Rapture for the Geeks

I just finished reading Rapture for the Geeks by Richard Dooling. I picked it up @ the local Barnes and Noble while my companion was looking at cooking magazines (or something). I had a chance to read a bit before it was time to go and before too long I was drawn in. The subtitle itself was intriguing enough: "When AI Outsmarts IQ"...I decided I had to have it.

The opening few chapters were amusing enough but did spend some time on what I consider to be computer/software basics. However, I imagined that the author had to establish a vocabulary to be used throughout the book and didn't want to leave any readers behind.

The fundamental premise of the book was about a concept of which I hadn't previous been exposed: The Singularity. According to Wikipedia, this is defined as: "a theoretical future point of unprecedented technological progress, caused in part by the ability of machines to improve themselves using artificial intelligence".

The book challenged me in all the ways that I hoped (abstraction, philosophy, technical facts). If you're looking for a quick read, pick it up.