{"product_id":"9781400031580","title":"Edison's Eve: A Magical History of the Quest for Mechanical Life","description":"\u003cp\u003eDuring the eighteenth century, the inventor Jacques de Vaucanson created a mechanical duck that seemingly could digest and excrete its food. A few decades later, Europeans fell in love with “the Turk,” a celebrated chess-playing machine built in 1769. Thomas Edison was obsessed for years with making a talking mechanical doll, one of his few failures as an inventor. In our own time, scientists at MIT are trying to build a robot with emotions of its own. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat lies behind our age-old pursuit to create mechanical life? What does this pursuit tell us about human nature? In \u003cb\u003eEdison’s Eve\u003c\/b\u003e Gaby Wood traces the history of robotics, from its most brilliant inventions to its most ingenious hoaxes. Joining lively anecdote with literary, cultural, and philosophical insights, Wood offers a captivating and learned work of science and history.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47040728105200,"sku":"9781400031580","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781400031580_p0.jpg?v=1763767734","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781400031580","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}