Reviews

Burn-In: A Novel of the Real Robotic Revolution by August Cole, P.W. Singer

suchita_r's review against another edition

4.0

Incredibly detailed depiction of an all-too probable future

jacobesanders's review against another edition

4.0

This book was heavily researched and so parts of the early chapters read like a nonfiction informative pamphlet describing the future technologies that will be enabled by AI. If you enjoy that type of reading on its own, as I do, you will particularly enjoy this read since it weaves in a compelling narrative that will immerse you in the possible world that awaits us. Both eerie and exciting, foreboding and inspiring, you will be left pondering what your role will be in constructing the future, what dangers to watch out for, what it means to be human, and so much more!

linuxlibrarian's review against another edition

adventurous informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

eklipse219's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

sparklelys's review against another edition

5.0

Can we automate that?  The internet of things is getting bigger.

In a world where unemployment is running high because of robots taking jobs, including her husband's role as a lawyer, FBI agent Lara Keegan is charged with training TAMS (Tactical Autonomous Mobility System) for service.  The start of that is getting it used to real life inputs to round out its data assimilation.  Let's take it to a diner!  Let's introduce it to our own daughter!  Just normal stuff.  What could go wrong?

wajeemba's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book was both a very thoughtful treatise on how humanity and AI will come to higher and higher levels of interplay, as well as a very interesting story. A novel that's fun and can make you step back and think about bigger picture things happening in our world deserves high marks in my opinion!

I will say that this is a very stressful story, so not one that I'd recommend for people looking to relax.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Drug use

There's a particular chapter (a few contiguous scenes) in this book that contains all of the explicit sexual content/sexual violence. You can read skip that section and very much enjoy the rest of the book if that's not your cup of tea. Here's a spoiler you can come back to with the only plot-impactful info from that section:

they find and arrest the guy they were looking for.

hgandon's review against another edition

I kept picking up this book so many times and gave it so many chances but it just didn’t work for me. It wasn’t gripping in any way, it wasn’t making me eager to turn the page. 

roobar's review against another edition

5.0

Whilst this is probably not the most compelling example of the Thriller genre, it offers a very believable depiction of the direction we are taking with AI and related technologies. As a career IT guy, the book rings true. Definitely worth reading.

posthumusly's review against another edition

4.0

I loved the tech information linked to real world articles.

vasco's review against another edition

adventurous informative fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0