Simply AI: Facts Made Fast

by D.K. Publishing

Combining clear labelled imagery with easy-to-understand text, this new edition of Simply Artificial Intelligence is the perfect introduction to the latest developments in AI, including ChatGPT and the Internet of Things.

Covering a broad range of fields within AI - from computing and mathematics to politics and philosophy - entries demystify what artificial intelligence is and how it works, how it has dramatically changed how we live, and how it might evolve in the future. Everyone is talking about AI, but this book helps to explain each individual aspect of AI more clearly than ever before.

Artificial intelligence is something that we have yet to understand fully. Explore the beginnings of this life-changing invention. Explore how technology has evolved and how our understanding of AI has developed. Whether you are interested in AI’s advances or are new to the topic, you can find a range of information and facts in this Simply edition.

This AI

-Outlines the key building blocks and technological milestones in its history, profiles its most important practical applications - both current and predicted

-Explores the ethical debates around AI and its increasing influence on culture and society.

-Provides an accessible, reader-friendly guide with detailed imagery and annotated illustrations, expert insights and jargon-free text

-Studies and experiments such as The Turing Test and The Chinese Room experiment

This book is part of the Simply Series, which includes books such as Simply Astronomy, Simply Psychology, Simply Maths, and more. Whether you are studying science or AI-related subjects at school or college or simply want a jargon-free overview of this increasingly important subject, this essential guide is packed with everything you need to understand the basics quickly and easily.

Genres: Nonfiction, Artificial Intelligence, Science, Technology

162 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 7, 2024

About the author

Dorling Kindersley (DK) is a British multinational publishing company specializing in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 62 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a consumer publishing company jointly owned by Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA and Pearson PLC. Bertelsmann owns 53% of the company and Pearson owns 47%.

Established in 1974, DK publishes a range of titles in genres including travel (including Eyewitness Travel Guides), arts and crafts, business, history, cooking, gaming, gardening, health and fitness, natural history, parenting, science and reference. They also publish books for children, toddlers and babies, covering such topics as history, the human body, animals and activities, as well as licensed properties such as LEGO, Disney and DeLiSo, licensor of the toy Sophie la Girafe. DK has offices in New York, London, Munich, New Delhi, Toronto and Melbourne.

Source: Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Sicofonia]

Simply not worth it. Many of the concepts could be better explained, I'm not sure who the intended audience for this book is. The computer savvy might find it lacking, and the illiterate might find her/himself none the wiser after reading it as no great amount of detail is put into describing the concepts.

The book is organized sequentially, starting with the history and basics of computer science an AI, then moving progressively to the evolution in the field and, finally, the philosophical and ethical implications of "strong AI". However, along the way some of the concepts refer to others in the pages ahead. Which doesn't lend itself for a pleasant reading experience. Maybe it's just my distaste for hopping between pages when I read.

To be able to give an account of AI from the beginning of computer science to nowadays in 160 pages proved to good to be true.

[LG (A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions)]

This starts with the history of artificial intelligence, then explains the difference between classical and statistical artificial intelligence and how they work, then goes into the various ways AI has been and may in the future be used, and finally wraps up with some philosophical quandaries and the benefits and drawbacks of AI's usage in the real world.

This was a frustrating read. While actual real-life ethical concerns about AI were brought up, mostly in the final section, there seemed to be far more random mentions of concerns about and the implications of AI achieving sentience. In fact, when I got to page 140's declaration that "In reality, AI applications have, at best, limited and specific abilities, and cannot think for themselves," I found myself wondering if whichever editor or consultant who wrote that text had paid attention to the many prior pages speculating about AI sentience.

When you've got a book that's, let's say, about half graphics and half text, 155 pages doesn't provide a lot of space for explaining things. I really wish the classical and statistical AI sections had been a bit less simplistic.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

[Javi]

Good: It's a fast read that introduces the reader to many different concepts. It's also a very visual book, full of diagrams and drawings.

Bad: random Jeff Bezos quote, they talk about Charles Babbage but not Ada Lovelace, a couple explanations were slightly inaccurate (unforgivable!)

It's fine, a good intro to the subject.

[Matthew Leslie]

Good introduction to living in a world where AI is commonplace. The pros and the cons as well as examples and future challenes.

[Joseph Roach]

I’m pretty sure the entire book was written by AI.

