Customer Reviews

Tom Swift and his giant robot

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Robots fascinate us, that was true for me when I was an adolescent and that interest has not waned. Therefore, this is one of my favorite Tom Swift books. Tom Sr. is building an atomic energy plant and Tom Jr. is building robots that can be used for the dangerous aspects of maintenance. However, an evil genius that is capable of making devices that can be remotely controlled is battling with Tom. His primary weapon is small planes that look like crows. They launch several attacks; nearly killing Tom and his friend Bud Barclay.
While robotics has not yet advanced to the stage where they can play tennis, some of the robotic actions described in the story have come true. There are robots that can walk on two legs and carry out a limited set of grasping and moving actions. Chow Winkler of course also makes an appearance, talking about and cooking up some wild meals. While the action is predictable and we know that Tom will triumph in the end, the book was still exciting to read, even though it was written a half-century ago. I still recommend the books in the Tom Swift junior series to young children who are interested in science and adventure.

My 10YO son and I picked the 1954 edition up at a used bookstore, the colorful cover having caught his attention. He picked it as one of our "read together" books. I'm happy to say that this book is as fun today as it was then. Adventure and robots and heros make a exciting story. To help my son understand the some of the context, I've been explaining old technology to him. He has been impressed with how people used to manage with so little and happy to have so much now. It's cool to read how people perceived technology 60 years ago.

THe book is never boring: Attention grabbing passages describe futuristic crow shaped planes and robot control. Tom Swift is ever the hero, expertly guiding his own plane in even the most difficult of situations. An unknown enemy tries to steal Tom's robot.

I can't wait to tell my son that some of the books in this series are also free for the Kindle!