The book is written in the same spirit as The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, namely its material is serious, but with tongue planted in cheek. The obvious sequel is the “How to Survive a Human Resurgance: Tips on Defending Robotkind from Ugly Bags of Mostly Water.”

• Your dinner host serves sparkling red wine (wink) with shellfish
• The IRS wants to audit you
• You get pulled over for driving way too fast in Louisiana AND have out-of-state tags
• During a company presentation, you discover your fly is open

• Why does the office printer/fax/scannier/copier always jam up thirty minutes before a monthly project review meeting?
• What’s really up with the Dell Laptop Batteries?
• Is the microprocessor behind the “Check Engine” light just screaming for attention? (I know it’s supposedly caused by a loose gas cap. Maybe.)

Overall, it’s a very entertaining bathroom book.

Hail to our metallic overlords!

The idea of this book is almost more fun than the book itself. The book is put together beautifully, with red gilt edges to the pages and fantastic illustrations throughout. The book was written by a grad student in robotics, and his sub-theme seems to involve working in tidbits of real information about the current state of robotics. The “Know Your Enemy” section has a lot of this kind of background, although it is sprinkled with tips on how to “beat” each robotic sense or power or ability. “Surviving a Robot Uprising” abandons all pretense at reality and focuses on doomsday scenarios, especially those popularized in movies (I bet you can name at least four) that involve robots taking over and killing or enslaving humanity. In general, it’s a fun book, although I’d say that the joint goals of entertainment (via deadpan, paranoid humor about robots in our lives) and education (about real robotics research) are somewhat at odds and make the book read rather unevenly. Still, I’d recommend it, if only for the fabulous illustrations!