Like most technology books, this book from nearly four years ago is likely out of date. There is still plenty of excellent information about the history of voice computing and where people thought it might go. I found the opening chapter annoying as it seemed like it was selling the prospects of voice computing, but the tone evened out over the book. Monetization may be an unfortunate issue that keeps talking to a computer less helpful than it could be. Vlahos doesn’t mention that directly, but appropriately believes that the big tech companies will clear the path.

"How Voice Computing Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Think" is the subtitle of a new non-fiction book, TALK TO ME, by author James Vlahos. He argues that we are entering the era of voice computing and that like previous technological disruptions (e.g., changes with mainframes, desktops, internet search and mobile computing), it will involve a paradigm shift and platform war. Vlahos divides his text into three parts labeled Competition, Innovation and Revolution, with about ten percent allocated to notes and an index. Of course, there's quite a bit of discussion about Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft, plus chatbots, conversational artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language systems. Some of the historical background describes the roughly twenty-five-year development of Siri and "her component technologies" and briefly touches on the choice of Alexa as a wake word. Later, there is an entire chapter devoted to personalities, noting our penchant to personify and to invest more emotionally when a digital assistant is anthropomorphic (if you doubt this, take a moment and think back to Microsoft’s annoying on-screen helper, Clippy). Vlahos also discusses some of the reasons why female voices were chosen and the potential for truly individualized AIs in the future (described in US Patent 8,996,429) whereby "the bot can present the best possible personality to any given user." Other factors like the impact of virtual companionship on one's desire to socialize, and downsides such as eavesdropping or privacy concerns are included. Overall, Vlahos succeeds in making the potential advances of voice computing understandable and relevant, thereby captivating student interest with TALK TO ME.

Along with big data, artificial intelligence, and the cloud, voice computing is a big topic of the day. In what ways will it change the world? Talk To Me: How Voice Computing Will Transform The Way We Live, Work, and Think seeks to answer that question.

Talk To Me

They’re not just in our phones. Voice computing is appearing everywhere and changing the way we interact with machines. Talk To Me: How Voice Computing Will Transform The Way We Live, Work, and Think by James Vlahos is an exploration of the history of our speech-driven interaction with computers and where we may head in the future.

We’ve all used voice assistants on our phones to search for everything from driving directions to restaurant recommendations, but voice computing is far more than that. Voice brings an entirely new medium for engagement with the machines around us and will certainly continue to evolve the way we interact with the increasing number of digital devices in our everyday lives.

While most of us think of voice computing simply as Siri, which was introduced in 2011, the history of our desire to engage with voice goes far further back. Talk To Me examines how we go to the present day, with an extensive look through history, which includes a time before computers even existed. Long before the digital day dawned, humans were already trying to find ways to use our voice to interact with machines.

Despite a title that appears to indication a look to the future, Talk To Me is really about the past. The book title should be How Voice Computing HAS Transformed The Way We Live, Work, and Think, rather than WILL. While it’s a very detailed look at the history of voice computing, it really only brings us to present day. There’s no look at where we may be headed or how voice may continue to integrate into countless other areas of our everyday lives.

It’s also quite a dry read. The author randomly tries to throw in a quick humorous line ever couple chapters, but falls flat, as it simply doesn’t fit the style offered the other 99.9% of the book. Plenty of detail, but it’s largely presented in a way that feels like Ben Stein is giving a monotone report. History is far less fun to explore in such a mundane way.

Past and Present, Without Future

Any proper look to the future first requires a knowledge of how we got to the present. That foundation gives the understanding needed to see how this technology already has changed the world, and how it may continue to do so in years to come. But we want to know what’s next, and that’s what the author fails to offer in Talk To Me. While the history is solid (maybe even too detailed), the future isn’t addressed. If you’re looking for a history of voice computing, here it is. If you’re looking for where we’re headed, you’ll have to find those insights elsewhere.