Brian Clegg

Brian Clegg was always fascinated by Isaac Asimov's classic Foundation series of books, in which the future is predicted using sophisticated mathematical modeling of human psychology and behavior. Only much later did he realize that Asimov's "psychohistory" had a real-world equivalent: game theory. Originating in the study of probabilistic gambling games that depend on a random source - the throw of a dice or the toss of a coin - game theory soon...

Is the Brexit vote successful big-data politics or the end of democracy? Why do airlines overbook, and why do banks get it wrong so often? How does big data enable Netflix to forecast a hit, CERN to find the Higgs boson, and medics to discover if red wine really is good for you? And how are companies using big data to benefit from smart meters, to use advertising to spy on you, and to develop the gig economy, where workers are managed by the whim...

Entertaining and enlightening, this collection is an insightful guide to how computer science shapes and influences not just our day-to-day lives but also our future. Quantum Computing Computer technology has improved exponentially over the last fifty years, but the headroom for bigger and better electronic solutions is running out. Our best hope is to engage the power of quantum physics. In this approachable introduction, Brian Clegg explains algorithms...