Virtual Reality

Rheingold, Howard

ISBN 10: 0671693638 / ISBN 13: 9780671693633

Published by Summit Books (edition First Edition), 1991

About this Item

With dust jacket. The item might be beaten up but readable. May contain markings or highlighting, as well as stains, bent corners, or any other major defect, but the text is not obscured in any way.

Seller Inventory # 0671693638-7-1-13_29

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Virtual Reality
• Publisher: Summit Books (edition First Edition)
• Publication Date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0671693638
• ISBN 13: 9780671693633
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Fair
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included

About this title

Synopsis

Discusses a new interactive computer technology that creates the illusion of being immersed in an artificial world that exists only in the computer, and examines the remarkable future implications of virtual reality technology

Reviews

Reingold, coauthor of Cognitive Connection , contends that VR technology will replace artificial intelligence as computing's cybernetic frontier. Current reports from Japanese and French VR labs call up ghosts of the development of the VCR and PC: technologies blazed by American inventiveness but paved to commercial success by countries with coherent industrial policies. Reingold's attempt to impart, in sentences of almost 100 words, a VR vision of his experiences in the "cybernetic sandbox" will mean little to readers unfamiliar with the programming problems of VR. Neologisms like "metaplay" and "teledildontics" (sex in a bed of VR) seem like carny-barker teasers, trivializing potential VR applications in engineering, medicine and education. A more linear approach to the topic might have better fit Reingold's purposes.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The term "virtual reality" describes the computer-generated simulation of reality with physical, tactile, and visual dimensions. This interactive technology is used by science and engineering researchers as well as by the entertainment industry, especially in the form of video games. In this book, Rheingold, editor of Whole Earth Review , reports on his visits to virtual reality labs in industry and universities around the world. He describes the eerie experience of using virtual reality systems that can simulate a walk-through of a building in an architectural graphics program, interviews leading researchers, and speculates on the social and psychological implications of this technology, in which the artificial world overlaps with reality. He also highlights the aims of system designers and gives a good sense of the exploratory nature of this research. Recommended for popular technology and science collections.
- Christopher Jocius, Illinois Mathematics & Science Acad., Aurora
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.