Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #306575 in Books
• Published on: 2000-03-09
• Binding: Paperback
• 112 pages

Customer Reviews

Not as good as the Foundation series
Having read this twice, once before and once after Will Smith starred in a film "loosely" based on this book, I have to say, I feel the book has not aged as well as the Foundation series. While the conflict between man and machine is a subject that is all the more relevant in the modern age, I have never found the three laws of robotics storyline to be that riveting. Actually as always Asimov writes in his unique, humorous style, with witty dialogue and problem-solving plots. It just doesn't move anything deep within me in the same way that the conflict between the Foundation and the old Empire does.

A classic of the genre!
I really enjoyed reading this book. Its simplicity in its writing and its lack of depth (this is a collection of short stories after all) give it an air of subtle brilliance that would just be overdone if it were too wordy. The Three Laws act as an ever present backdrop to all the problems served up across the 9 stories and with them, Asimov is able to present wonderful tales of logic and reasoning.

My favourite story is the aptly titled "Reason" whereby an experimental robot deduces in his own way how he was created, what his purpose is and most amusingly what role humans have in relation to him. I recently read The Rest of the Robots and have to say this one is definitely superior although that book had its moments too! I read "I, Robot" after seeing the movie and even though I know the movie got panned by Asimov fans for not following the source material etc. etc. I can see now that the movie's plot fits in quite nicely with the Robots series.

Robot Philosophy
I have read a couple of Asimov's books, 'Asimov on Chemistry' and this one, and it his ability to combine science and philosophy that really catches my imagination. Yes, 'I, Robot' has some dated language, but who is to say in the future we will not come around to using old fashioned language again? I notice 'cool', 'fab', and 'wicked' have all done the rounds again, so why not 40s language?

The reason I bought the book in the first place was that I am currently in a play called 'Comic Potential' which also has as its central theme the reaction of people to robots. I loved the film 'I Robot' and suspected that the philosophy behind it, which was what I liked about the film, was what was taken from the book - and I was right. The film takes the three laws from the book, and some of the questions raised by Asimov's stories are incorporated into the script - especially the later stories where the robots become more sophisticated.

The book travels through time and the stories investigate the developing roles of the robots and the human reactions to them. It is a thought provoking read, I just could not put it down, which is why I have just bought 'The Rest of the Robots' to carry on the tale...I loved it - and if you like films like 'Bladerunner', 'A.I.' and 'I, Robot' for the philosophy as well as the special effects, then you probably will too!!