A collection of articles from "Scientific American" magazine has been put together at this time because the current period in computer science is one of consolidation rather than innovation. A few years ago, computer science was moving so swiftly that even the professional journals were more archival than informative; but today it is much easier to put the articles which constitute this book into perspective, which the introductions to each of the five sections of the book attempt to do. The five sections deal with: fundamentals (components of computer systems); games, music, and artificial intelligence; mathematics of, by, and for computers; computer models of the real world; and uses of the computer in technology, organizations, education, and science. The section on use of computers in education describes Patrick Suppes' experiments in computer-aided instruction at Stanford University, particularly drill-and-practice situations for elementary school students in arithmetic. (Author/JK)