Prescient re' the internet and computer viruses. Goes way beyond 'can a computer be human' to explore what a sentient computer thinks about love and religion. Enough humor and intrigue to be entertaining, and enough What If and Sense of Wonder to satisfy fans of classic SF. Reliable author, btw, whether he's writing some of the best Star Trek books or his own highly original stories. ( )

D-I respect this book more than I like it. It's really more of a treatise than a novel, and the pages and pages of Socratic dialogue get tedious. Still, Gerrold's speculations about the nature and potential for artificial intelligence hold up remarkably well. ( )

This book tells the story of an artificial intelligence and the psychologist who is assigned to help him grow up. A lot of the book is devoted to the discussion of philosophical questions, which Tim found very interesting when he was younger and those questions were among his main concerns, but I found dull from the perspective of late middle age. Read it early. The golden age is twelve. -- Billie ( )