This is an AI/Cognitive Science reading list from discussions at RobotsConf 2013. Please add to this list in the comments. Bonus point if all y'all keep 'em in chronological order. I'll update the master list later today! (Saturday December 7th 2013) Format: { Title } { Year_of_Publication } { Amazon_Link } { Short_Description}

AI-CogSci-Reading-List-RobotsConf-2013

How to Create a Mind
2013
http://www.amazon.com/How-Create-Mind-Thought-Revealed/dp/0143124048/
Great pop-cogsci book on Kurzweil's pattern recognition theory of mind. AI concepts such as hierarchal-hidden-markov-models and neural nets are discussed.

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Consciousness: An Introduction
2003
http://www.amazon.com/Consciousness-Introduction-Susan-Blackmore/dp/019515343X/
Excellent overview of Cognitive Science and the study of consciousness. Used as a textbook for COGS300 at Simon Fraser University. Easy to read and lots of interesting thought experiments.

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Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach
2002
http://www.amazon.com/Artificial-Intelligence-Modern-Approach-2nd/dp/0137903952/
A text for those with considerable logic/computing background. Considered the 'AI Bible' and used as curriculum in many computing/AI courses. Expect terse/dense/academic language.

Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology
1986
http://www.amazon.com/Vehicles-Experiments-Psychology-Valentino-Braitenberg/dp/0262521121

Each of the vehicles in the series incorporates the essential features of all the earlier models but represents an evolutionary advance to a higher plateau of complexity (including the designer's accidents or mistakes that sometimes resulted in a better machine). Along the way, they come to embody the instincts of fight or flight, the characteristic behaviors impelled by love and by logic, manifestations of foresight, concept formation, creative thinking, personality, and free will.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_Mind ... by ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_Minsky

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mind%27s_I ... by ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Hofstadter

Society of Mind
1988
http://www.amazon.com/The-Society-Mind-Marvin-Minsky/dp/0671657135
In a step-by-step process, Minsky constructs a model of human intelligence which is built up from the interactions of simple parts called agents, which are themselves mindless. I think it lines up very well with how people write concurrent software these days. Worth revisiting

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
1968
http://www.amazon.com/Androids-Dream-Electric-Sheep-MASTERWORKS-ebook/dp/B000SEGTI0/
Well.. Blade Runner.. but the book conveys a little more in some aspects.. still very thought provoking albeit easy read

I am a Strange Loop
2008
http://www.amazon.com/Am-Strange-Loop-Douglas-Hofstadter/dp/046503079
I like to think of this as an easier to read "Gödel, Escher, Bach" -- it gets to the gist without too many allegories and pages.

(Also, Alan Kay has a reading list here.. I refer to this occasionally when I can't think of my next book.. http://www.squeakland.org/resources/books/readingList.jsp)

Control Theory

An Introduction to Cybernetics
2011 (reproduction of 1923)
http://www.amazon.ca/Introduction-Cybernetics-William-Ross-Ashby/dp/117862191X

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Cybernetics or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine
1965
http://www.amazon.ca/Cybernetics-Control-Communication-Animal-Machine/dp/026273009X

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Reinforcement Learning: An Introduction
1998
http://www.amazon.ca/Reinforcement-Learning-Introduction-Richard-Sutton/dp/0262193981
Seminal book by Sutton and Barto. A new edition was announced by Sutton himself at the RLDM conference this year.