Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology
Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology by Valentino Braitenbergby Valentino Braitenberg
Shares rank 12 of 50 popular science books by recommenders
A short, classic book showing how simple wiring of sensors and motors can produce complex-seeming behavior, recommended by readers as a favorite.
A short, classic book showing how simple wiring of sensors and motors can produce complex-seeming behavior, recommended by readers as a favorite.
6 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Recommended as a favorite book
“One of my favorite books is Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology.”
Comment from 14 Sep 2026 in “EuroBirdPortal – Live bird movements across Europe” “It's one of my favourite books ever.”
Comment from 31 Oct 2026 in “Simple circuits can create complex behaviors”
Other popular science books people recommend
The four most recommended other popular science books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gödel, Escher, Bachby Douglas Hofstadter | 47 | 10 | 82% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Thinking, Fast and Slowby Daniel Kahneman | 17 | 13 | 57% | 9 | — | — |
| Thinking in Systemsby Donella Meadows | 17 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| The Selfish Geneby Richard Dawkins | 14 | 5 | 74% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychologyby Valentino BraitenbergThis page | 6 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
5 of the 6 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I read it many years back. Wonderful!”
“It's one of my favourite books ever.”
“One of my favorite books is Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology.”
“For explorations of simple mechanisms like this leading to complex behaviour, Valentino Braitenberg's book Vehicles is a classic.”
“I can really recommend reading Valentino Braitenbergs "Vehicles: Experiments in synthetic psychology (1984)"”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.