How To Survive a Robot Uprising

The Zombie Survival Manual taught us how to survive if the undead started coming after us, trying to eat our brains and force us to join their ranks. But zombies do not exist, nor could they. They are pretend. Robots are not. Wilson looks at the research currently being conducted on robotics and extrapolates the future of robotics from this. He examines each kind of robot, their strengths and weaknesses, and lets us know how best to defeat the robots when (or if) they go bonkers. This book is funny and riveting at the same time. While the concepts are a bit out there still, they aren't all THAT crazy. I am not much of a sci-fi buff. I still sometimes say Star Trek when I mean Star Wars, but I also know what an ansible is. This book show more managed to pull enough actual science into the fiction to make the book interesting, plausible, and a little frightening.
My favorite addition to the book was the very end, when he examines different movie versions of the robots going crazy. The Matrix, Star Wars, and I, Robot were all parsed for their ways of defeating the robots (I, Robot won for best method). show less

Not for the paranoid -- this humorous guide to the different ways and means by which the world is being overrun by minuscule robotic spy-flies, huge and potentially deadly, people-squashing computerized building devices, watchful camera-eyes which record our features and our credit card numbers, lobster-clawed, titanium-jointed crawlers which explore the ocean and the depths of space, not to mention the "Replicator"-esque modular robots which reform themselves to accomplish their tasks. The title may be far out, but the content is fascinating. Wilson describes robotic and computerized creations past and present, and extrapolates from present technology to future potential (and possible dangers). Each technical section is followed by a show more brief "How to..." section detailing avoidance and evasion techniques for foiling and/or destroying your robotic pursuers.

With references to Star Wars, Deep Blue the chess playing genius, and HAL, sure, it's tongue in cheek, but will you know what to do when your Roomba attacks? show less

Daniel H. Wilson is a Ph.D. Candidate at the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University and holds a masters degree in robotics; so, it should come as no surprise that this book is intelligently written; but, what I personally found refreshing was the author's humour, which had a singular sardonic wit - very funny if you have a dark sense of humour as I do.

This book was, pleasantly, a lot less 'silly' than I expected. In fact, I found myself taking much of what I read at face value, and found myself considering taking the writing more seriously than I am sure the author intended. Still, it was nice to be able to suspend myself from reality for a couple of hours to consider how I would survive a robot uprising. :)

A fun, amusing little book that offers tips for keeping yourself alive after your Roomba and its kin finally turn on humanity, as we all know they inevitably will. The humor doesn't really induce any belly laughs, but I got more than a few chuckles out of it. And since the author is an actual roboticist, there's quite a bit of information about real-life robots currently under development and simple descriptions of how various robot systems work. Nothing remotely in-depth, of course, but some of it is interesting. The survival tips themselves may get a little bit repetitive in places, but they seem pretty useful, and I'll be sure to keep them in mind the next time I'm being targeted by a bloodthirsty metal horde.

Robots are going to be amazing! They will drive for you, clean your house, cook you nice meals, and even tell you how awesome you are every day. Daniel Wilson, however, can foresee the danger of having hyper-intelligent all-powerful robot slaves - that they will organize...and rebel!

This is your guide for surviving that particular robot calamity. It teaches you how robots assess and react to their environment, and how you can use that to your advantage. And as a guide, it actually does a decent job of that. Hang on, I'm serious here. Daniel Wilson is actually has a Master's in Robotics, and is quite knowledgeable about the topic. The book, despite being listed as Humor, is informative about real-world robots and robotic technology, so show more there actually is an element of nonfiction here.

Unfortunately, in some ways that is also the book's downfall. Though the information is interesting, I was expecting something a bit more light and humorous, and the humor was a bit lacking. A book such as this is a platform for comedy, but there were 3 or 4 lines that made me chuckle throughout the book, and the rest was rather bland.

With that said, I'll still be reading How To Build a Robot Army next, so it wasn't completely terrible. show less

This book is full of useful information on how to defeat the coming robot rebellion. Not only does it provide suggestions on how to hide, it also provides real-life explanations of how robots of today and tomorrow will implement sensors and navigate their environment. Interesting, informative, and humorous, overall a good read.

Humans v. AI. Just in case. Wilson provides the technical details to make all your fears plausible, but leavens the dread with humor. As if laughing could save you.

Motion is more important than facial features alone when it comes to detecting a faux human. Ask an innocuous question, and during the reply, observe the subject’s skin, lips, and teeth. Even if the robot is almost perfectly human-like you will get a creepy feeling. Your gut reaction is a human survival trait and a well-known phenomenon that Japanese researchers call 'the uncanny valley.'

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