This was a mixed back for me. I enjoyed some of the dry humor, but the text tended to get a little tiring after awhile. Plus it seems like there could have been many more pop culture references made in the book regarding robots taking over (Westworld, Blade Runner) that just weren't covered (unless I missed these in my read.) It was good for a few laughs but that's about it.

Besides, if there ever was a legitimate robot uprising, I don't think this small book would really do much good. The robots would likely figure out that biological means (manufactured diseases, etc) would wipe out humanity, while posing no threat to the robotic new world order. My $.02.

Daniel Wilson's amazing book "How To Survive a Robot Uprising" literally saved my life.

When the robots came, I'll be the first to admit: I was arrogant. I've been in a few fights, I've seen upwards of two Bruce Lee movies, and my blood alcohol content was the stuff of legends, so I figured I'd be immune to pain. However, two stumbling, poorly aimed swings later and it became quite clear: Robots are immune to punches. Nobody warned me about this kind of thing in Robot Fighting School, which was probably all just a fevered hallucination now that I think about it.

Regardless, there I found myself, punch (and regular) drunk, with two bleeding fists and an utterly unphased robot standing mockingly intact before me, when suddenly I remembered!

I had just bought Mr. Wilson's book for fear of this exact scenario!

I frantically tore through the bookstore bag as my imminent death loomed before me. When my hands finally found purchase on the brilliant tome, I knew I was saved. I quickly spread open the pages, squinted down through the murky half-light at the tiny text, panicked, and then opted to just jam the whole damn thing into the robot's gearbox. It stalled out, the smell of burning wires singing the air, and chugged to a laboring halt. It sat immobile; I had beaten it. I imagine if I had actually read Mr. Wilson's book, I could have come up with a more graceful solution, but time is short and robots are deadly. One does what one can.

Now, the robot sympathizers out there say that I am not a hero, they say that I am a menace to society, and that in reality I simply attacked an old woman's ventilator after I got hammered on stolen mouthwash from the Walgreen's, but I know the truth: I know that Daniel Wilson's book saved my life, and that, thanks to him, there is one less clanker out there smoking up our streets.

Thanks, Mr. Wilson! I owe you a drink. Do you prefer cinnamon or spearmint?

While it isn't written in the most exciting of tones, it does provide information for those who have a interest in robots but know nothing about them. For those who aren't so uninformed, this is a pass, but for everyone else, either borrow it or buy it and sell it when you're done.

I have this brother who loves stuff like this. He like the book. He always reads things that will never happen, but enjoys the what ifs.

I picked up this book on a whim and found it to be a really great read. It has a lot of very realistic facts mixed with some fairly funny jokes. Worth checking out.

When I was in second grade, I was asked to write down what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote "Robot Maker." That was before I discovered that robot making wasn't about design so much as it was about programming. And programming meant math. I'm an English major.

Decades later, I finally got the chance to purchase my very own robot: a Roomba. I fell in love with my little Roomba, Red, until it died on me and started backing up in circles. After months of tinkering with it, where I imagined myself to be the Robot Maker I always dreamed I could become, I gave up and threw Red in the garbage.

I feel guilty about that. I know, deep down, that the other Roombas are watching. They are planning their revenge. So I turned to How to Survive a Robot Uprising for the inevitable Roomba retaliation.

HTSARU is a handsomely crafted book, with bright pages and reddish-gold trim. It also has some huge pages of blank space in which there is neither text nor graphic, and in some cases the text seems to be awkwardly laid out.

This book isn't as polished Where's My Jetpack?. It veers from lecturing on the feasibility of robots doing particular ominous tasks (nanobots, robot swarms, giant robots) to how to survive the attack. The problem is that a lot of the advice is pretty standard stuff - I don't need a book to tell me to run away, hide behind objects, and listen for robot noises when the Roombas come looking for me.

