Virtual Reality: The Revolutionary Technology of Computer-Generated Artificial Worlds - and How It Promises to Transform Society

by Howard Rheingold

Imagine being able to "walk" into your computer and interact with any program you create. It sounds like science fiction, but it's science fact. Surgeons now rehearse operations on computer-generated "virtual" patients, and architects "walk through" virtual buildings while the actual structures are still in blueprints. In Virtual Reality , Howard Rheingold takes us to the front lines of this revolutionary new technology that creates computer-generated worlds complete with the sensations of touch and motion, and explores its impact on everything from entertainment to particle physics.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Technology, Philosophy, Computers, Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Aloha! I'm always excited to interact with readers. I'm new to Goodreads but will do my best to check in from time to time. A great deal of info and resources, articles, videos, can be found on my website, which I will list here.

I'm 65 and live in Marin County, California -- just north of the Golden Gate -- and when I'm not writing (and when weather permits, when I am writing) I'm usually to be found in my garden.

I've been a writer my entire adult life, starting at age 23, although I do a lot of other things, teaching at Stanford among them.

Judy and I have been together for 45 years! Married for 35 of those years. We have a grown daughter and two dogs that we pamper.

Reviews

[Geoff Cain · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good foundation for some of the early work in this field. It is a bit of a time-trip right now. It is worth re-reading because of things going on in virtual worlds right now. Rheingold is a little too damn happy about technology but it is an informative and entertaining book.

[Bambang Irawan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was stunned with cave Lascaux section, kokopeli and its interpretation as the earliest Virtual Reality.

[Anthony O'Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent account of early work and research into VR. The astonishing thing from today's perspective is just how much was done in the 50s to the 80s. There is not much that wasn't attempted or at least contemplated. They just didn't have the computing power. Now we do. Its gonna be ... awesome.

I have another paperback edition. Not this one. Not on the list. The print is so tiny it is almost unreadable. This is very shoddy. Would have got a 1 for poor production quality. since I could not possibly have recommended it. Just as well its not on the list. Buyer beware.

[Ben Rochon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty interesting view on the state of VR in early 90s. Some chapters were awesome and some felt a big longer.

[Ilbar Johnny · Rating 5 out of 5]

me gusta mucho ese libro

[Austin X · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are interested in virtual reality this is the place to start.

[Olalekan Ajayi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book covers the historical development of virtual reality from the origin by Sutherland to developments in the late 1980s. The book also give insight into the cognitive transformation which virtual reality will bring to mankind. I recommend this book as a first teaching book in the study of a VR.

[Kang Arul]

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[Michael Lew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tells the story of the first wave of Virtual Reality in the early 1990s, in the USA.