Robopocalypse

Robopocalypse (2011) by Daniel H. Wilson. A computer scientist keeps creating and destroying an artificial intelligence, which learns too fast and grows intelligent beyond imagining. On the fourteenth try, the AI manages to wrest control from the scientist, and takes control. After that event, robots all over the world rise up and start killing their former masters -- the human race. From that point on, the war is on; the war between man and machine. If you get the feeling that this is a retread of ideas already explored in The Terminator movies, you are partly correct. But in this case Archos, the machine intelligence, decides not to use nuclear weapons to wipe mankind out. Why Archos doesn't use tactical nukes to wipe out pockets of resistance is beyond me. It seems that humankind would have no hope of surviving such a war, but survive we do -- after billions are killed. It seems obvious that this book will lead to a movie, it's only a question of time. It has very cinematic qualities. It could be a good scary movie, too. As a book, it's a pretty good read -- if you like sci-fi. Grade: B+