Bad choices : how algorithms can help you think smarter and live happier
(Book)

A programmer and data visualizer at Apple, Almossawi (An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments, 2014) thinks algorithms can and should be used everywhere, not just in supercomputers and advanced math classes. Defining algorithms as a series of unambiguous steps that achieves some meaningful objective in finite time, Almossawi picks everyday tasks like sorting socks, discovering new music, and writing witty status updates and examines the most efficient ways to achieve them. Each short chapter, mercifully barren of headache-inducing formulas, spotlights different computer-science concepts that can be put to use in each situation, like context switching and linearithmic time. With a title that is more self-helpy than it ought to be, and a woolly writing style that undermines the book's aim to simplify, readers expecting a more rigorous self-help regimen should instead anticipate quaint but instructive vignettes dressed up with cute illustrations. But anyone with a high-school-level understanding of math or a penchant for logic puzzles will appreciate this easily digestible primer on how little choices can make a big difference.--Comello, Chad Copyright 2017 Booklist

Following 2014's An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments, computer scientist Almossawi takes another crack at explaining logic to the masses, this time with less success. He attempts to acquaint readers with "algorithmic thinking" by drawing comparisons to activities in everyday life, defining an algorithm as "a series of unambiguous steps that achieves some meaningful objective in finite time." Each chapter takes a look at a task, such as sorting socks or making a grocery run, and offers two or three possible methods of accomplishing that task. The author's quirky sense of humor is rather hit or miss, as are the illustrations by Alejandro Giraldo; why does the chapter on sock sorting feature a backpacker staring down a well? The book is filled with computer science terminology, which tends to obfuscate rather than clarify. At one point, Almossawi tells readers that "whenever our hash function happens to resolve to a location that has multiple items, we end up having to iterate over those items until we find the one that we're looking for. All this is of course completely transparent to the user." As a result, the book reads like an instruction manual for computer scientists who need suggestions on navigating household chores, rather than a book on computer science for lay readers. B&w illus. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

A programmer and data visualizer at Apple, Almossawi (An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments, 2014) thinks algorithms can and should be used everywhere, not just in supercomputers and advanced math classes. Defining algorithms as "a series of unambiguous steps that achieves some meaningful objective in finite time," Almossawi picks everyday tasks like sorting socks, discovering new music, and writing witty status updates and examines the most efficient ways to achieve them. Each short chapter, mercifully barren of headache-inducing formulas, spotlights different computer-science concepts that can be put to use in each situation, like context switching and linearithmic time. With a title that is more self-helpy than it ought to be, and a woolly writing style that undermines the book's aim to simplify, readers expecting a more rigorous self-help regimen should instead anticipate quaint but instructive vignettes dressed up with cute illustrations. But anyone with a high-school-level understanding of math or a penchant for logic puzzles will appreciate this easily digestible primer on how little choices can make a big difference. Copyright 2017 Booklist Reviews.

Following 2014's An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments, computer scientist Almossawi takes another crack at explaining logic to the masses, this time with less success. He attempts to acquaint readers with "algorithmic thinking" by drawing comparisons to activities in everyday life, defining an algorithm as "a series of unambiguous steps that achieves some meaningful objective in finite time." Each chapter takes a look at a task, such as sorting socks or making a grocery run, and offers two or three possible methods of accomplishing that task. The author's quirky sense of humor is rather hit or miss, as are the illustrations by Alejandro Giraldo; why does the chapter on sock sorting feature a backpacker staring down a well? The book is filled with computer science terminology, which tends to obfuscate rather than clarify. At one point, Almossawi tells readers that "whenever our hash function happens to resolve to a location that has multiple items, we end up having to iterate over those items until we find the one that we're looking for. All this is of course completely transparent to the user." As a result, the book reads like an instruction manual for computer scientists who need suggestions on navigating household chores, rather than a book on computer science for lay readers. B&w illus. (Apr.)