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Bots: the Origin of New Species
 
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Bots: the Origin of New Species (Paperback)

by Andrew Leonard (Author)
3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Books Australia (21 Jan 2000)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0140275665
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140275667
  • Product Dimensions: 19.7 x 13.1 x 1.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 2,863,104 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

From the Author
The Bots Just Keep On Coming
I finished writing the last draft of Bots in the middle of February, 1997. I worried that parts of it would become obsolete almost immediately -- life moves fast in cyberspace. Although the book strives to focus on the cultural and historical implications of bot use, rather than get bogged down in the technicalities, still I feared that my heavy focus on developments of just the last few years might become dated, all too fast. However, as I started reporting a new story on Spam for the magazine at which I am currently employed as technology correspondent -- Salon -- I became a little less fearful. Certainly, new bots are appearing by the handful every day. But the basic issues are the same, and in some cases, the same people that I write about in the book are still very much involved in the fray. Bots are both being used and abused. They are getting cleverer, and passions regarding their use continue to rise. I hope this means that my book will hold up as a useful source of context for contemporary developments for at least the next little while. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.1 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Superficial account of Bot history, 28 Mar 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Bots: the Origin of New Species (Hardwired) (Hardcover)
How to become a journalist? A cynic's answer could be: Collect some anecdotes about a theme, ask some questions to people who might know something about it, and wrap the information in an overdose of words. Leonard has taken the cynics' answers seriously. The theme chosen by Leonard is Bots, and the resulting piece of journalism is called "Bots, the origins of new species". It is easy to read (if the layout would allow it), not wholly uninformative, and with no technicalities or complex arguments at all. If you can stand the verbiage, you won't even get annoyed. In short, Leonard's work would fully deserve it's three stars for the average book, if only the title were correct.

The subtitle of the book clearly suggests that Leonard tries to deal with Bots in a way that resembles the way Darwin treated living species. This is either a lie, or a sign of irreversible stupidity. At the very best Leonard stands to Darwin as gossip stands to science. Besides an extremely elementary, and implicit, classification of Bots he does nothing that even remotely resembles the work of a zoologist, let alone Darwin. Leonards' work is anecdotal, not scientific.

The title shows a clear disregard for the buyer/reader. Hence, two stars.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars 75% interesting, the remaining 25% boring !, 25 Jan 1999
By A Customer
If you use the net, its worth reading this book because it spotlights the important (but sometimes dry) world of bots. You will come away from this book a wiser person and find yourself diving for your computer to roadtest your new knowledge.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect for airplane trips, 4 Jun 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Bots: the Origin of New Species (Hardwired) (Hardcover)
It's well-written and treats the subject with respect, even if at times it is a bit lacking in technical details. A good overview of "computer programs which can travel".
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars A Waste of Time!
Very verbose and full of worthless information. Not at all what I expected. More a lesson in sociology than computer science, I advise the technically minded to AVOID this book.
Published on 29 Nov 1998

1.0 out of 5 stars Pointless
I purchased this book in hopes that it would provide some practical information on what type of web bots are available and how they could be used. Read more
Published on 12 Jun 1998

5.0 out of 5 stars BOT$ A non-techie view of agents on the net
Agents on the Internet are not quite powerful enough yet to really be called lifeforms. Andrew Leonard does make the case that it may only be a matter of time until we who define... Read more
Published on 3 Mar 1998

5.0 out of 5 stars Of Dogz and Men
This is another book review from Wolfie and Kansas, the boonie dogs from Toto, Guam. We approached Andrew Leonard's "Bots" The Origin of New Species" with... Read more
Published on 28 Aug 1997

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