Handbook of Natural Computing

Citation

Storch‐Rudall, Y.R. (2011), "Handbook of Natural Computing", Kybernetes, Vol. 40 No. 3/4, pp. 617-617. https://doi.org/10.1108/03684921111133791

Biocyberneticians and readers who work in the interdisciplinary areas of cybernetics and systems are aware of the increasing number of links that are being forged between what is described as the science of computing and the natural sciences. This handbook is designed to provide what the publishers describe as “[…] an exciting interaction between computer science and natural computing”.

Whilst this appears to be an expensive purchase it is a very comprehensive text of some 1,700 pages and most suitable for corporate or institutional reference libraries.

The authors believe that natural computing is an important catalyst for the interaction that occurs between computing as we know it and natural sciences. The title “Natural Computing” provides an interesting concept for the reader.

The whole text does provide what the publishers say “is a major record of this important development”.

It is encouraging to see that separate “ereference” and also “ereference and print” are being marketed.

Further information about these versions can be obtained from: www.springer.com

The editors of this comprehensive handbook are from the Leiden University, The Netherlands and are to be congratulated for undertaking such a mammouth task.

It is, however, unfortunate, that the handbook is currently available only as a set of three volumes which does, of course, restrict its use in one's own personal reference collection.