This new series offers nineteen titles on a variety of important inventions that have transformed society and life. Robots begins with a discursive look at robots in literature and popular culture. Greek myths tell how Hephaestus (Vulcan) created metal companions, and Daedalus made statues so realistic that they came to life. Ancient Chinese and Indian stories also told of lifelike mechanical creatures-clearly a deep-seated human fascination or fear. Later inventors and filmmakers began constructing simple and not so simple mechanical creatures. The history of these early robots or androids, the men who made them, and the amazement they evoked is fascinating. By the 1900s American ingenuity was applied to creating robotic weapons and industrial workers, and these applications are more important than ever. Intrinsic to the search is artificial intelligence. Nowadays robots can perform work, both domestic and industrial, "play," amuse, and assist in surgery. Robotics is a growing and respected scientific field. Ethical questions are argued and provocative questions are raised. Students who have, or want to have, the iPup and the iDog, as well as Transformers and a host of other robots, will find much to interest them. Navigational Aids is also a well-written, very interesting look at tools used to get from one place to another, dating 5000 years ago right up to the present. Ancient sailors who first ventured out of land sight faced daunting problems, involving water depth, distance from land, and direction. Early brave Egyptian, Phoenician, Arab, Chinese and Polynesian mariners studied the stars, winds, and currents, and invented simple tools to track them. In the 1200s, the quadrant was invented, and the astrolabe improved to show the position of the sun and stars seen from a particular location at a particular time. From the eighteenth century onward, many clever new inventions made navigation easer: the compasses, gyroscopes, Fresnel lens that improved lighthouse v