# Book Review of Zadeh's Selected Papers

Chiang Yew Kee (ykchiang@usa.net)
Fri, 27 Jun 1997 20:08:40 +0200

BOOK REVIEW (Published in IJUFKS, Vol. 5, No. 2, 1997, pp. 211-212)

FUZZY SETS, FUZZY LOGIC, AND FUZZY SYSTEMS
Selected Papers by Lotfi A. Zadeh
edited by George J. Klir and Bo Yuan
World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte Ltd., Singapore, 1996
xiv+826~pages, ISBN: 981-02-2421-4, ISBN: 981-02-2422-2 (pbk).
Vol. 6 in Advances in Fuzzy Systems -- Applications and Theory

(Anyone interested in this book can go to
http://www.wspc.com.sg/books/compsci/2895.html)

In the early 1960's Professor Lotfi A.~Zadeh\footnote{\eightrm\baselineskip=10pt Professor Zadeh has authored over 104 papers in the field of fuzzy systems. Another volume, entitled {\it Fuzzy Sets and Applications}, edited by Ronald R. Yager, Sergei Ovchinnikov, Richard M.~Tong and Hung T. Nguyen, John Wiley, 1987, 684 pages, contains 19 seminal papers of Professor Zadeh.} (University of California, Berkeley), who had made many seminal contributions to the field of feedback control systems,
thought over the qualitative and quantitative aspects of human thinking and human logic and introduced the notion of fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic. It was in 1965, when he published the first paper on this notion (Fuzzy Sets,'' {\it Information and Control}, Vol.~8, No.~3, pp.~338--353, 1965) and introduced a new mathematical tool: fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic; this logic is capable of emulating certain functions of human intelligence. In partnership with other mathematical tools such as neural
networks, genetic algorithms, and chaos theory,the field of fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic is responsible for introducing a new field --- the field of soft computing.
This 840-page volume, entitled {\it Fuzzy Sets}, {\it Fuzzy Logic}, {\it and Fuzzy Systems}, and edited by Dr. George J. Klir and Dr. Bo Yuan, contains 44 important papers of Professor Lotfi Zadeh, written over the last three decades (1965--96) and arranged in a chronological order.

The first volume by Yager {\it et~al.} was published at the beginning of the twentieth anniversary of the publication of the first paper on fuzzy sets by Professor Zadeh. This second volume, which appeared in 1996, is at the beginning of the thirtieth anniversary of fuzzy sets.

{Today, this field of fuzzy logic has created a revolution in the thinking of mathematicians, engineers, economists, management scientists, medical scientists, and others, and has generated a new emphasis, both in their research journals and books. However, when we read and re-read Professor Zadeh's papers, they give us a new feeling and a new insight. The editors of this volume, who themselves have\hfilneg} contributed profoundly to this field, have made these seminal papers available to the
world fuzzy community in the form of a volume.

Professor Lotfi A. Zadeh's seminal contributions contained in this volume can be characterized by the following keywords:

\medskip

{\it Fuzzy sets}, {\it fuzzy logic}, {\it fuzzy computing},
{\it fuzzy systems}, {\it fuzzy relations}, {\it L-fuzzy sets},
{\it fuzzy Markoff algorithms}, {\it fuzzy language}, {\it fuzzy decision making}, {\it approximate reasoning}, {\it fuzzy dynamic programming}, {\it fuzzy optimization}, {\it linguistic variables}, {\it fuzzy quantifiers}, {\it fuzzy calculus}, {\it fuzzy if-then rules}, {\it possibility theory}, {\it probability measures of fuzzy events}, {\it fuzzy probabilities}, {\it information granularities}, {\it fuzzy quantifier}, {\it and soft computing}, {\it etc.}

In summary, the purpose of this second volume on fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic\break is to bring Zadeh's fuzzy thinking to a vast and growing community in the field. I recommend highly the reading of Zadeh's seminal papers contained in this volume to all students and professors in the field of engineering, mathematics, and other disciplines on human-like decision making and management sciences for understanding the basis of fuzzy systems.

Also, I recommend highly this volume to everyone --- from the beginner to the most experienced researcher and practitioner --- who wishes to learn the philosophy or contribute to this advancing field of fuzzy logic and intelligent systems in the decades to come.

{\it In summary}, {\it through this volume the editors have introduced 44 seminal papers authored by the father of fuzzy logic}, {\it Professor Lotfi A. Zadeh}, {\it since its inception in 1965}. {\it This volume is a timely publication}, {\it and the editors deserve our compliments and congratulations for bringing Professor Lotfi A.~Zadeh's important writings to the international fuzzy community.}