Re-releases from Andy Cohen + Eleanor Ellis + William Lee Ellis, Leon Russell with Mary Russell, and Johnny Winter
Reality+
by David J Chalmers
Allen Lane, hardback, £25
THIRTY-EIGHT years ago, I was struggling to understand the use of Boltzmann machines, cellular automata and neural networks in the simulation of human behaviour and development. Using these mathematical models as the basis for computer programmes was a challenge, but I was even more bemused by the philosophical implications of simulated worlds.
The experience might have been less perplexing if I’d had access to the thoughts and teaching of David J Chalmers, whose latest book is a comprehensive and painstaking study of simulation, consciousness, and being.
RICHARD SHILLCOCK examines an enjoyable, but philosophically conventional book, and urges Marxists to employ their capacity to embrace the totality in any explanation
JOHN GREEN’s palate is tickled by useful information leavened by amusing and unusual anecdotes, incidental gossip and scare stories
MATTHEW HAWKINS applauds a psychotherapist’s dissection of William Blake
ANDY HEDGECOCK relishes an exuberant blend of emotion and analysis that captures the politics and contrarian nature of the French composer