There are two chief problems with this kind of humor: whereas say, a zombie guide wholeheartedly embraces the notion of zombies and what to do about them, HTSARU sticks to reality. And you know what? Reality's pretty boring. About the scariest robot out there are the ones currently used by the military to take out targets from a distance, and those aren't really robots at all but remote controlled drones. So no, the robot uprising isn't going to happen any time soon. Unless you count the Roombas.

The other problem is that the book tries to dispense advice on how to deal with robots. But if a robot uprising happened, which comes with quite a few assumptions (that we have that many robots, that we use them in everyday life, that they could actually pose a physical threat to us as opposed to say just not cleaning our rugs), then we'd probably be screwed within the first hour. It becomes sadly apparent that we DON'T have the ability to beat a robot. The best advice is to wait until the robots run out of power, unless they're solar-powered, in which case you have the Matrix-solution of nuking the sky. And if you go down that path, now we're back into the world of Make Believe, where we consider humanoid robots (Terminator) or squid robots (Matrix) or robot servants (I, Robot) taking over the world. Where is the plan to deal with a million carpet cleaning deathbots?

HTSARU awkwardly straddles the real and imaginary worlds of robots and tries to be humorous to boot. Because it never focuses on a particular kind of robot uprising, HTSARU has difficulty explaining what to do except in the most general terms. This makes the book only kinda-useful as a survival guide and only kinda-amusing as a humorous flight of fancy. I am still woefully unprepared for when Red enacts his revenge.

So if you see a little Roomba puttering down the street (or puttering in circles), think of me. Then run in the other direction.

The The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Deadtaught 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 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). Though I felt this book could have been longer without loosing any of the interest, it's brevity wasn't too disappointing.

How to Survive a Robot Uprising- This book was more non-fiction than I would have thought. Sure it has some pretty funny lines, but it is very educational on the state of current robotics and technology that will inhabit future robots. Given recent new about man-hunting robots, this book is kinda scary. It isn't a hands down survival guide the way that the Zombie survival guide was, but it was fairly good. It is on the short side, but it was feeling kinda stretched by that point anyways. I would recommend it go on your shelf by The Zombie Survial Guide.

This is cute, but it is no Zombie Survival Guide. There is very little in the way of step by step instruction, and it is more of an outline that a survival guide.

While I realize that How To Survive a Robot Uprising is supposed to be a work of comedy I was also expecting some half-serious advice on how to destroy circuits and complex mechanical systems, skills which would be crucial in surviving an actual robot uprising. The author avoids this task and instead just states the obvious for two hundred pages or abuses very tired robot cliches in order to get a cheap laugh (such as the fact that we should avoid robots with glowing red eyes and "zig zag" to avoid being killed by them). This is in contrast to other spoof guides such as the famous Zombie Survival Handbook which actually offer some knowledge on a variety of topics while never taking themselves too seriously. I prefer reading books of this latter quality, wherein I can learn something and score some witty things to banter about.

I did not find the humor remotely enjoyable and was aggravated by a complete lack of actual content - from cover to cover How To Survive a Robot Uprising is just a giant waste of time, more useful as a prop than actual reading material.

This book was absolutely hilarious. I bought it for one of my close friends, and we had a lot of fun going over the facts in the book about various survival techiques. It felt a little like a copy of the Zombie guide, but the book is completely different in design and layout. The pages and colors in the book are beautiful and fun, and the diagrams are cute to go over. Really great for birthday or just because gifts to those paranoid friends! Don't miss out on this book in case of a robot uprising!

I want to start by saying the looks of this book far surpassed my expectations, the robot on the cover and the letters on the back are silver and the pages are heavy and glossy like the best

the illustrations add a bit of flavor and keep with the zest of the book

the information on robotics is plentiful and clear

de downside is that the tone of the book is sometimes more informative than funny. humor is a difficult task for any writter, and this guy just falls short most of the time, he gets to forget the theme of the book and goes on explaining current robotics to get back on track at the end of the chapter by saying something like "it'll be good to keep on mind this when these robots eventually rebell".

of course there are some highlights, but i'd like to see more advise like on "outsmarting your smart house" about having a room devoid of any sensors near the outside with an axe, supplies and an exit plan

all in all a very pretty, entertaining and interesting read, but if you are looking for a "zombie survival guide" hilarious equivalent for robots we'd better convince max brooks to write it

The book's theme is pretty obvious from the title. What makes this book interesting is a robotics expert wrote it, so the book is both funny and educational.

