Jeremy Kubica is a principal engineer at Google working on machine learning and algorithms, with a PhD in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University and a B.S. in computer science from Cornell. Kubica is the author of the popular Computational Fairy Tales blog.

“This book is both entertaining and educational, and a great stocking stuffer, especially for anyone involved with data analysis.”—The Vancouver Sun“A great introduction for older kids or adults to the concepts contained therein. The story is filled with humor and adventure.”—Geek Dad“Exceptionally well written, organized and presented...truly adds an entertaining and novel twist to making the learning algorithms fun, practical, and effective.”—Midwest Book Review“I love being able to wrap learning into this story and that it doesn’t seem like learning at all. This book is perfect for computer science students or amateur sleuths who enjoy a good mystery.”—The Old Schoolhouse“I give this book 10 out of 10 horseshoes.”—CodeRanch“Good wizards and evil wizards cast spells, which helps capture the interest of students in the upper middle and lower high school grades...The story is worth the time to learn about different binary searches.”—National Council of Teachers of Mathematics“I think the book would be good for high school–college level students interested in search algorithms or computer science in general. I enjoyed the book and the refresher on CS topics.”—404 Tech Support

• AcknowledgmentsA Note to ReadersChapter 1: Search ProblemsChapter 2: Exhaustive Search for an InformantChapter 3: Arrays and Indexes on a Criminal's FarmChapter 4: Strings and Hidden MessagesChapter 5: Binary Search for a Smuggler's ShipChapter 6: Binary Search for CluesChapter 7: Adapting Algorithms for a Daring EscapeChapter 8: Socks: An Interlude and an IntroductionChapter 9: Backtracking to Keep the Search GoingChapter 10: Picking Locks with Breadth-First SearchChapter 11: Depth-First Search in an Abandoned PrisonChapter 12: Cafeteria Stacks and QueuesChapter 13: Stacks and Queues for SearchChapter 14: Let's Split Up: Parallelized SearchChapter 15: Iterative Deepening Can Save Your LifeChapter 16: Inverted Indexes: The Search NarrowsChapter 17: A Binary Search Tree TrapChapter 18: Building Binary Search LaddersChapter 19: Binary Search Trees for SuspectsChapter 20: Adding Suspects to the Search TreeChapter 21: The Binary Search Tree PropertyChapter 22: Tries for PaperworkChapter 23: Best-First Search: A Detective's Most Trusted ToolChapter 24: Priority Queues for InvestigationsChapter 25: Priority Queues for Lock PickingChapter 26: Heuristics in SearchChapter 27: Heaps in Politics and AcademiaChapter 28: Difficult Search ProblemsChapter 29: Search TerminationEpilogue

Jeremy Kubica is a principal engineer at Google working on machine learning and algorithms, with a PhD in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University and a B.S. in computer science from Cornell. Kubica is the author of the popular Computational Fairy Tales blog.

“This book is both entertaining and educational, and a great stocking stuffer, especially for anyone involved with data analysis.”—The Vancouver Sun“A great introduction for older kids or adults to the concepts contained therein. The story is filled with humor and adventure.”—Geek Dad“Exceptionally well written, organized and presented...truly adds an entertaining and novel twist to making the learning algorithms fun, practical, and effective.”—Midwest Book Review“I love being able to wrap learning into this story and that it doesn’t seem like learning at all. This book is perfect for computer science students or amateur sleuths who enjoy a good mystery.”—The Old Schoolhouse“I give this book 10 out of 10 horseshoes.”—CodeRanch“Good wizards and evil wizards cast spells, which helps capture the interest of students in the upper middle and lower high school grades...The story is worth the time to learn about different binary searches.”—National Council of Teachers of Mathematics“I think the book would be good for high school–college level students interested in search algorithms or computer science in general. I enjoyed the book and the refresher on CS topics.”—404 Tech Support

