acknowledgments

First and foremost, I want to thank my wife, Lindsay, and my children Melodie, Tallie, and Olivia. You’ve supported me through all the long nights and weekends I’ve spent writing this book, and I couldn’t have done it without you. I love you all!

Next, I’d like to thank Doug Turnbull and Max Irwin for their contributions to this book, and to the field of AI-powered search (and to Information Retrieval in general). Doug contributed most of chapters 10–12, and Max contributed most of chapters 13–14 and some of 15. I’ve learned a lot from both of you and your careers, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with you on this book.

Next, I’d like to acknowledge my development editor at Manning, Marina Michaels. Thank you for your encouragement and patience, especially as the timelines stretched on this massive undertaking due to me working at multiple startups during the course of this project. The quality of the book is in large part attributable to your experience and guidance.

Thanks as well to all the other folks at Manning who worked with me on development and promotion: John Guthrie on technical development, Ivan Martinović on early-access releases, Michael Stephens on overall vision and direction, and the entire Manning marketing team. I also thank the Manning production team for all their hard work in the formatting and typesetting of this book.