A new book from McFarland, Robots That Kill: Deadly Machines and Their Precursors in Myth, Folklore, Literature, Popular Culture and Reality.

The blurb makes it sound more appealing than the usual academic slab…

This book describes real-world killer robots using a blend of perspectives. Overviews of technologies, such as autonomy and artificial intelligence, demonstrate how science enables these robots to be effective killers. Incisive analyses of social controversies swirling around the design and use of killer robots reveal that science, alone, will not govern their future. Among those disputes is whether fully-autonomous, robotic weapons should be banned. Examinations of killers from the Golem to Frankenstein’s monster reveal that artificially-created beings like these are precursors of real 21st century killer robots. This book laces the death and destruction caused by all these killers with science and humor. The seamless combination of these elements produces a deeper and richer understanding of the robots around us.

… but there are no reviews yet, that I could find. It’s way over-priced in paper in the UK (£44 paperback), compared to the USA ($40 paperback, about £26).