From Asia Minor to New York

The memoir starts with the story of the author's parents' families and their land, Asia Minor, that they left as refugees in 1922 to settle in Greece. It goes on to describe the hardships of life in Greece, especially during World War II and the subsequent civil war. It also covers some aspects of the dysfunctional Greek state, including his experience in the Greek army where he saw how American military advisers were misled about what was happening. The story of his life in the United States comes next covering both family and academic life. There are separate narrative threads for the personal and the technical with individual chapters on Machine Vision, Bell Labs, and Symbol Technologies and the challenge of pursuing research goals that not only advanced basic knowledge but also dealt with real world issues. Finally, it discusses the author's relationship with Judaism and his eventual conversion to it.