In Moths to the Flame, Gregory J. E. Rawlins took lay readers on a tour of the exciting and sometimes scary world to which computers are leading us. His second book is for those who are new to computers and want to know what is "under the hood." It shows what computers can do for us and to us. Each of the six chapters asks a simple question: What are computers? How do we build them? How do we talk to them? How do we program them? What can't they do? Could they think? Written in an accessible, anecdotal form, Slaves of the Machine successfully demystifies the computer. Rawlins presents the birth of the computer, charts its evolution, and envisions its development in terms of the state of the art as of 1997 and into the future.