VIRTUAL REALITY

In the Science Sourcebook series, a clear and sensible approach to the wonders and mysteries of virtual reality, including its history and some possible scenarios for the future. Grady compares the state of virtual reality to the situation of television in its earliest years: Everyone thought it was great, but it was wildly expensive, and the technology had not yet caught up to the possibilities. He takes a tour through virtual reality's history, and describes its current uses, still in their infancy, in medicine, architecture, business, science, and, of course, fun and games. He writes quite accurately about the function of virtual realityessentially to fool the mind and body into creating a multidimensional experience from computers, software, and devices. While he doesn't delve deeply into the philosophical questions raised by this fascinating medium, he does mention them, and presents a coherent picture of the technology to date. (b&w illustrations, photographs, index, not seen, glossary, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 12-14)