Book details of 'Bug Park'

Title	Bug Park
Author(s)	James P. Hogan
ISBN	0671877739
Language	English
Published	April 1997
Publisher	Baen Books

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The Virtual Bookcase Reviews of 'Bug Park':

Reviewer Rob Slade wrote:
Yet another finely crafted and technically informed work of science fiction from James Hogan. This time, he explores the world of, well, millitechnology. The heroes, and villains, actually, of this one are building smaller and smaller robots, working their way down to the realms of nanotech. Most of the activity in the story takes place in the size range of bugs. Hogan recognizes the changes in dynamics that take place as size is scaled down. Mass becomes negligible, and technologies that are inefficient at our level become vital. Flat surfaces aren't, soft becomes a trap, and sheer is climbable. He notes that movement must be learned all over again, in much the same way as it is in low gravity. None of the robots are equipped to generate sound: speakers, in that dimension, are a waste of space and weight, and would probably damage delicate mechanisms. The one problem I do have with his description is in regard to sense and vision. (The characters are running the robots via virtual reality and telepresence, through the auspices of direct neural coupling. We'll accept that.) Colours are described as brilliant, and small items are described in great detail. Unless the robots are using the ultraviolet spectrum and even higher, though, as eyes and lenses are scaled down, resolution falls. Working in close quarters would offset this to a certain extent, but only somewhat. Distance vision, on the order of metres, would be very fuzzy indeed. Sensitivity to sound could be arbitrary, of course, and in the book it is consistently set to human volume. On the writing level, Hogan has become extremely skilled indeed. While this doesn't fall into the "thriller" class of literature (only one life is in danger at any given time), it is one of the most gripping and exciting books I have read in a long time. The bad guys are absolutely contemptible, including an actual evil step-mother. (Who drives a Jaguar. How much more real can you get? Jag drivers are evil.) The antagonism is the more gripping since it is usually not just a teenager against all the adults, but a quarter-inch tall teenager against all the adults. Great stuff, with a satisfying (and mechanically accurate) conclusion to the chase scene. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1997
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