Product Description

The complete collection of Isaac Asimov's classic Robot stories. In these stories, Asimov creates the Three Laws of Robotics and ushers in the Robot Age -- when Earth is ruled by master-machines and when robots are more human than mankind. The Complete Robot is the ultimate collection of timeless, amazing and amusing robot stories from the greatest science fiction writer of all time, offering golden insights into robot thought processes. Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics were programmed into real computers thirty years ago at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- with suprising results. Readers of today still have many surprises in store...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6405 in Books
• Published on: 1983-12-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 688 pages

About the Author
Isaac Asimov was the Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America, the founder of robot ethics, the world's most prolific author of fiction and non-fiction. The Good Doctor's fiction has been enjoyed by millions for more than half a century.

Customer Reviews

A must-read for any Asimov fan!
Having read all of the Foundation series, I decided to try another of Asimov's works and this later collection of robot stories seemed ideal. Although a friend had told me that the robot stories were 'quite hard going', I found them to be most enjoyable and very thought-provoking. One of the best parts of the book is Asimov's introduction and the 'preludes' to each section, which give a real insight into the way the stories were written and how they came to be. The book is around seven hundred pages and contains over thirty varied robot stories, but the only disappointment I felt was when I came to the end of this compilation. This is a must for any fan of great science fiction.

They don't write them like this anymore
I've just bought this again after losing my original copy. Asimov is, quite simply, the master of the robot story. What makes the stories so compelling is that whilst they seem to be about robots, they're really about how human beings treat each other, seen through the treatment of the robots as third class citizens. Parallels can be drawn between the treatment of the robots and the treatment of blacks in segregated America.

When I was younger, I wanted to be Susan Calvin (but hopefully better looking), the robopsychologist who is the star of some of the best stories. She's a great character, years ahead of her time. The collection also includes the original Bicentennial Man story. Don't bother with the dreadful Robin Williams film. Read this. It will break your heart without even trying.

What makes these stories most compelling is that they're set in the times in which we live now, Asimov's future, and it's interesting to see how much we have evolved. He wasn't right about everything, but computers have evolved in such a way that we're reliant on them, whilst resenting that reliance. In that he was completely right!

All the best of Asimovs Robot short stories.
This book covers the very wide roll of robots in differing guises and their relationship with their human masters. Whether they are Automobiles, insects or planetary mining equipment the robots are constant and faithful. They go to extraordinary lengths to obey humans' instructions to the letter in context of Asimovs' 'three laws of robotics' which are programmed in to every robot positronic brain to protect us. Asimov persuades us to side with the robot against the contrary, ignorant, selfish bulk of humanity. Even those who, through intuition, intelligence and luck prevent potential disasters are deeply flawed as people. This book is a good introduction to Asimovs' 14 book 'history of the future'. It displays the authors ability to convince the reader that the worlds he creates are the natural consequences of the way people are and the sorts of robots we would create, not always by design.