Robots: The Quest for Living Machines

Published in Great Britain in 1992, this survey of general robotics for the non-specialist will seem significantly behind the times to readers in the U.S. Simons ( Evolution of the Intelligent Machine ), whose prose style is repetitive and stilted, further handicaps his efforts by starting before the beginning, with two chapters discussing the theory and mechanics of primitive automata and the presence of robots in world mythologies. His review is loaded with technological solipsisms and bland speculations that will fail to interest even the potential audience of young adults. (June)