Nils J. Nilsson is Kumagai Professor of Engineering, Emeritus, in the Department of Computer Science at Stanford University. He is the author of The Quest for Artificial Intelligence: A History of Ideas and Achievements and other books. He lives in Oregon.
A bit heavy on the mathematical side and gliding over the explanations in natural language, so I really wouldn't suggest this as a standalone introduction to machine learning, but this book certainly doesn't joke around.