Summary: The autobiography of an intellectual, this volume traces the dauntingly diverse career of a pioneer in artificial intelligence. Aside from his work in computer science, Simon has achieved important breakthroughs in political theory and cognitive psychology, and won the Nobel Prize for economics. He begins with his Wisconsin boyhood, sheds considerable light on the science and politics of academe, and clarifies how computers imitate human thought when devising innovative solutions to new problems. Comparing life to a maze, Simon defines the search for a path as the essential mental task of being human. ISBN 0-465-04640-1: $26.95.