22C:096
Computation, Information, and Description

Books and Papers to Read

Here are source materials that we will discuss in the class. I will assign some of them, and others will be left to your initiative. As much as possible, I am providing the texts online. If you know of an online version of a paper or book that I haven't yet found, please let me know immediately.

In preparation. Here are some of them:

• Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason, and Seeking Truth in the Sciences by René Descartes. Annotated for the class by Mike O'Donnell.
• Discours de la Méthode Pour Bien Conduire Sa Raison, et Chercher la Verité Dans les Sciences, par René Descartes.
• Silly jokes about Descartes' ``Cogito''
• An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke
• An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume
• Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant
• Critique of Practical Reason by Immanuel Kant
• Greg Chaitin
• Martin Davis
• Ming Li and Paul Vitanyi
• The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics by R. W. Hamming

More Optional Reading Materials

• Project Gutenberg
• Project Bartleby
• Internet Public Library
• ABU: la Bibliothèque Universelle
• Books in Chains (the Reference/Word Miscellany section has a not-to-be-missed description of Strunk's Elements of Style)
• Useful Philosophy Page with Annoying Frames
• The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (select the logo at the head to find a search service)
• Master Works of Western Civilization (aka Great Books)
• Alan Turing
• Principia Cybernetica Web
• Guide to Philosophy on the Internet
• The Virtual Museum of Computing

Reference

• Yahoo list of reference materials
• The WWW Virtual Library