[Dr. Kat]

Pretty book, mostly pictures and used a lot of color and nice visuals to explain concepts in machine learning. It is a picture book and my favorite kind of book.

Organization is easy to follow. The three main themes of the book include introductory/overview section followed by classical ML, followed by statistical ML.

Overall an easy read for an undergraduate student getting started in ML. It is not a comprehensive resource in knowing how to run the models nor program them; it only covers the vocabulary and concepts.

[?]

3.5/5

Boken introducerar olika områden om AI. De är grundläggande koncept, men även för mig som studerar denna linje känns det inte så lätt att förstå. Jag var glad när boken tog upp någonting som jag redan har lärt mig. Dock tänk dig en nybörjare…informativt på ytlig nivå men ändå svårt att begripa. Det är inte direkt bokens fel för att den uppfyller sin syfte, det är bara min åsikt att boken var för bredd för min smak.

[Ali]

This one was a little all over the place. I agree with earlier critiques over uncertainty for audience. It's not quite basic enough for someone with no knowledge and goes into definitions and processes and ethical quandries that are advanced. I was hoping for a bit more: here is how AI is used and less definition and fear of skynet becoming self aware.

[Carlos]

El contenido ha respondido a lo que esperaba y está bien, pues el libro es breve. Pero tiene en español una edición que creo errónea, y es el cambio colores del fondo de las páginas, que dificulta la lectura y la concentración. Este podrá ser un libro sucinto sobre AI, pero no es un juego. A mí eso me molestado y dificultado su lectura.

[Shrijan]

It's a good book to get an introduction on various fields, concepts and topics within CS and A.I. However, it doesn't go in depth on much of the concepts. But I did love the colourful and visual approach to the concepts. It's a very short and a good read if you're trying to get some knowledge about A.I.

[Charles Long]

A great intro to today’s artificial intelligence boom. Includes some interesting artwork to help explain how AI works. Don’t expect this book to teach you how to build your own chat bot. This is the introduction into the history, technology and ideas behind artificial intelligence.

[Rolf]

A handy reference guide on the basic principles of AI, the history of AI, and how different forms of AI function. It begins to discuss headier questions of the philosophy and ethics of AI, but isn’t as strong on those elements as on the wonkier “How does it work?” type questions.

[Caleb Severn]

Well explained at quite a high level. Think "I work in AI but I want to talk to my grandparents". While the technical topics lack depth, the diagrams help you understand it. And I appreciated the more historical and philosophical concerns of AI.

[Fon Lertviriyavanich]

The book is what the title is. It is an introduction to the world of AI, at a very introductory level. There is nothing technical about it but I think it is a good starting point for people who try to understand what AI is.

[Beky]

Perfect book about learning basics of what AI is. I was pleasantly surprised that it covered the bias in AI, seeing this is effecting people when applying for employment.
Nicely designed, great to read if you have a short period of time to read. The infographics explain the topics well.

[Dyana Fam]

A random read from the city library.

I find it a tad too superficial. Might be a suitable introduction to AI for high school kids, especially the AI ethics chapters given the zeitgeist.

Can’t rate this as I am apparently not the intended audience.

[Mafalda]

not bad, but not fantastic

[Fanny M]

super intéressant

[Jeff]

Very brief overview of AI. Not very interesting or enlightening.

[Luis Cervantes]

Machine learning and deep learning

[Angel]

very top level primer into ai.

[ANN88]

Muy interesante a nivel divulgativo

[Jo-jean Keller]

Clear, well-written and documented information. I have a much clearer idea of how AI works.

[William Barrick]

Our media today speaks of AI over and over again, every day. Those who care deeply about this latest of innovations confront us with both the benefits and the dangers of AI. It behooves us to get to know more about AI. Simply AI provides a basic introduction to what it is, how it works, how it might be applied, and why it does have a potential dark side. This primer of AI helped me to finally get a grip on the details and to better understand the changes that are rapidly taking place with Ai's impact on media, medicine, robotics, warfare, and more. If, like me, you struggle to understand the positive and negative implications of AI, this is where to begin.

[Harsha]

Pretty decent intro to some topics. The first 60-70% of this book wasn't very useful for me because it contained very basic intros and fun facts that I mostly knew already, but the last 20-30% (about philosophy/ethics of consciousness) was fairly interesting.