How To Survive A Robot Uprising [Paperback]

Daniel H. Wilson has provided a handsome and irreverent guide to survival in the face of the inevitable robot rebellion. This is not, however, a mere joke book about robots. Wilson is a Ph.D. candidate in the subject and, correspondingly, his discussions not only invoke well-known robot-based apocalyptic stories but involve numerous descriptions of existing robot technologies and speculations on how they may be refined in the future.

The book is an engaging and relatively painless introduction to robotics. For those interested in science fiction, particularly in writing it, Wilson offers an up-to-date overview of robotics technology as it stands as well as a wealth of technical terms and buzz words. The humor is based almost entirely on well-known "evil robot" plotlines, and so the text is also useful for steering the potential writer away from cliches. The quality of the humor, however, is hit-and-miss. Some of the jokes are quite funny, some are groaners, and some simply fall flat. Occasional bad grammar detracts from the overall presentation.

Simultaneously educational and fun, How to Survive a Robot Uprising will make a good read for technophiles, sf fans, and B movie buffs.

The good news is that robots lack emotions, so they can't get PO'd about how the human race has been exploiting them. The bad news is that they are smarter and more logical than we are - and might someday realize that there are a million and one reasons why we don't need to exist. Welcome to your near future. Do you know how you will survive the robot uprising?

First, know your enemy. Recognize that robots have "natural" weaknesses - lack of context/social adaptability, physical limitations over certain types of terrain - that humans can exploit to advantage. Be aware also that they may have certain strengths that humans lack; after all, that is what they are built for in the first place, isn't it? They do not need to sleep, for example, and therefore can perform tasks for a potential 24/7. Robots also may have "superhuman" abilities. Some robots can track your heat signature with thermal imaging cameras, mine credit card databases for information about you, turn built-in lasers on you, and of course, best you physically in a hand-to-hand combat situation with metal pincers and/or superior strength. How To Survive a Robot Uprising is soaked with information about current robotics and the trends that are now under development so that you can plan alternatives.

Next, avoid aiding your enemy unawares. They have been infiltrating our factories, offices and homes for years. They are pretty much everywhere now, and they will be able to link up with and/or control devices that go where they cannot. What will you do on that day when your cell phone signals your location to the evil supercomputer that controls the laser-armed satellites? Or when your Smart House locks you in and "leaks" the gas from your heater? There are strategies to counter each and every possibility, but you must be aware of them first or you will likely be betrayed by your very own convenience devices.

HTSARU is actually written by a very qualified individual who researches robotics and data mining. Mr. Wilson writes with a deadpan sense of humor that had me grinning throughout much of this short, sweet handbook and laughing out loud several times. Ironically, I ended up learning quite a bit about real-life robotics; the author spends the first two thirds of the book teaching a crash course on the subject as the prerequisite to the doomsday scenario strategies he offers in the last section. Richard Horne's red, black and white illustrations complement the text perfectly and have snickering little messages of their own embedded into the general absurdity.

Get it for the sake of the survival of our species, your own personal knowledge of the field of robotics, a few chuckles to lighten your subway commute or the cool metallic red page gilding. Get it for your purse and pull it out when you have to wait in the checkout line. Get it as the perfect gift for a SF geek. Get it - because everybody needs to know how to survive a robot uprising.

-Andrea, aka Merribelle

I actually build robots for a living and was given this book recently by a coworker when I was laid off . This book is as factual as it is entertaining. Having never thought about escaping from the robots that I build, it is interesting to see things from a different perspective. The strategies that are described would actually be effective given today's state of the art which makes it seem even funnier. Let's hope that this humor book never actually becomes a true survival handbook.

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