a few months ago a publisher emailed me and asked if i'd be interested in a free copy of how to survive a robot uprising. of course it was the sort of thing that i can't pass up on. free goodies and it's about robots! what's not to love?

the book is a funny take on what to do when robots decide to stop cleaning your carpet and instead suck you into oblivion. it's full of nice shiny illustrations. i could actually see the book being used in science classrooms in junior highs or high schools but i somehow think it'd only appeal to nerdy boys and the fact that there is some swearing in the book would no doubt have the school board up in arms.

as i read the book i kept thinking it was crying out to be a book on tape read by some washed up or semi-washed up celebrity. intially i thought it might be perfect for william shatner or leonard nimoy but i think there may be someone else out there with a better voice for the book.

i could get used to people sending me free things like this. well, as long as they are as cool as this. oh, and the author has a blog where i learned that the movie rights to the book have been sold. considering hollywood's track record with these sort of things i'm not sure that's something to be celebrated.

i also just finished reading unknown legends of rock 'n' roll. this was a fascinating read, about bands most of the public has passed over for one reason or another. it seems most rock books end up annoying me for some sort of condescension on the part of the author, but this book didn't really annoy me in that way. though i tend to have an aversion for the word rock(i tend to associate it with boring, and a lot of bands people consider rock i'd consider pop), but beyond that i dug the book quite a bit. especially the chapter on scott walker(which makes me want to re-listen to tilt) - who by the way will have a new album out on 4AD in may. the book comes with a cd and i found myself as i read the book continually turning to the cd to see if such and such a band were on the cd or not. the book would have been worth reading(for me) just to come upon the following sentence:

if you can wade your way through the repertoire of syd barrett, skip spence, the holy modal rounders, or the hampton grease band's "maria" without breaking into smiles, you really have been holed up with those smiths records too long.