Herbert Simon's research contributes to human knowledge in many different areas, including economics, artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology, and organizational behavior. In each of the mentioned areas, his contributions are ranked among the most important and influential that even a scientist who focuses solely in one area finds hard to achieve. The testimony is the top awards that the community in each discipline bestowed upon him--the Nobel prize is only one of which.

The secret of this interdisciplinary success is that he is, in his own word, a "monomaniac", studying only one thing--human decision process--for fifty years. The field of his own choosing is not bounded by usual academic disciplines, however, and he did study it from many different aspects, from the levels of individual cognition to organizational decisions, using tools as varied as mathematics, computer simulations, and human subjects.

This book detailed his own account of the various aspects of his life, personal and professional, in a sincere and direct prose. From the childhood that undoubtedly helped set the tone for his later accomplishments, the way he managed and nurtured new academic thoughts that later grown into full-fledged disciplines (artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and, less prominently, bounded rationality), to the philosophy of working and living including brief exposures to familial life, we can learn tremendously from hise xperience, decisions, and actions.

How could he achieve as much as he did? We can glean several lessons from his stories. He collaborated extensively. He learned a great deal from the outstanding individuals he respected. He had a love for truth and rigor in reasoning. An empiricist who firmly believed that any valid theory must be based on empirical facts, he did not hesitate to fight against widely held beliefs conflicting with facts. His work on bounded rationality which helped earn him the Nobel Prize is an outstanding case which his stubborn, and valid, arguments against mainstream theories brought a valuable alternative viewpoint to the world. Strong passion and the ability to break out of the mold and stand tall under storms are important characteristics exemplified by many past giants, including Galileo, Columbus, and Einstein.

Not just a normal autobiography, but the story of a distinguished life we all can learn from.

Herbert Simon is an amazing figure in the world of science. A Noble winner in economics, a well-known contributor in psychology, and an expert in organizational study. People who know him always wonder how can he be so successful in different fields. By reading this book, you are able to get the light of the stories behind his success.

As same as the papers he wrote for his research work, Simon's writings are always straightforward and intrigue you to think about the world we are living. When you read this book, it may change your thinking of this world. By reading his books, you would understand why simple human being will always have complex behavior.

Though passed in Feb., 2001, Herbert Simon is an unforgettable figure to our lives.

One of the best book I read on powerbuilder. it is a good learning book for the intermediate & expert PB5 programmer.

Instead of wasting your time having you build applications you'll never use, this book gets you into real Powerbuilder code. It takes time to explain some of the basics, but it is a well-written reference for intermediate to expert PB5 programmers. Excellent coverage of the new PB5 features and great help in migrating from 4.0! I recommend any PB developer to add this book to their library.

I think what is amazing about this book is that Herbert Benson states without a doubt that faith in God is healthy for us. While our ancestors took it for granted that God healed them, as Dr. Benson explains, we have been taught to see healing purely in technical scientific terms. Dr. Benson explains that when we repudiated the importance of belief in healing we deprived ourselves of a powerful healing force.

Dr. Benson knows that his rational-scientific audience will be skeptical of his arguements. So, he provides us with well-reasoned arguements supported by ample evidence. He explains that we need to relax our over-stressed minds on a regular basis. We need this as an antedote to our hurried lives that stress us out and make us sick. He cites many studies (much from his own research) that daily meditation stimulates the bodies natural healing mechanisms.

Now, the radical finding of Dr. Benson's research is that belief in God makes a difference in healing. If a person meditates regularly using a spiritual phrase they are more likely to heal than those who use a secular word such as "peace". The person's religion doesn't matter. It seems that God is an equal opportunity healer.

Dr Benson presents strong evidence for what others have called the "mind / body connection." Mainstream medical science has not yet recognized the importance belief plays in health but, Dr. Benson presents numerous studies that validate the major role belief plays in the healing process and wellness. Practitioners of complimentary therapies will find this book especially helpful in understanding how many non-drug based therapies can work. Well written and thought provoking!

According to Simon, much has been written about actual doings in administrative theory, but less has been written about the processes that precede action, that is, decision-making processes. The main objective of the book is to understand the organizations in terms of decision-making processes. Comprehending the decision-making processes in administrative settings, according to Simon, will give the executives the opportunity of influencing the decisions of lower-level decision makers.

The book starts with a sarcastic criticism of classical administrative theory that has organized itself according to the schools and based mostly on principles. Simon demonstrates the limitations of principles-he calls these proverbs-offered by administrative theory scholars by illustrating how these principles contradict each other under specific circumstances. As an example, the author uses the conflict between unity of command and efficiency. When these two principles conflict with each other under some circumstances, these principles themselves do not give us any criteria that will provide us with the priority ranking that will help us to apply one of them. That is, a set of criteria that will guide the application of these principles must be developed. Instead of gathering around schools, Simon proposes that each theory deal with different domains of administrative organizations and knowledge cumulated about these domains be related to each other and be placed in a larger structure.

