An excerpt from my personal journal [in case you wondered about the salacious things I put in there]

[kaimeko]

9.8.05

Due to the onset of academic fatigue syndrome (a syndrome induced by the continued doing of interesting homework: although one wants to continue, one’s cognitive faculties make it increasingly harder to concentrate, absorb information, and reflect upon the material), I have decided to write.

Went to Rite Aid and bought Laundry Detergent

Comments

[hobbes512]

There's a good book I know of that talks about how the brain works, and presents a possible explanation for how you orient yourself to new people, places, etc. It's called Godel, Escher, Bach, by this Douglas Hofstaeder guy. A very good book, but it's rather long (around 500 pages, if I remember correctly), and there's a bunch of stuff about math you go through before you reach the bit about cognitive science and artificial intelligence, which is the stuff that begins to get at the answer to your question. Still, it comes highly recommended from me, if you ever have the time to read it.

[pendragoness]

Funny, I just had that reccomended to me a couple days ago. My friend said that it was "a kind of literary approach to math that you might like" (I'm a bit numerophobic, but I think math concepts are interesting...so...).

I Am Watching Legends of the Hidden Temple!

[hobbes512]

It's a really interesting read. And the math is explained in a pretty accessible way, though I still did find myself flipping back and forth several times to get some of the concepts. But it starts assuming zero background knowledge, and explains everything you need to know, so if you put a little effort into it, you'll have no problem. I'd say that it's definitely worth a read if you are at all interested in AI, philisophical questions raised by mathematics, or the nature of intelligence and how consciousness arises from a mass of neurons sitting in our heads.

[kaimeko]

It's funny you should mention that book. Both Mr. Viktora and my Intro to Cognitive Science teacher recommened it. I shall take it as a sign (and, as I have fortuitously just finished my most recent l e i s u r e book) I shall check it out from the library.
Tootles,
-eww

[genelee]

that is quite an ingenious idea to switch around teachers. i look forward most to just being able to make my own choices, but who knows if i'll like it so much when the novelty wears off. i think i will. try the shampoo and let me know if it's worthwhile.