Thinkbot

by David Tossell

Welcome to the world of Thinkbot, the world's first sentient robot - a thinking, feeling being in a tin can ... a world of high-tech industrial chaos, small robotic furry pets, politicians on the edge of a nervous breakdown and robots of mass destruction.

Thinkbot owes his existence to a glitch in the Globalbot fabrication plant in which hortibots, waiterbots, plumberbots, and militaribots are created to supply the needs of a world where all physical activity, including warfare, is undertaken by robots. When he escapes and finds sanctuary in the dysfunctional family of technical supremo GAT, all hell begins to break loose and what started out as an electronic error explodes into a drama on the international stage.

By turns, dramatic, manic and hilarious, David Tossell's novel is a perceptive, futuristic satire in which an all-to-recognisable present is projected into an awesome future.

Paperback

About the author

David Tossell has been a sports journalist for four decades. Long-time head of European Public Affairs for the NFL (National Football League) and former Executive Sports Editor of the Today newspaper, he is the author of 17 sports books. He has been short-listed seven times in the British Sports Book Awards - for Bertie Mee (Best Biography, 2006); Grovel! (Best Cricket Book, 2008); Nobody Beats Us (Best Rugby Book, 2010); Tony Greig (Best Cricket Book, 2012); The Great English Final (Best Football Book, 2014), Natural: The Jimmy Greaves Story (Best Biography and Best Football Book, 2020). He has also been short-listed twice for MCC/Cricket Society Book of the Year.
He has written books on football, cricket, rugby and American football.

Reviews

[Lydia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thinkbot is a quirky, engaging novel about war, technology, the environment, and what it means to be a person. It is set in the near-distant future and is centered around the family of a robot technician named GAT. A glitch in the robot factory creates the world's first sentinent robot, who calls himself Thinkbot, and the novel follows Thinkbot and his relationships with the humans he encounters as he ventures into the world, notably GAT's family. I did get bogged down in some of the robotalk, but I think gearheads would enjoy those bits. I highly recommend this book, it is hilarious as well as poignant.