• AcknowledgmentsA Note to ReadersChapter 1: Search ProblemsChapter 2: Exhaustive Search for an InformantChapter 3: Arrays and Indexes on a Criminal's FarmChapter 4: Strings and Hidden MessagesChapter 5: Binary Search for a Smuggler's ShipChapter 6: Binary Search for CluesChapter 7: Adapting Algorithms for a Daring EscapeChapter 8: Socks: An Interlude and an IntroductionChapter 9: Backtracking to Keep the Search GoingChapter 10: Picking Locks with Breadth-First SearchChapter 11: Depth-First Search in an Abandoned PrisonChapter 12: Cafeteria Stacks and QueuesChapter 13: Stacks and Queues for SearchChapter 14: Let's Split Up: Parallelized SearchChapter 15: Iterative Deepening Can Save Your LifeChapter 16: Inverted Indexes: The Search NarrowsChapter 17: A Binary Search Tree TrapChapter 18: Building Binary Search LaddersChapter 19: Binary Search Trees for SuspectsChapter 20: Adding Suspects to the Search TreeChapter 21: The Binary Search Tree PropertyChapter 22: Tries for PaperworkChapter 23: Best-First Search: A Detective's Most Trusted ToolChapter 24: Priority Queues for InvestigationsChapter 25: Priority Queues for Lock PickingChapter 26: Heuristics in SearchChapter 27: Heaps in Politics and AcademiaChapter 28: Difficult Search ProblemsChapter 29: Search TerminationEpilogue

Jeremy Kubica is a principal engineer at Google working on machine learning and algorithms, with a PhD in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University and a B.S. in computer science from Cornell. Kubica is the author of the popular Computational Fairy Tales blog.

“This book is both entertaining and educational, and a great stocking stuffer, especially for anyone involved with data analysis.”—The Vancouver Sun“A great introduction for older kids or adults to the concepts contained therein. The story is filled with humor and adventure.”—Geek Dad“Exceptionally well written, organized and presented...truly adds an entertaining and novel twist to making the learning algorithms fun, practical, and effective.”—Midwest Book Review“I love being able to wrap learning into this story and that it doesn’t seem like learning at all. This book is perfect for computer science students or amateur sleuths who enjoy a good mystery.”—The Old Schoolhouse“I give this book 10 out of 10 horseshoes.”—CodeRanch“Good wizards and evil wizards cast spells, which helps capture the interest of students in the upper middle and lower high school grades...The story is worth the time to learn about different binary searches.”—National Council of Teachers of Mathematics“I think the book would be good for high school–college level students interested in search algorithms or computer science in general. I enjoyed the book and the refresher on CS topics.”—404 Tech Support

• AcknowledgmentsA Note to ReadersChapter 1: Search ProblemsChapter 2: Exhaustive Search for an InformantChapter 3: Arrays and Indexes on a Criminal's FarmChapter 4: Strings and Hidden MessagesChapter 5: Binary Search for a Smuggler's ShipChapter 6: Binary Search for CluesChapter 7: Adapting Algorithms for a Daring EscapeChapter 8: Socks: An Interlude and an IntroductionChapter 9: Backtracking to Keep the Search GoingChapter 10: Picking Locks with Breadth-First SearchChapter 11: Depth-First Search in an Abandoned PrisonChapter 12: Cafeteria Stacks and QueuesChapter 13: Stacks and Queues for SearchChapter 14: Let's Split Up: Parallelized SearchChapter 15: Iterative Deepening Can Save Your LifeChapter 16: Inverted Indexes: The Search NarrowsChapter 17: A Binary Search Tree TrapChapter 18: Building Binary Search LaddersChapter 19: Binary Search Trees for SuspectsChapter 20: Adding Suspects to the Search TreeChapter 21: The Binary Search Tree PropertyChapter 22: Tries for PaperworkChapter 23: Best-First Search: A Detective's Most Trusted ToolChapter 24: Priority Queues for InvestigationsChapter 25: Priority Queues for Lock PickingChapter 26: Heuristics in SearchChapter 27: Heaps in Politics and AcademiaChapter 28: Difficult Search ProblemsChapter 29: Search TerminationEpilogue