan, Leslie Lamport, Stephen Cook, Leonid Levin, Frederick Brooks, Burton Smith, W. Daniel Hillis, Edward Feigenbaum, and Douglas Lenat. Recommended for anyone interested in the history and personalities beyond the computer science. All levels. H. J. Bender; University of Maryland University College