Models of My Life

(Paperback)

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In this autobiography, Nobel laureate Herbert A. Simon looks at his career, continually asking himself whether (and how) what he learned as a scientist helps to explain other aspects of his life. A polymath in an age of increasing specialization, Simon is one of those scholars whose work may define fields of inquiry. Crossing disciplinary lines in half a dozen fields, Simon's story encompasses the information sciences, the transformation of psychology by the information of computer paradigm, and the use of computer simulation for modelling the behaviour of highly complex systems. Simon's theory of bounded rationality led to a Nobel Prize in economics, and his work on building machines that think - based on the notion that human intelligence is the rule-governed manipulation of symbols - laid conceptual foundations for the new cognitive science. Subsequently, contrasting metaphors of the maze (Simon's view) and of the mind (neural nets) have dominated the artifical intelligence debate. There is also an account of his successful marriage and of an unconsummated love affair, letters to his children, columns, a short story, and political and personal intrigue in academe.

Reviews

"As much as any one person, Herbert A. Simon has shaped the intellectual agenda of the human and social sciences in the second half of the 20th century .... For many readers, Mr. Simon's view of human endeavor, of love and of work, will seem emblematic not of the pre-Freudian rationalism-that-was but a new, sleeker, rationalism-to-be--a rationalism purged of utopian excess, committed to empirical studies, and wedded to the most modern technology."--Sherry Turkle, "New York Times Book Review"
& quot; As much as any one person, Herbert A. Simon has shaped the intellectual agenda of the human and social sciences in the second half of the 20th century .... For many readers, Mr. Simon's view of human endeavor, of love and of work, will seem emblematic not of the pre-Freudian rationalism-that-was but a new, sleeker, rationalism-to-be -- a rationalism purged of utopian excess, committed to empirical studies, and wedded to the most modern technology.& quot; -- Sherry Turkle, New York Times Book Review
" As much as any one person, Herbert A. Simon has shaped the intellectual agenda of the human and social sciences in the second half of the 20th century .... For many readers, Mr. Simon's view of human endeavor, of love and of work, will seem emblematic not of the pre-Freudian rationalism-that-was but a new, sleeker, rationalism-to-be -- a rationalism purged of utopian excess, committed to empirical studies, and wedded to the most modern technology." -- Sherry Turkle, "New York Times Book Review"
-- Sherry Turkle, "New York Times Book Review"

Author Bio

Herbert A. Simon (1916-2001) was an influential psychologist and political scientist, awarded the 1978 Nobel Prize in Economics and the 1975 Turing Award (with Allen Newell). His many published books include Models of Bounded Rationality and Models of My Life (both published by the MIT Press)..