On Intelligence

By: Jeff Hawkins, Sandra Blakeslee

Narrated by: Jeff Hawkins, Stefan Rudnicki

Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

Jeff Hawkins, the man who created the PalmPilot, Treo smart phone, and other handheld devices, has reshaped our relationship to computers. Now he stands ready to revolutionize both neuroscience and computing in one stroke, with a new understanding of intelligence itself.

Hawkins develops a powerful theory of how the human brain works, explaining why computers are not intelligent and how, based on this new theory, we can finally build intelligent machines.

The brain is not a computer, but a memory system that stores experiences in a way that reflects the true structure of the world, remembering sequences of events and their nested relationships and making predictions based on those memories. It is this memory-prediction system that forms the basis of intelligence, perception, creativity, and even consciousness.

In an engaging style that will captivate audiences from the merely curious to the professional scientist, Hawkins shows how a clear understanding of how the brain works will make it possible for us to build intelligent machines, in silicon, that will exceed our human ability in surprising ways.

Written with acclaimed science writer Sandra Blakeslee, On Intelligence promises to completely transfigure the possibilities of the technology age. It is a landmark book in its scope and clarity.

Download the accompanying booklet of brain function illustrations, examples, and tests.

©2004 Jeff Hawkins and Sandra Blakeslee (P)2005 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"[Hawkins's] argument is complex but comprehensible, and his curiosity will intrigue anyone interested in the lessons neurobiology may hold for AI." (Booklist)
"[Hawkins] fully anticipates, even welcomes, the controversy he may provoke within the scientific community and admits that he might be wrong, even as he offers a checklist of potential discoveries that could prove him right. His engaging speculations are sure to win fans." (Publishers Weekly)

Taking the Risk of Seeing the Big Picture

I liked the way the author weaved the results of many researchers into a coherent and unified theory. Painting in broad strokes, he readily admits that some of the detail will be refined in time, yet he takes the risk of seeing the big picture. His theory is based on available research and he is well read. While research necessarily focuses narrowly only on the smallest possible piece of the puzzle, the author pulls together these pieces which are spread over many disciplines and decades to make a powerful theory of how the brain works. It is detailed yet assessable to the non-scientist. Sometimes it takes someone outside the field to be able to pull together the bigger picture while the leaders in the field ‘can’t see the forest for the leaves’. Well written and provocative…I bet it has shaken up more than one researcher from more than one discipline who could easily point out contradictions from their narrow perspective. Yet I doubt they have a more satisfactory overview to offer.

Rethinking Artificial Intelligence

Groundbreaking theories that convince. One gets the impression that "artificial intelligence" and "computer science" cannot progress much further. These fields may have to discard the last 70 years of developing on the Von Neumann architecture and start again.

a little dry but fascinating

good information, technical details are dry but gives excellent insight into brain and intelligence. would recommend to others

Unintentional Manual on How to Learn

Hawkins efforts to get to the heart of what the brain really does, and how it does it is fascinating in and of itself but it also provides a weird blue print to get smarter by clarifying how you absorb and retain information.

Intelligence is a hard and complicated subject

“Intelligence” is a frequently used word, but it is a very difficult and complicated one to define. The author of this book makes what could be very complicated subject matter easy to understand for the lay person, but the topics can also be enjoyed by those in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). He uses common words to explain difficult subject matter, and warns the reader of the one or two chapters where things get very technical. I appreciated his use of understandable illustrations along with examples making it easier for me to comprehend and appreciate the subject matter.

“On Intelligence”, written by Jeff Hawkins and Sandra Blakeslee, was a surprise find for me while doing research on the topic of AI. I was searching for books covering the subject from a primer level, however I was intrigued by the author’s premise from the book’s description. I wanted to note that the majority of the book is expertly and professionally narrated by Stefan Rudnicki with a few sections voiced by Jeff Hawkins himself.

The author comes to the subject matter with a vast amount of knowledge and study in the field of intelligence. He also comes to the table with a large knowledge of technology and the technology industry. He was the inventor of the PalmPilot along with other software accomplishments under his name. The author quickly setups up the difficulties of defining the word “intelligence” because it would be hard to have an “AI” without first understanding what intelligence is. As stated earlier, this is a difficult word to define and it really depends on who you ask this question too. A technologist will tell you one thing, a biologist another, and a psychologist another, etc. Mr. Hawkins takes a different approach to how others have defined it, and the remaining chapters of the book lay out his arguments.

I thought it humbling the author said that his own premise may be flawed in areas needing additional study, and he is willing to modify his beliefs based on new data or details. I will say that after listening to the book, I will not think of intelligence in the same way, and I’m sure while continuing my research on the subject of AI, I will be passing any new details thought the framework given in the book.

Regarding the narration of the book, as I stated earlier, it was professionally done. The narrator currently has over 531 others titles he has participated in voicing. There were no audio artifacts or issues I detected while listening and I have listed to other books by this narrator which I have enjoyed very much.

Disclaimer: I purchased this book using my own credits

Really useful for beginners in AI

Chapter 6 is the only one you might have to read again if you are a beginner. Otherwise, it's an easy book to understand and to get a feeling of the field. It really doesn't matter if some of the statements aren't quite correct, the general concept is important and I believe the author quite catches it. The narrator is pretty good as well, no problems understanding him.
I think that the author should release another book since it has been more than 10 years and he must have an updated view on AI by now.

One of the most enlightening books I've read

I've had this book for years but recently wanted to re-read/listen to it so I picked it up on Audible. It goes into depth about what the common perception of AI is and how wrong that is and what really has been accomplished. Then it goes into how a human intelligence is so different and how far away AI is from being able to do what we can and gives valuable examples of that.

Fascinating!

On Intelligence is a fascinating book. Jeff Hawkins may offend scientists who have worked long and hard on previous approaches to solving the mysteries of intelligence, but Hawkins’ theories are thought-provoking and should probably be an eye-opener to those who may very well be following the wrong paths to understanding this complicated topic. He has many excellent points and is the first one to say that his theories will undoubtedly be revised. The framework he proposes for understanding intelligence is easy enough for a layperson to understand while providing an intriguing look at how our own minds may work. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

Interesting, just a little dry in places

The information presented was interesting and did make me look at what intelligence is in a different way. Overall this audiobook was written for the layperson, but I found the information dry in places. Having said that, I have to say that I don't regret having bought this audiobook. It is worth the time invested in listening to it.

Boring presentation

Good subject, good ideas presented poorly. Way too many examples, analogies to drive home each idea, to the point where it was like a student filling up a term paper with fluff just to fill up the page. We get it. Move on. Seriously, this book could easily be reduced by a third and be much more polished and presentable.