Adaptive Pattern Recognition and Neural Networks — Yoh-Han Pao, 1989 First Edition | Vintage Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning

Published in 1989, Adaptive Pattern Recognition and Neural Networks captures artificial intelligence at an especially interesting moment: neural networks had returned to serious research attention, but decades before “machine learning” became a household term.

Yoh-Han Pao approaches neural networks through the broader problem of pattern recognition—how a computer can classify, distinguish, and extract meaning from complex inputs. The book connects classical statistical pattern-recognition methods with then-emerging neural-network techniques, drawing from artificial intelligence, cognitive science, engineering, neurobiology, and psychology. Contemporary descriptions emphasize subjects including Bayesian methods, decision trees, fuzzy logic, associative memory, self-organizing systems, perceptrons, Hopfield networks, and supervised learning.

The example shown here is particularly recognizable from a modern machine-learning perspective: an entropy-based decision-tree procedure that repeatedly selects features according to information gain. What now looks like familiar ML vocabulary appears here as part of a developing field rather than an established software toolkit.

The book was also cited favorably in early neural-network computing circles. A 1990s neural-net FAQ described it as an excellent bridge between conventional pattern-recognition methods and neural networks, while a university course later recommended it for its treatment of Bayesian statistics, fuzzy logic, and computational approaches to neural networks.

Author: Yoh-Han Pao
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company
Year: 1989
Edition: First Edition
Printing: Appears to be first printing; the copyright page retains the complete ABCDEFGHIJ publisher letter line
Format: Hardcover
Pagination: xviii + 309 pages
ISBN: 0-201-12584-6
ISBN-13: 978-0-201-12584-9
LCCN: 88-007760

Condition:
Vintage hardcover without dust jacket. Blue boards show light shelf wear, rubbing, and minor edge/corner wear. Former institutional/library copy with handwritten call-number notation and remnants of a library label/tape near the lower spine. Interior pages shown are clean and clearly legible with normal age toning. Binding appears sound. See photos for exact condition.