Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | How to Survive a Robot Uprising | 2005 | Daniel H. Wilson | Buy |
| 2 | Where’s My Jetpack? | 2007 | Daniel H. Wilson | Buy |
| 3 | How to Build a Robot Army | 2007 | Daniel H. Wilson | Buy |
| 4 | Mad Scientist Hall of Fame | 2008 | Daniel H. Wilson | Buy |
| 5 | Bro-Jitsu | 2010 | Daniel H. Wilson | Buy |
Daniel H. Wilson’s non-fiction books are where his career started. How to Survive a Robot Uprising (2005) was his breakout hit, a humorous guide that draws on real robotics research to explain how humans could fend off their mechanical creations. The book’s success led to Where’s My Jetpack? (2007), which takes a fun look at futuristic technologies that were promised but never arrived, and How to Build a Robot Army (2007), which continues in the same playful vein.
Mad Scientist Hall of Fame (2008) profiles history’s most eccentric inventors and scientists, while Bro-Jitsu (2010) rounds out the collection with a humor book about the unspoken rules of male friendship. All five books share Wilson’s ability to make technical and scientific topics entertaining and accessible. They were written during and shortly after his PhD at Carnegie Mellon, giving them an authenticity that pure humor books often lack.