The most human human : what talking with computers teaches us about what it means to be alive

 by Brian Christian. Each year humans and computers square off for the Turing test, which Christian describes as a kind of speed dating via instant messaging, with five minutes to prove which is human. In 2009, Christian traveled to Brighton, England, to compete in a contest matching four humans and four computers. Christian chronicles his preparation and time spent devising strategies to trump the chatbot computers that can imitate humans. Along the way, he draws on philosophy, neurology, linguistics, and computer science, recalling chess master Garry Kasparov losing a match to IBM's Deep Blue computer and more recent developments in artificial intelligence. He explores how computers have challenged our bias toward the left hemisphere of the brain (logic) versus the right hemisphere (emotions) and how he and others have come to a deeper appreciation of emotional intelligence. He laments how so many jobs have trained employees with limited scripts that render them human chatbots. Christian intersperses interviews and musings on poetry and literature, observations on computer science, and excerpts from post-Turing test conversations for a fascinating exploration of what it means to be human. This book will surely change the way readers think about their conversations. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

The wisdom books : Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes : a translation with commentary

 by Robert Alter. The prolific Alter (Hebrew & comparative literature, Univ. of California, Berkeley; The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary) has provided a magnificent work of translation and commentary on the Old Testament books known as wisdom literature. In the books of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, we find evocative poetic statements on the value of life, the role of suffering, and God's place in a moral order that often seems neither just nor ordered. This translation is superb. Alter's literary training gives this rendition a poetic edge over more prosaic translations. In some cases, he keeps previously loved images even when those are perhaps not quite right (the whirlwind in Job 38, for example, more properly translated as "storm"). In other places, he supplies gems, such as translating the names of Job's daughters (Dove, Cinnamon, and Horn of Eyeshade). Of equal importance is the commentary, which is rich in linguistic, historical, and literary insights that immeasurably enrich the reading of these texts. VERDICT Highly recommended for religion and seminary collections. --Library Journal (Check Catalog)

Hegel's practical philosophy : rational agency as ethical life

 by Robert B. Pippin In their groundbreaking studies of Hegel's ethical thought, Charles Taylor and Allen Wood largely extracted that thought from Hegel's larger (and supposedly less plausible) speculative metaphysics. In this, the first book-length discussion of Hegel's practical philosophy to appear in the wake of renewed interest in Hegelian metaphysics generated by the work of Robert Brandom and John McDowell, Pippin (Univ. of Chicago) instead takes Hegel's theory of rational agency as an entry point for understanding the larger project. Pippin details the rationale behind Hegel's unconventional approaches to nature and mind, rational agency, and freedom of the will. In conceiving the mind as the awakening of slumbering nature rather than as material or immaterial substance, or rationality as a retrospective "game of giving and asking for reasons" rather than an individual capacity for deliberation, Hegel sought to overcome dualisms that have continued to influence ethics and political philosophy. Pippin is adept in his use of sources (his turn to the Jena Phenomenology in exploring rationality is particularly noteworthy), and remarkably clear in his explanations of difficult texts. This book is crucial for serious students of Hegel's ethical theory. --Choice (Check Catalog)

Christianity and world religions : disputed questions in the theology of religions

 by Gavin D'Costa. D'Costa (Bristol Univ., UK) offers a Roman Catholic analysis of how Christianity relates to other religions. He describes his existential engagement with the subject: namely, as an African-born theologian of Indian Catholic descent, the brother of a Buddhist, and a teacher in a modern secular setting. He offers what he believes to be a nuanced and therefore useful typology of theological positions, critically evaluating leading proponents of each in turn. He also gives attention to what one means by "religion," and seeks to include secular modernity rather than to allow it to maintain a privileged objectivity. D'Costa proposes alliances and deeper conversation among Christians and Muslims in Europe, to meet the challenge of the comparatively young religion of secularism that idolizes the sovereign state and seeks to exclude other religious options from the public forum. Finally, he takes a position within what he calls Christian universal-access exclusivism, which assumes that one must explicitly hear and trust the gospel for salvation, but that this may happen after death. He finds convincing substantiation for his position in biblical, patristic, and medieval Christian doctrine. Summing Up: Recommended. --Choice (Check Catalog)