Vol. 18, No. 1 Book Shelf Handbook of Neural Networks for Speech Processing, edited by Shigeru Katagiri, Artech House Inc., 522 pp., $199.00, ISBN: 0-89006-954-9 This book introduces speech processing technologies using neural networks. Written by and for speech and signal processing engineers in industry, R&D and academia, it takes readers to the forefront of the emergent neural net-based processing techniques. The book is designed to give practitioners and students a better understanding of the technical issues relating to this research area. The editor introduces traditional and newly developed training methods used in neural network-based recognizer design attempts. It is the first publication to include a thorough treatment of the new design methodology GPD (generalized probabilistic descent). How to Build a Mind : Toward Machines With Imagination (Maps of the Mind), by Igor Aleksander, Columbia Univ. Press, 192 pp., $24.95, ISBN: 0231120125 Igor Aleksander heads a team that has applied engineering principles to the understanding of the human brain. Their work has culminated in "Magnus," which Aleksander calls a machine with imagination. The notion of conscious machines has met much derision but Aleksander contests that consciousness remains largely ill-defined. The book leads readers toward an understanding of consciousness. Aleksander shows not only how recent work with artificial neural systems suggests that an artificial consciousness is possible but also that its design would clarify many of the puzzles surrounding the concept of consciousness itself. Table of Contents Web Site © Copyright 2001 by Lionheart Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Lionheart Publishing, Inc. 2555 Cumberland Parkway, Suite 299, Atlanta, GA 30339 USA Phone: 770-431-0867 | Fax: 770-432-6969 E-mail: lpi@lionhrtpub.com Web: www.lionheartpub.com