• Thinking Machines

  • The Quest for Artificial Intelligence - and Where It's Taking Us Next
  • By: Luke Dormehl
  • Narrated by: Gus Brown
  • Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (60 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Thinking Machines  By  cover art

Thinking Machines

By: Luke Dormehl
Narrated by: Gus Brown
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $21.49

Buy for $21.49

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

When most of us think about artificial intelligence, our minds go straight to cyborgs, robots, and sci-fi thrillers where machines take over the world. But the truth is that artificial intelligence is already among us. It exists in our smartphones, fitness trackers, and refrigerators that tell us when the milk will expire. In some ways the future people dreamed of at the World's Fair in the 1960s is already here. We're teaching our machines how to think like humans, and they're learning at an incredible rate.

In Thinking Machines, technology journalist Luke Dormehl takes you through the history of AI and how it makes up the foundations of the machines that think for us today. Furthermore, Dormehl speculates on the incredible - and possibly terrifying - future that's much closer than many would imagine. This remarkable book will invite you to marvel at what now seems commonplace and to dream about a future in which the scope of humanity may need to widen to include intelligent machines.

©2017 Luke Dormehl (P)2017 HighBridge, a Division of Recorded Books

What listeners say about Thinking Machines

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    28
  • 4 Stars
    16
  • 3 Stars
    14
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    25
  • 4 Stars
    18
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    22
  • 4 Stars
    17
  • 3 Stars
    10
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Mostly platitudes with no depth

There's nothing in this book for which I could recommend it. There's a little history of AI and multiple news stories from the recent press all probably familiar to most listeners. The world is changing and networks and AI are happening, but at the most the author only gives surface explanations for what's really going on. There is a story to be told for what's happening, but the author only seems to get the current events in themselves but can't tie them together and is out of his depth when it comes to connecting the dots.

There is a revolution going on right now. The author talks a little bit about Google and its language translation program. He does talk about how the 'machine learning' algorithms made the translator problem solvable and more robust then the previous expert system approach, but he can't take the listener beyond platitudes when he talks about that or other current happenings in the field.

He thinks future teaching should consider that students don't need to remember facts as much since they can always look dates and such up off of the internet. But, I would say that if the student doesn't understand the context that comes from the connections that knowing the facts bring, then they will not understand the meaning of what is really going on. Ironically, that belief contributes to why the author could not connect the dots and wrote such a substandard book that really should be ignored by people who love this topic as much as I do.



Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Shallow, disjoint, disappointing

This book is a trivial compilation of a bunch of loosely coonected topics, with no depth. Clearly the author does not have technical background in the topic, thus unable to be selective or focused. Full of name/date droppings.

It feels as if someone did a Google search and patched the results into a book, with some writing skills.
Quite disappointing and painful to listen to the entire book.
There are a number of non-technical writers that have written outstanding books around science and technology, but this is not even close.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Best Artificial Intelligence Book I've Read So Far

... and I have read a few. I thought the author did an excellent job of providing some depth and approachability to an issue whose depths are not approachable at all. I have seen these topics and angles covered in other books. I have just not seen them covered so well and with some great humorous moments added in to boot.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Interesting look into the future of AI

This book is an interesting history lesson and future look into artificial intelligence. I enjoyed the story and the reader did a great job. All very entertaining!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!