Robots

Robots in one form or another have engaged the popular imagination for centuries. Now, on the cusp of the 21st century, they are poised to saturate every aspect of our culture, from medicine, science, and industry to artworks, toys, and household appliances. Whether playing prominent roles in movies like I, Robot or helping mankind explore the surface of Mars, robots seem to be taking over the world. Robots is the first visual survey to focus on this increasingly important, always newsworthy scientific development and its effects on society.

Covering automatons, androids, and all manner of artificial intelligence, both fictional and real, this massive, comprehensive volume describes the robot's fascinating history and speculates on its probable future. Interviews with scientists, surgeons, manufacturers, science fiction writers, artists, toy creators, and a host of other experts bring tremendous insight to the subject, and the copious illustrations provide visual examples of robots in every environment imaginable. As entertaining as it is informative, this one-of-a-kind book is an indispensable guide to the rapidly approaching Robot Age. AUTHOR BIO: Daniel Ichbiah is a writer, journalist, and musician. He has published more than 50 books on video games, the Internet, MP3s, the world of rock, computer-generated music, and robots. Among his publications is The Making of Microsoft: How Bill Gates and His Team Created the World's Most Successful Software Company.

Robots of all shapes, forms and functions are presented in this comprehensive but difficult-to-read work, which traces the evolution of robots-from the hydro-powered automatons of the Renaissance and the automatic looms of the 18th century to the self-guided vacuum cleaners, space explorers and artificial pets of today. The book is organized loosely by topic (Robots in Fiction, Robots in Industry, etc.) and embellished with numerous interviews with writers, inventors and even people who perform plays with robots. Though just about every kind of robot-either in reality or in imagination-receives its due, this coffee-table tome has many drawbacks. Some of the most interesting full-color pictures are put forth with little or no discussion of the portrayed creation, and the translation sometimes results in awkward passages and phrasings. In addition, much of the text and pictures do not stand on their own, which makes browsing difficult. Overall, while the information found here is varied and often intriguing, the book's unfortunate organization greatly detracts from one's enjoyment of it. 1,500 color illustrations.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.