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How To Build An Android: The True Story Of Philip K. Dick's Robotic Resurrection (2012)

by David F. Dufty(Favorite Author)

3.45 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0805095519 (ISBN13: 9780805095517)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Henry Holt and Co.

review 1: The story of the making of the android head is interesting and inspiring. The effort and ideas of the team are well-displayed and capture a snapshot of a momentous time in AI development (and a few people's lives). I find the telling of the story rather bland and to include far too many unnecessary, elementary and bland explanations (like how computer programming works) while completely missing other obvious coincidences that could be pointed out like so many others. Powering through the downfalls of a book written by someone who is not a storyteller the story itself is engaging enough and seems to have been well-researched.
review 2: I don't really read non-fiction much, but it's pretty easy to forget this is non-fiction. The plot sounds like it should have co... moreme out of a sci-fi novel (probably one by PKD), the technology involved is amazingly futuristic, and it's written in an easy to follow narrative style. All the tech is decently explained; simple enough to understand without long-winded technobabble explanations. And for those not familiar with PKD or sci-fi in general, several summaries of his works and his life are sprinkled throughout the story to help put things in context.I was really interested in the snippets of conversation between the android and people that were included in the book. Having heard of the vanishing android head of PKD before, I always assumed that the AI was a bit more... coherent, I guess. It's often touted as having been eerily lifelike, but lots of the conversation quoted here make it clear that it had plenty of issues. Despite it's issues though, I'm still pretty amazed at how well it worked. less

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