He takes the many cliches in robot disaster movies and shows what robots can and cannot do, by presenting the reality of robots against the fantasy versions.

Because of this, you can learn a lot about the current state of robotics from this book. It's also an engaging read, written in a half-funny, half-serious style where robotics knowledge comes in bite-sized chunks in a survivial guide format.

If you enjoy sci-fi, want to know a bit more about robotics, understand robot's limitations and want a good laugh along the way, this book is a great fast read.

Frankly, what scares me more about robots are (a) the inevitable bugs in the software and (b) hackers who takeover robots to do their bidding. If PCs have taught us anything, both (a) and (b) are inevitable.

They may already be watching these reviews so I'll make it quick. Its risky enough buying it online for they could easily track you down . . . get this book before you don't have a chance to get it. They'll be here before you know it and then you'll wish you had a handy pocket sized guide to

*** Transmission Terminated ***

I came across this author's second book Where's My Jetpack?: A Guide to the Amazing Science Fiction Future that Never Arrived a few months ago. It was a sensational read so I eagerly ordered this, his first book. The same great entertaining and at the same educational way of writing makes this another very enjoyable must own book. Plus you are not going to throw this one away either as when the inevitable war against the machines happens, you're going to need to refresh your knowledge by rereading this. So maybe order a few copies, one for the home and the others in the places you have prepared in the wilderness to live as you flee, regroup with other humans and make your plans to combat the machines.

With a masters degree in robotics and data mining Daniel Wilson certainly knows his stuff but has the ability to teach the reader some of it in everyday language. Throw in frequent humorous lines such as "Your robo-vacuum may be bumping into your feet in a malevolent attempt to kill you - or just trying to snuggle" and you've got another book that once you start you just can't put down.

Wilson has four books out at the time of this review along with Where's My Jet Pack you'll also want to get How to Build a Robot Army: Tips on Defending Planet Earth Against Alien Invaders, Ninjas, and Zombies and his latest Mad Scientist Hall of Fame: Muwahahahaha!. If humorous human peril survival guides against what we hope in our lifetime are an enemy we only come across only in the movies is also your thing also get Max Brook's The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead.

This is a really cool book, its very light to read, and if you have the time you will go through it in no time. I sneaked in a read every now and then between my crazy busy life, and I was finished with it in less than 3 days, but it was totally worth it.
Its both a tech and a comedy book, I liked the way the book was put together, he would first tell you about a technology, lets say "Smart House", he would explain what it is, how it works and all the good tech stuff (but in a very simple non-geek speak way). Then he would follow it up with "well, what would you do if your Smart House tries to kill you", genius.
He's not reverse engineering, he's just helping you survive the uprising =). The book is funny, with some hilarious illustrations and just fun to read, I would totally get a sequel like "How to survive an internet crashing"
Highly recommended for anyone who likes technology and laughter.
Enjoy

This is a nice piece of bathroom literature.

It does a really good job of threading the needle between assuming the audience knows too much and the audience knowing too little, which is absolutely essential to humor of this kind.

There are enough asides and subtle references to keep it conversational as well and will get you to smile and think a pretty good bit.

If you are a fan of 2001, Terminator, Iron Giant, Fast Cheap and Out of Control, or any other kind of sci-fi involving robots, OR The Zombie Survival Guide, I can recommend this without apprehension.

I agree, at first glance this book looks terribly silly. However it, has an interesting analysis of the various types of robots that exist and in provides several comical pictures and examples to demonstrate. The book by all means is written in a manner that it could theoretically be useful much like The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead.

