Debugging The Uncanny Valley

A worthwhile addition to my shelf, with realistic expectations.

This is the third book I have read on uncanny valley this year, and it is comfortably the best of them. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. The author avoids over-explaining, which keeps the pace up but means you need to pay attention. Solid, and I would buy another book from this author without hesitation.

Exactly the book I needed. Straight to the point and genuinely useful.

I have been working with uncanny valley for a few years now and I still found plenty here that was new to me. It is denser than the page count suggests, and I found myself slowing down around the middle. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. Some of the material is available elsewhere, but rarely presented this clearly. One of those books that pays for itself within the first few chapters. Highly recommended.

Not quite what I expected from the description, but there is material here.

There is a particular kind of technical book that is dense without being difficult, and this is one of them. The writing is direct and does not waste space on filler, which I value in a technical book. I particularly liked the way the author builds up from simple cases before introducing the harder material. It is denser than the page count suggests, and I found myself slowing down around the middle. Three stars feels about right. It will stay on my shelf, but it will not be the first one I reach for.