B&N said they didn't have it in stock (*grumble*grumble*) but said they can order it for me in 3-8 days. That means I will get it Tuesday at the latest! Man, my luck... :(

It's so frustrating that some Barnes & Nobles aren't carrying it. 1) I think they underestimate the broad appeal of robotic sports and 2) had previously carried some puffy, photo-driven robot competition books that didn't sell well.

If you find a bookstore in your area doesn't have it, TELL Them they are fools and better order this runaway hit book! ;)

For now though, I suggest you go to www.booksense.com, a coalition of independent bookstores. Search for Gearheads and then put your zip code in, and it will tell you the closest store that has it. You can also try Amazon.

Good luck in Houston!
Brad

You can order books atBarnes and Noble for no extra cost, and this time of year it has a very quick turnaround.

Got mine in 3 days.
Gonna read more on the flight home tonight, red-eye funtime.

Wetzel

Man, I hope my comes before I have to leave on Wednesday.... :(

Way to wait until the last minute, guys... I bought mine about the time this thread started... It's a good read, though. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Because I just got time to buy it! :D

interesting, but....
 

I recently got a copy for my birthday (thanks Mom).

It seemed pretty accurate. I don't think it was disparaging towards FIRST, but I think there could have been a lot more FIRST-related content. There was a whole lot on the personalities and lawsuits, etc. related to the other competitions that to me detracted from the robotics aspects. I want to hear about competitors, not lawyers.

I don't think Dean got enough credit for his idea of "creating demand" for technical/engineering careers. Other guys were quoted as encouraging such things when Dean had already been at it for some time.

Why no descriptions of the FIRST games through the years? This would give people a deeper insight into Dean's and Woodie's master plan.

Not enough pictures.

If the author reads this, I hope you don't take my comments negatively. Just the fact that it had a chapter on FIRST put it on my must have list.

Ken

I bought it and I'm going to use it as a reference for a report I'm doing for my Science Technology and Values class.

Yeah, don't take the comments negatively (if you are a writter then you are used to this!) but mabey you could creat more books on the subject? A version two mabey? How about a book on each competiton itself?

hehe yea SRL woo wee man do I ever want to see some of there stuff live, I've seen some of there stuff on real TV its quite amazing even for just TV.

Thanks for all your comments. I take all criticism constructively! There is undoubtedly more of the FIRST story to tell. Regarding Ken's comments on wanting more FIRST content, i streamlined that section because i was trying to tell the larger story of what happened to all these robot entrepreneurs when their events got big... and i wanted the book to be fast-moving and suspenseful, so that non-robot people would keep reading as well.
Brad

I knew it sounded familiar...
 

On the plane back from Houston this morning I was reading Brad's wonderful book and came across a message board quote at the bottom of page 211 that sounded very familiar: "I know that Dean and company believe that Battlebots is all about violence and celebrating what's wrong with society, but many people fail to notice the positive aspects of Battlebots. The pits at a Battlebots competition are much like a FIRST competition. People are looking to help others."

From what I remembered, it sounded just like a post I made almost 2 years ago, at least it had the same main point. So when I got home I was excited to confirm that Brad did indeed quote my post (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...id=422#post422) in his book. He also quoted Mike O'leary's follow-up post in the next paragraph.

How cool is that?

I noticed that, too. I couldn't remember who the post was from, but I knew it was a direct quote from CD.

On recommendation from one of my team members, I got copies of "Gearheads" for our 2003 team award winners. Got the books in yesterday and wanted to give it a read (make sure that no "bad" content goes out to the HS students, don't you know?).

This is an excellent book. As has been mentioned, if focuses mainly on the commercial aspects of the sport. Gives a lot of neat background info on how the various sporting venues (Robot Wars, Battlebots, Robotics) arose and how they are interrelated.

The book was surprisingly objective. Whereas it seems to work overtime to create a sympathetic character out of Mark Thorpe (the creator of Robot Wars), it does bring out his faults as well. Likewise for many of the other "characters" in the book.

I was a little disappointed with the tone directed at FIRST, as expressed on page 279, "That year [2002], in what was surely a continuing disappointment for the famous inventor [dean kamen], the FIRST competition was broadcast on the seldomly watched NASA TV - the space agency's satellite feed." The book goes to great lengths to discuss how television has under-mined the sport aspect of robotic sport. FIRST has remained true to its ideals and is slowly accomplishing its objectives.

The book gives a fairly accurate history of FIRST from its inception. In an astute insight, the author picks up on the inherent contradiction brewing within the FIRST community, the dichotomy between FIRST's goal to inspire students to become "participants" and the goal to become more "media friendly." For those of you who missed it, you should go to the archive of 2003's kick-off, where Dean indicates the difference between the Superbowl which will be held in Reliant and the FIRST championships. In the Superbowl, there will be 10,000 spectators and 22 participants. In FIRST, there are 10,000 participants.

One erratum, on page 208, the book refers to 1999's Double Trouble, but the events depicted are 2000's Co-opertition FIRST.

I was looking your book's website and your biography says that you have plenty of robotic toys....

I am just curious as to what toys you have???

pics and whatnot

Bad Brad