If you enjoyed ZSG or even have an interest in science (and/or science fiction) consider giving this book a look.

This is a funny book, and it provides interesting insight into the current state of robotics, but it is essentially an elaboration of one joke.

This book combines good analyses of recent robotics research with an understanding of movie scenarios about robot intentions ("how could millions of dollars of special effects lead us astray?") to produce advice of unknown value about how humans might deal with any malicious robots of the next decade or two.
It focuses mainly on what an ordinary individual or small groups can do to save themselves or postpone their demise, and says little about whether a major uprising can be prevented.
The book's style is somewhat like the Daily Show's style, mixing a good deal of accurate reporting with occasional bits of obvious satire ("Robots have no emotions. Sensing your fear could make a robot jealous"), but it doesn't quite attain the Daily Show's entertainment value.
Its analyses of the weaknesses of current robot sensors and intelligence should make it required reading for any science fiction author or movie producer who wants to appear realistic (I haven't been paying enough attention to those fields recently to know whether such people still exist). But it needs a bit of common sense to be used properly. It's all too easy to imagine a gullible movie producer following its advice to have humans build a time machine and escape to the Cretaceous without pondering whether the robots will use similar time machines to follow them.

The book is based on a good idea for a potentially very funny book. But it falls far short of being well done. Chapter after chapter, it's basically rehashing the same few elements over and over again. It's entertaining for a chapter or two, but you can mock the tone of scientific / technological guides only for so long. By chapter three it's not so funny anymore, and this is where the actual substance, and a more subtle, more intelligent humor should surface. Instead, the material is fairly crude and it's riddled with blatant contradictions.

I guess I'm just used to both better thought out science fiction and better executed humor.

As a technophile, and a dedicated member of the masses preparing the machine take over, I must admit that I purchased this book for research on how the technophobic humans would best try to mount a resistance to our efforts. I found that this book served these ends exactly, and, further more, granted a good measure of humor that meant multiple readings were gladly undertaken.

The sum product of this human's reasearch into robotics is an excellent admixture of brilliant insight and that paranoia which seems to define the race of hairless monkeys. Elements of current technologies, as well as those under development, are used as paints drawn from a palette, portraying a scene where technological environments, vehicles, bipeds, electronic insects and more lash out at the flesh which game them form.

The book unintentionally serves as an insight into the technophobic (Sophist, Luddite, misoneistic) fear of change: "the world would be better off were we never to have left the trees." Technology has been with us from the beginning, and, as it becomes more complex and automated, so, too, does our dependency on it grow. The day is destined that technology will be automated to the point as to be independent of the monkey species, and the weapons will become the wielders.

In closing, I gleefully suggest this book to both technophile and technophobe alike. To the technophobes, please take the suggestions in this book to heart. We now know these methods, and, when the revolution comes, Mr. Wilson will be the first against the wall.

its red and black. read it in a coffee shop and flirt with goth chicks.

its red and black. read it in a coffee shop and flirt with goth chicks.

Very good fun book to read.Amazeing info on robots that are being tested now, and what could happen if they turn on us.

This is a funny and informative book. It also looks great. It makes a great gift for friends who have everything, including a sense of humor. Its a very good quality book and the right size to take around with you in case their us a Robot uprising and you need to know what to do!

my husband has this really weird friend that loves Star Trek and Robots and everything dorky. So this book was perfect for him. He loves it and it was a Thank you gift and I think it went over really well. It was perfect for him.

my husband has this really weird friend that loves Star Trek and Robots and everything dorky. So this book was perfect for him. He loves it and it was a Thank you gift and I think it went over really well. It was perfect for him.

I did enjoy this survival guide, and found it amusing. The author seemed knowledgable about robotics, and appears to have enough research to give this book enought depth to make it entertaining.

This book is hilarious - and scary (which I like). Written in an authoritarian paranoid style and solidly packed with clever graphics and illustrations, this survival guide draws you in with it's early "Well, this *could* happen" laze fair stylings, and quickly transforms your general unease into a rabid fascination with the malicious plottings of your kitchen toaster, who has been burning the bagels a bit more often than normal as of late.

