Artificial intelligence : a modern approach

As some reviewers have said, this is probably the most comprehensive AI textbook on the market. The "pros" of the book have been covered pretty well by other reviewers, so I'll limit my review to some of the things that bug me about the book. 1. No answer key for any problems. This feature has been standard in textbooks for decades as a way for students to self-check their understanding of the material. 2. Examples are scant and sometimes stop in the middle. For example, in Chapter 13, the example of applying Bayes' Rule gives one approach and indicates that it will discuss an alternative approach, but then the text just goes off on another path and never completes the example. 3. Inconsistent and (sometimes) convoluted pseudocode for the algorithms. Pseudocode should be a fairly-close-to-English approximation of the algorithm, but this book seems to mix RTL, English, and any other notation. Though the appendix includes an attempt at explaining their rationale behind their own brand of pseudocode, it's incomplete at best. Also, the function names don't follow any convention I've ever seen (I have 30+ years experience in software), and aren't even consistent within the book. 4. Condescending language. This should never occur in a textbook. In far too many places, the authors tell us that "the sharp-eyed reader will have noticed" or similar phrases, which basically implies, "if you didn't get our explanation and find the hidden subtext, you are not sharp-eyed". All such language should have been edited out. The authors came so close to writing a classic, but sadly missed the mark. I think that any professors who claim that their students "universally love this book" are deluding themselves. Still, if your professor is good at explicating the material, it's worth going through it once, then switching to other materials, maybe primary source materials in the subfield(s) that grab your interest. Intelligent Agents - Stuart Russell And Peter Norvig Show How Intelligent Agents Can Be Built Using Ai Methods, And Explain How Different Agent Designs Are Appropriate Depending On The Nature Of The Task And Environment. Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach Is The First Ai Text To Present A Unified, Coherent Picture Of The Field. The Authors Focus On The Topics And Techniques That Are Most Promising For Building And Analyzing Current And Future Intelligent Systems. The Material Is Comprehensive And Authoritative, Yet Cohesive And Readable. State Of The Art - This Book Covers The Most Effective Modern Techniques For Solving Real Problems, Including Simulated Annealing, Memory-bounded Search, Global Ontologies, Dynamic Belief Networks, Neural Networks, Adaptive Probabilistic Networks, Inductive Logic Programming, Computational Learning Theory, And Reinforcement Learning. Leading Edge Ai Techniques Are Integrated Into Intelligent Agent Designs, Using Examples And Exercises To Lead Students From Simple, Reactive Agents To Advanced Planning Agents With Natural Language Capabilities. I. Artificial Intelligence. Intelligent Agents -- Ii. Problem-solving. Solving Problems By Searching. Informed Search Methods. Game Playing -- Iii. Knowledge And Reasoning. Agents That Reason Logically. First-order Logic. Building A Knowledge Base. Inference In First-order Logic. Logical Reasoning Systems -- Iv. Acting Logically. Planning. Practical Planning. Planning And Acting -- V. Uncertain Knowledge And Reasoning. Uncertainty. Probabilistic Reasoning Systems. Making Simple Decisions. Making Complex Decisions -- Vi. Learning. Learning From Observations. Learning In Neural And Belief Networks. Reinforcement Learning. Knowledge In Learning -- Vii. Communicating, Perceiving, And Acting. Agents That Communicate. Practical Natural Language Processing. Perception. Robotics -- Viii. Conclusions. Philosophical Foundations. Ai: Present And Future -- A Complexity Analysis And O() Notation -- B Notes On Languages And Algorithms. Stuart J. Russell And Peter Norvig ; Contributing Writers, John F. Canny, Jitendra M. Malik, Douglas D. Edwards. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 859-903) And Index.