Free ebooks: new Doctorow novel +cognitive science and Lego robots

[kestrell]

1. For the Win (2010) by Cory Doctorow
http://craphound.com/ftw/download/

2. From Bricks to Brains:
The Embodied Cognitive Science of LEGO Robots

by Michael Dawson, Brian Dupuis, and Michael Wilson (AU Press, 2010)

Available as a paperback or a PDF ebook
http://www.aupress.ca/index.php/books/120175

About the Book

From Bricks to Brains introduces embodied cognitive science, and illustrates its foundational ideas through the construction and observation of LEGO Mindstorms
robots.

Discussing the characteristics that distinguish embodied cognitive science from classical cognitive science, From Bricks to Brains places a renewed emphasis
on sensing and acting, the importance of embodiment, the exploration of distributed notions of control, and the development of theories by synthesizing
simple systems and exploring their behaviour. Numerous examples are used to illustrate a key theme: the importance of an agent’s environment. Even simple
agents, such as LEGO robots, are capable of exhibiting complex behaviour when they can sense and affect the world around them.