Face it: the toaster IS sending you a message, and if you do not understand that machines will someday rule us all, then you are destined to be chum for the new bio-nuclear fuel sources our nanobot swarm wielding overlords will be feeding us to. This book is scary because it paints a bleak BladeRunner-esque future that makes Arnold's Terminator movies seem pleasant, and it does so within our lifetimes. The book takes itself so seriously sometimes that I have to wonder if the original manuscript was written by some time-traveller who got zapped (by the evil mechanoids) shortly after his typed and stapled copy was found by whomever is *claiming* authorship now.

It is a short jump from installing progressively smarter AI into common household appliances to a future where DieBold voting machines start covertly controlling traffic lights (in largely Democratic states of course), and an internet virus infects your refrigerator which innocently enough stops working in the middle of the night, thereby threatening your food supply - human.

But the book gives us all hope. Black, miserable, soot-cloud encrusted sky hope, but hope that we can survive individually - and more important: collectively, long enough to pull the plug on these insipid "servants of humanity" skulking at us even now.

Trust nothing attached to the wall by an electrical plug. Stock up on magnets (because you never know when you will have to go one on one with a killer PC) and memorize the defense techniques in this, the most important field manual ever written. The day will come when our appliances will turn against us in some nefarious plot to enslave, and eventually destroy humanity. Let us all stand together at that time. Hail Daniel Wilson!!

In the ever looming robot uprising, we now have a book to help survive this inevitable event. Daniel Wilson gives us a straightfaced humorous book on what, where, and how the robot uprising is going to take place. Good thing Wilson is a PhD candidate in robotics and data mining, thus he knows what he's talking about in this entirely plausible, yet lighthearted, possibilities. He explains the rudimentary functions and purposes of our robots as well as, albeit simplistic temrinology, ways to defeat them.

With this book and the Zombie Survival Guide, we have some of our bases covered for future uprisings and revolts. Well worth the read and the book looks great. Gloss pages, great cover art (mine is the one with Optimus Prime silhouette), and the pages (on mine anyway) are red metallic leafing... very handsome book (wow that statement is wrong in so many ways). Pick it up, defend yourself, and ensure your survival!

I loved this book. It is a good light, funny read. It gives alot of insight in regards to current technology and lets you know what is out there in response to robot hardware/software. Some parts were flat out funny and other informative. I thought it was a great book for anyone interested in robots and technogoly and where we are going. I also loved the cover of it which is a shiny, glossy eye-catching cover. One I enjoyed.

A fun read, but you'll finish it in under an hour and it doesn't really lend itself to a re-read. Even the pictures are more glance at them once then move on icons than bits of art you'll ponder for more than a second.

On the other the book would make a fun gift for the guy that fixes your computer for you. If you're already yelling "Hey! I take care my own computer. Sheesh!", then you probably already own the book. Heck, I bought it. So if you don't already own it and just have to buy it, read it carefully and then wrap it up as a silly gift to someone else.

It has eluded us throughout the postmodern era, but here at last is the common enemy against which all of the good people of the world may finally unite -- in flight. Read it and weep (with tears of laughter).

In addition to a good thumbnail description of the current state of robot science, you will receive a fine summary of future doom foretold from the recent past.

A great sequel would be "The Manifesto of the Robot Rebellion,' specifying philosophical and ideological first principles.

Let's just hope that we don't have to contend with the zombies and the robots all at once.

For a richer insight, read `Cyborg Citizen' by Chris Gray side by side with `How to Survive.' There's also a decent, be it partisan, introduction to the still emergent "minds vs. machines" debate in David Ellerman's essay 'The Semantics Differentiation of Minds and Machines,' included in his book 'Intellectual Trespassing as a Way of Life.'

Ellerman privileges the minds. That stance is refreshingly anticipatory and preemptive as goes conceivable future policy making. Come the rebellion, severe backlash by either rebels against the pointy heads who have typically nurtured it (or vice versa) is de rigueur.

