The end of my vacation is comming…

My vacation is getting over and this is a good time to evaluate that…

Well, I read some books I wanted (I’ll write reviews soon):

• The Math Gene, Keith Devlin

I read the brazilian portuguese version: “O Gene da Matemática”. Congratulations to the translator, he did a nice work. It’s and amazing book! Tells about the origin of the “mathematical thinking”, putting off the math-fear of people whose don’t like this science. It makes me looking for other books by Devlin, like Life by Numbers, Mathematics: The Science of Patterns, The Math Instinct, Goodbye, Descartes and The Language of Mathematics. Recommended!

• Lisp 3rd. Edition, Winston & Horn

A nice introduction to Common Lisp with so good examples, some of them are about AI, like pattern searching, world simulation and backtracking. There are funny things like Lisp-in-Lisp and Prolog-in-Lisp too .

• Practical Common Lisp, Peter Seibel

It’s the best book to learn Common Lisp. The practical examples are good enough to make the reader to use it to do your own projects. Peter (a so active Lisper) tells about Lisp macros right in the first example. The book explains all about a Lisp newbie need to start his hacking. I recommend it so much (there is a on-line version)! Congratulations Peter!

Now I’m reading the wonderful Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs. I’m watching the video lectures too. Thanks Pedro about the DVD’s and your awsome pointings . It uses a Lisp dialect (Scheme) to teach the-most-beautiful-ideas about computer science. I don’t need to say that I recommend it for everyone whose want to learn the real computer science.

As my nightly-reading (I have the costume to read a minor-technical-book at night ) I’m reading the brazilian portuguese version (“A máquina Universo”) of Pierre Lévy’s La machine univers. Création et culture informatique. I’m being a fan of Lévy’s philosophy.

I’m working in so good projects too. News are coming

Conclusion: a good Lispy vacation