BKALEXPK.RVW 940728 SAMS Publishing 11711 N. College Ave., Suite 140 Carmel, IN 46032-5634 317-573-2500 317-581-3535 800-428-5331 800-428-3804 "Artificial Life Explorer's Kit", Thro, 1993, 0-672-30301-9, U$24.95/C$31.95 Every experienced outdoor school teacher knows that game, "Predators and Prey". You divide the group into a large number of herbivores and a much smaller number of carnivores. After giving out the rules, it is basically a game of tag with the added complication that the "prey" have to collect "food" and "water" (handed out by different teachers) to survive, and the "predators" have to collect "prey" and "water". There are infinite variations on the rules, such as the provision to "reproduce" by gathering an excess of food and water. Games are usually played with periodic assessments of the "populations" and over several days, with increasing complexity of rules. The stated objective is to teach ecology awareness and population dynamics. In reality, of course, it is a relatively painless way to keep up to 200 grade sixers occupied at minimal cost to the teachers. Artificial life, and the study thereof, is much the same. Grandiose claims are made for the potential of artificial life (or A-life) programs and devices, but the current state of the art is mostly fun and games. With that understanding, Thro's book is an easy, amusing and wide ranging introduction to the field. This is sort of a tabloid version of A-life: lots of interesting arcana, lots of sidebars, lots of celebrities, not much in the way of analysis or in-depth exploration. At the end of it, however, you have a pretty good grasp of the different areas being worked on. Not to mention a disk full of fun shareware games. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKALEXPK.RVW 940728 ====================== DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733 Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" (Oct. '94) Springer-Verlag