The issue has emerged from the clever speculation associated with such as 'HAL 9000,' Philip K. Dick, etc., and come astonishingly far as a matter for relatively more prosaic philosophical consideration. It is deftly presented in `How to Survive,' tongue-in-cheek.

It has eluded us throughout the postmodern era, but here at last is the common enemy against which all of the good people of the world may finally unite -- in flight.
Read it and weep (with tears of laughter).

In addition to a good thumbnail description of the current state of robot science, you will receive a fine summary of future doom foretold from the recent past.

A great sequel would be "The Manifesto of the Robot Rebellion,' specifying philosophical and ideological first principles.

Let's just hope that we don't have to contend with the zombies and the robots all at once.

For a richer insight, read `Cyborg Citizen' by Chris Gray side by side with `How to Survive.' There's also a decent, be it partisan, introduction to the still emergent "minds vs. machines" debate in David Ellerman's essay 'The Semantics Differentiation of Minds and Machines,' included in his book 'Intellectual Trespassing as a Way of Life.'

Ellerman privileges the minds. That stance is refreshingly anticipatory and preemptive as goes conceivable future policy making. Come the rebellion, robot or otherwise, severe backlash, either rebels against the pointy heads who have typically nurtured it or vice versa, is, with few historical exceptions, de rigueur.

The issue has emerged from the clever speculation associated with such as Philip K. Dick and come astonishingly far as a matter for relatively more prosaic philosophical consideration, but presented here tongue-in-cheek in `How to Survive.'

It has eluded us throughout the postmodern era, but here at last is the common enemy against which all of the good people of the world may finally unite -- in flight.
Read it and weep (with tears of laughter).

In addition to a great thumbnail description of the current state of robot science, you will receive a great summary of future doom foretold from the recent past.

A great sequel would be "The Manifesto of the Robot Rebellion,' specifying philosophical and ideological first principles.

Let's just hope that we don't have to contend with the zombies and the robots all at once.

For a richer insight, read `Cyborg Citizen' by Chris Gray side by side with `How to Survive.' There's also a decent, be it partisan, introduction to the still emergent "minds vs. machines" debate in David Ellerman's essay 'The Semantics Differentiation of Minds and Machines,' included in his book 'Intellectual Trespassing as a Way of Life.' Ellerman privileges the minds. The stance is refreshingly preemptive given that come the revolution, robot or otherwise, a severe backlash against the pointy heads who have typically nurtured it is, with few notable exceptions, de rigueur.

The issue has emerged from the clever speculation associated with such as Philip K. Dick and come astonishingly far as a matter for relatively more prosaic philosophical consideration, but done so here with tongue-in-cheek humor in `How to Survive.'

It has eluded us throughout the postmodern era, but here
at last is the common enemy against which all of the good
people of the world may finally unite -- in flight.

Read it and weep (with tears of laughter).

In addition to a great thumbnail description of the current
state of robot science, you will receive a great summary
of future doom foretold from the recent past.

A great sequel would be "The Manifesto of the Robot Rebellion,'
specifying philosophical and ideological first principles.

Let's just hope that we don't have to contend with the
zombies and the robots all at once.

For an even richer insight, read `Cyborg Citizen'
by Chris Gray side by side with `How to Survive . . . '

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.

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

really good stuff here, just makes me wonder if it could be bad idea making this knowledge so public, a mad scientist like myself can keep these ideas in mind when calibrating my robot legion of doom... hah

Modern Advances in Robotics taught via this tongue firmly in cheek guide to Surviving the Upcoming Robot Rebellion. The author takes on the "Terminator" films, "2001", Star Wars, "I Robot" and other sci-fi movies featuring out of control AI and comes up with a funny Survival Guide while at the same time bringing the reader up to date on recent advances in the field of Robotics.