Also, Simon asserts that the fact and value must be separated from each other in a decision-making situation. The truth or wrongness of any decision in any administrative setting must be assessed according to the factual content of the decision, believes the author. I am not sure about how can we separate the value from fact, and Simon does not give any satisfactory answer to this problem. This problem belongs not only to Simon, but also belongs to all scholars that follow logical positivistic tradition of science.

The most contributive and thought-provoking chapters of the book are the fourth and fifth chapters in which the author develops the concept "bounded rationality", a concept that has positioned itself in the history of management thinking. First of all, Simon introduces the concept "means-ends hierarchy" to base the rationality on a robust foundation. Rationality is defined as the behavior alternatives (means) that will help the organization members achieve the stated ends above his level of hierarchy. That is, instrumental rationality is accepted. But, Simon asserts that rationality of an individual is bounded because "the number of alternatives he must explore is so great, the information he would need to evaluate them so vast that even an approximation is hard to conceive" (p. 92). Because of the limitations of the psychological environment of the individual, it is impossible for any decision-maker to be purely rational. According to Simon, the pattern of human choice is often more a stimulus-choice pattern than a choice among alternatives (p. 117). Due to information-processing limitations of individual workers the design of the decision-making system becomes very important in that Simon believes that the system must be designed in such a way that brings the "necessary" data (not much data) to the zone of attention of the individual decision makers. The objective for the executives, Simon believes, is to influence "givens" of the employees. Division of work, establishment of work practices, hierarchy of authority, communication system, training and indoctrination are some tools to be used to influence the givens of the individuals in a way to better serve the larger goals of the organization. Based on bounded rationality, "administrative man" makes a decision not to maximize the utility as does the "economic man", but to "satisfice". I think this is a great contribution that has taken a respectable position in the field of organization theory, though the economists are still at rational economic man.

There are very interesting chapters in the book that symbolize the breaking points from the classical administrative theory. However, one of the most important flaws of the book I believe is its assumption that organizational goals (at the top level) are known so that means-ends hierarchy serves a useful purpose. If the members of the organization at the top (top management) are not aware or are "consciously unconscious" of the organizational goals, the whole theory of Simon collapses.

I think and see that the later scholars of administrative theory have not followed the advice of Simon to establish a coherent framework and theory regarding organizational thinking, instead the theory has been splintered into different schools, each of which draws a different picture of organizations based on different premises. I believe this is the indication of richness, not the proof of the immaturity of the field.

Overall I highly recommend this classic to every student of organization theory. This book is worthy of reading several times, despite the discussible points I mentioned.

This title is actually one of the earliest in a very successful list of Golden Guides. It quickly brings the reader up to speed on the subject of insects in general and proceeds to lure him onward with fascinating information about each of the referenced insects in turn. When I arrived in New England, after an early childhood of city dwelling, my forays into woods and field, guidebook in hand, were some of the most educational times of my young life. I still have my original, ragged, copy of "American Insects" and treasure it.

Simon-Smithburg-Thompson: Public Admninistration was my first text book in English - year 1968 at the University of Tampere, Finland. I have beeen professor of Public Administration since 1980. Still, it a classic.

A book which opens a new direction in mankind's outlook towards itself. Talks about how the ultimate quality, namely the creativity, which distinguishes humans from all the animals, is not unique. Should be compulsory reading for all students of computers, if not everybody. Hundred years form now, scientists will call this the first book ever published.

I read this book when I Was a medical Student, then I was a professor of Psychiatry and had revised many other books but this one provides basics research and good basic facts that will provide stepping stones toward further "new" knowledge. It'still an excellent reference.

Although the language is a little stilted at times and difficult to read, the range and scope - and implications - of Simon's ideas are profound. The relationships he describes between thinking, computing, and human behavior are extremely interesting and provide a "look toward the future". And the fact that Simon has been working and researching in this area for, like, FOREVER (some of the citations of his work is from the 50's) lends a lot of credence to his ideas.

Explores economics, management, computer science, psychology and phylosophy to understand human being and artifacts, the work of human being. Ideas presented are highly philosophical but widely applicable to the real world, especially when designing organization or large projects.

This book assumes you have worked with all previous versions of Powerbuilder. Not for developers new to Powerbuilder.

...but then again, there aren't that many references for this subject out there. This book is very good with filling in the gaps of knowledge that you might already have. I believe it is not a beginners book, it assumes prior knowledge and experience. I passed the Sybase PowerBuilder Associate certification test with this book alone. My interview skills got better. I highly recommend this book for PB developers!!!

This book is excellent as a reference book, 5 stars. As a learning edition is just good, 4 stars. If you are a novice, read this book after reading a Derek Ball Powerbuilder books.