Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions
A fascinating exploration of how computer algorithms can be applied to our everyday lives, helping to solve common decision-making problems and illuminate the workings of the human mind.
Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths
My Review:
Decision-making is one of the most critical functions of our mind. In this book, the authors clearly show how peoples' minds are programmed. The whole idea of algorithm design is about how our minds process and the steps we use to overcome challenges. Psychology explains how humans' minds operate when it comes to tasks that are difficult but common. We need to solve a problem once by finding the proper steps, remember them, and use them any time we face the same or similar problems. This idea is how computers work. Computers are programmed to make our life easier by completing tasks faster as a result of the combination of the power of the mind and the functionality of microprocessors that use with multiple levels of software. Authors go over the most crucial concepts of data structures and algorithms like searching, sorting, optimizing, graphs, etc., and show how such ideas were born. Although the literature is fairly simple, smooth, and does not include too many technical words and phrases, its concepts can be somehow difficult for readers with no or limited background in computer science and mathematics.