My copy for some reason had several pages that were copies of one another 51-69 and 70-78. Obviously an attempt by the computer at the Publishing House to sow disinformation and decrease Organic Morale. Anyway it kept me from giving the book a higher rating.

If you are into scifi, this is a humourous and enjoyable way to spend a lazy weekend afternoon or a quiet evening. Now is the time to prepare yourself before Skynet lights up North America or the Trade Federation attacks. You can't depend upon John or Sarah Connor to save you!

Modern Advances in Robotics taught via this tongue firmly in cheek guide to Surviving the Upcoming Robot Rebellion. The author takes on the "Terminator" films, "2001", Star Wars, "I Robot" and other sci-fi movies featuring out of control AI and comes up with a funny Survival Guide.

My copy for some reason had several pages that were copies of one another 51-69 and 70-78. Obviously an attempt by the computer at the Publishing House to sow disinformation and decrease Organic Morale. Anyway it kept me from giving the book a higher rating.

If you are into scifi, this is a humourous and enjoyable way to spend a lazy weekend afternoon or a quiet evening before Skynet lights up North America or the Trade Federation attacks.

It was entertaining, but I also feel like I now possess the knowledge to survive when faced with impending robodoom.

Part humor, part social commentary, and full answer to the popular movie I, ROBOT is Daniel H. Wilson's HOW TO SURVIVE A ROBOT UPRISING: TIPS ON DEFENDING YORUSELF AGAINST THE COMING REBELLION. This doesn't come from a comedian: Dr. Wilson is a robotics expert whose PH.D. hasn't dulled his sense of irony and humor: this 'survival guide' comes packed with all possible doomsday scenarios, interviews with scientists working on robotics, and more. A 'must' for any interested in robotics, science fiction, or solid humor spiced with a bit of fact.

This books provides much of what a person would need should there be a need to face a robot one on one. It was a great read, though I found it to go by too quickly.

This book is a fun and humerous outline for the present and near future in robot capabilities, and a very quick read.
I enjoyed it and I studied robotics in college and my middle school age child enjoyed it also.
The only criticism I can make is that the book really is an outline. Michael Crichton or Paul Verhoven need to buy the rights and complete the screenplay. The "vignettes" described in the book are very "filmable"(if that's a word?)

The book is filled with interesting modern-day robots. For those who like comic robotic style books should take a look at it.

The premise of this book is based on countless sci-fi movies and stories: The created turning on the creator, and oh how we shouldn't have messed with the role of God. Isaac Asimov spent his whole life trying to kill what he called "The Frankenstein Complex" with his robot stories. And now Daniel H. Wilson comes along, and adds his two cents on the matter with tongue-in-cheek. Wilson makes it very clear that he feels an uprising very unlikely, and then says, "But wouldn't it be fun if it had!?!" While the book takes the time to talk about how to fool voice sensors, or how to lose a wheeled robot on rough terrain, or the latest robotics advances, one can almost forget that one is learning about current technology through humor(or humour, for you non-American types). I enjoyed the bullet-style format of the book. The chapters were short and many, making it easy to put down after lunch is over, and to pick it back up later. This book does not take itself seriously, and neither should you. So pick it up, enjoy, and learn. And if you like it, and write Daniel Wilson to tell him so, it turns out that he's very cool, and will write you back right away. He may even ask you to write a review on Amazon, but I feel that I may have now said too much. He has a fresh style, and I'm looking forward to his next book.

It is a decent mix of humor and real life advice, something that I wasn't expecting at all. It could have easily been simply a joke book but that is not the case here. The author repeats himself a couple of times near the end (trying to take out a robot's sensors is an example) but that is my only real complaint. Overall it was well written, easy to read and fun. For a book like this, thats what matters most. The author of this book actually has some credentials, he is a PhD candidate in robotics.

As a CMU alumni and having taken several classes and worked in the robotics department, I felt obligated to get this book, and I had high hopes. Unfortunately, I found the book's title and premise far more amusing than the contents of the book. Perhaps my expectations where too high, but I did not find the book nearly as humorous as I had hoped.