Reviews

Of all possible uses of computers in information handling the most controversial lie in the fields of artificial intelligence and expert systems. Incidentally, these fields are the most irritating to those people who cringe when computers are spoken of as is they possessed human attributes. They are also those areas which have absorbed most resources with comparatively little to show for it and yet are the most fascinating and potentially the most promising. They pose numerous unanswered questions and many daunting challenges, but they have brought some notable achievements, so librarians and information workers must accept the necessity to learn about, understand, and be capable of using and evaluating expert systems. Even in some cases they should be able to carry out modest development. But how do they achieve this desirable state of affairs? It is not often I go overboard when reviewing a book but I do so now because here is the answer to that question, the very book I, and I am sure many others, have been waiting for!