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Hermes and the Golden Thinking Machine
Hermes and the Golden Thinking Machine is a witty, fast-paced mystery that combines suspense with crucial concepts from the emerging field of artificial intelligence. Harvard professor Hermes Steganos finds himself implicated in the theft of the "Golden Thinking Machine," a priceless ancient Greek computational device. Trapped in a pattern of events whose logic he cannot decipher, he must activate his new AI expert system to solve the mystery before it is too late.
300 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
14 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 28, 2021
short review: there is a lot of this book I enjoy, particularly the nature of the conversations Hermes has with other characters. both the topics and the manner of the discussions is fascinating. however, there are some uncomfortable lines throughout the book, especially on page 45, which I would recommend skipping past entirely. these issues makes me hesitant to recommend the novel, despite how much of it I enjoyed and like to think about.
long review:
my favourite part of this novel are the multi-layered conversations Hermes has with other characters. most of them are simultaneously about the crime that Hermes is implicated in, and philosophical and academic topics, even when only one aspect is being directly described at any time, making for fascinating dialogue to puzzle over and consider in terms of both the story and real life studies. everybody's characterization is built on them holding particular perspectives, interest, or awareness of subjects such as the nature of the mind, problem solving, and art. their roles in the crime and how they try to understand it, and their goals for guiding or deceiving Hermes, are strongly related to where they stand on these academic topics.
the nature of the book as a mystery novel also means that everybody is an unreliable narrator. I find this inherent difficulty in taking anybody at face value makes what they have to say about academia much more interesting. instead of being asked to decide who is correct, each argument given can be considered for what is useful to take out of it, and seeing how interesting the questions it raises are. I find this refreshing and exciting, even for subjects (such as artificial intelligence) that I do not otherwise care for. there is no single objective viewpoint on art or how people work, just as there can be no single viewpoint to understand the whole story.
furthermore, some of the chapters - particular those with Nina and Robert - often serve to be much more abstract, discussing as a third layer the nature of storytelling both in general and in this novel. although, of course, with the latter, the characters don't realize they are describing themselves. Nina especially is my favourite character throughout, and I think part of that is because she acts as a stand-in for the reader themselves. she is effectively outside of the story, allowing her to not treat the subject matter with the seriousness that Hermes does. this lets her openly speculate on possibilities, sometimes wildly, without being worried about what the final answer will be.
in addition to Nina being the reader, I think of Hermes as the author. or, rather, an author figure. (thematic spoilers)
unfortunately, there are some moments in the book that could have been handled better, or just removed entirely. most notably, rather early on (page 45 in my copy), there is an extremely unpleasant and unexamined discussion of sexual harassment previously perpetuated by the murder victim. what's worse, it is immediately cast into doubt as whether or not it actually occurred. the moment is unsettling already, and suggesting "maybe she lied about it" does not create intrigue, it only suggests victim blaming.
one more event, at the very end of the book, feels completely pointless. (major spoiler)
- N & R
long review:
my favourite part of this novel are the multi-layered conversations Hermes has with other characters. most of them are simultaneously about the crime that Hermes is implicated in, and philosophical and academic topics, even when only one aspect is being directly described at any time, making for fascinating dialogue to puzzle over and consider in terms of both the story and real life studies. everybody's characterization is built on them holding particular perspectives, interest, or awareness of subjects such as the nature of the mind, problem solving, and art. their roles in the crime and how they try to understand it, and their goals for guiding or deceiving Hermes, are strongly related to where they stand on these academic topics.
the nature of the book as a mystery novel also means that everybody is an unreliable narrator. I find this inherent difficulty in taking anybody at face value makes what they have to say about academia much more interesting. instead of being asked to decide who is correct, each argument given can be considered for what is useful to take out of it, and seeing how interesting the questions it raises are. I find this refreshing and exciting, even for subjects (such as artificial intelligence) that I do not otherwise care for. there is no single objective viewpoint on art or how people work, just as there can be no single viewpoint to understand the whole story.
furthermore, some of the chapters - particular those with Nina and Robert - often serve to be much more abstract, discussing as a third layer the nature of storytelling both in general and in this novel. although, of course, with the latter, the characters don't realize they are describing themselves. Nina especially is my favourite character throughout, and I think part of that is because she acts as a stand-in for the reader themselves. she is effectively outside of the story, allowing her to not treat the subject matter with the seriousness that Hermes does. this lets her openly speculate on possibilities, sometimes wildly, without being worried about what the final answer will be.
in addition to Nina being the reader, I think of Hermes as the author. or, rather, an author figure. (thematic spoilers)
unfortunately, there are some moments in the book that could have been handled better, or just removed entirely. most notably, rather early on (page 45 in my copy), there is an extremely unpleasant and unexamined discussion of sexual harassment previously perpetuated by the murder victim. what's worse, it is immediately cast into doubt as whether or not it actually occurred. the moment is unsettling already, and suggesting "maybe she lied about it" does not create intrigue, it only suggests victim blaming.
one more event, at the very end of the book, feels completely pointless. (major spoiler)
- N & R
February 13, 2022
I enjoyed this book. Despite the unsatisfactory plot, it was fun.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews