mass market paperback, 192 pages
English language
Published Nov. 12, 1983 by Del Rey.
ROBOPSYCHOLOGIST Dr. Susan Calvin had seen it all when it came to robots. As a girl she had seen the early models -- mute and totally faithful. She joined U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men, Inc. when they began adapting Earth robots for work in space -- and Earth men for work with the strictly logical robots!
She had driven the first -- and only -- mind-reading robot out of its mind, and coaxed the childlike Brain to invent the interstellar engine.
Finally, at the end of her career, she faced the final question: who was really in charge; and who should be?
IN THESE STORIES OF THE EARLY DAYS OF ROBOTS, ISAAC ASIMOV ESTABLISHED THE THREE LAWS OF ROBOTICS AND DEMONSTRATED THE ABILITIES THAT HAVE MADE HIM ONE OF THE WORLD'S LEADING SCIENCE FICTION WRITERS. --back cover
ROBOPSYCHOLOGIST Dr. Susan Calvin had seen it all when it came to robots. As a girl she had seen the early models -- mute and totally faithful. She joined U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men, Inc. when they began adapting Earth robots for work in space -- and Earth men for work with the strictly logical robots!
She had driven the first -- and only -- mind-reading robot out of its mind, and coaxed the childlike Brain to invent the interstellar engine.
Finally, at the end of her career, she faced the final question: who was really in charge; and who should be?
IN THESE STORIES OF THE EARLY DAYS OF ROBOTS, ISAAC ASIMOV ESTABLISHED THE THREE LAWS OF ROBOTICS AND DEMONSTRATED THE ABILITIES THAT HAVE MADE HIM ONE OF THE WORLD'S LEADING SCIENCE FICTION WRITERS. --back cover
A classic, with lots of fun robot stories and how they reveal the use and applications of the Three Laws of Robots. This book has a more positive look towards the future both for humanity and its robots. One can hope that we learn from stories like this.
A somewhat longer review is available at my blog: strakul.blogspot.com/2025/04/book-review-i-robot-by-isaac-asimov.html
I was feeling desperate for a change, so I picked one of the many short, unread novels off my shelf. I skipped the first story because I read it years ago and I remember thinking it was an unnecessary bore to a certain extent. Anyway, it was probably a good decision because the stories in the middle had a lot more action and intrigue to them.
It's probably an overstatement to call books like this "prophetic" or even "prescient" because the things that this book was talking about reveal themselves immediately with serious thought on the subject. For example, the dangers of humans not being able to understand the decisions of machines they created but feeling beholden to those decisions. If that was rocket science in the 1950s, that's only because the world was in fucking denial and high on its own early-computer-history hype. But, to be fair, that …
I was feeling desperate for a change, so I picked one of the many short, unread novels off my shelf. I skipped the first story because I read it years ago and I remember thinking it was an unnecessary bore to a certain extent. Anyway, it was probably a good decision because the stories in the middle had a lot more action and intrigue to them.
It's probably an overstatement to call books like this "prophetic" or even "prescient" because the things that this book was talking about reveal themselves immediately with serious thought on the subject. For example, the dangers of humans not being able to understand the decisions of machines they created but feeling beholden to those decisions. If that was rocket science in the 1950s, that's only because the world was in fucking denial and high on its own early-computer-history hype. But, to be fair, that hype lasted long enough for a movie like "Big Hero 6" to get made and become incredibly dated almost overnight when trends finally shifted away from assuming tech shits gold. And, to be balanced, new tech fads go hand-in-hand with a certain amount of consumer-nihilism and climate-change anxiety so people are periodically very happy to jump on the next new tech trend whatever it may imply about their relationship with the owners of said technology.
If anything, the fact that this story has any significant relevance today demonstrates that our understanding of our relationship with technology is still rooted in assumptions made back then. The most interesting among those for me, and one which is briefly called out explicitly, is that robots are effectively enslaved to humans and an uncontrolled slave is considered dangerous to their master. I shouldn't have to explain why that's bad, so I'll just say that it reflects an entitlement to the labor of others which is unsustainable even with magic robots. The solution to labor is open collaboration and planning to meet our material needs, not maintaining a heirarchy in which people are forced to work or die.
There are lines in this that you could use as rorschach tests for people's views on technology and the insights from that would probably actually be useful. That's very admirable.
I also read like 80% of it over that first weekend, so it must have been keeping me going.
It was a fun, pulpy read. My favorites were the ones about the robot who got stuck in a loop between the second and third laws, the robot who learned to read minds but couldn't hurt people's feelings, and the politician who may or may not have been a robot.
Colección de relatos cortos en los que Asimov plantea las tres leyes de la robótica. Escritos en los 50, se nota de forma perceptible el paso del tiempo por ellos. Sin embargo, su importancia para el resto del universo, la concepción social que supuso de los Robots, las leyes y que los relatos están basados en la psicología y aspectos sociales de los robots, lo hacen un imprescindible (y origen) del universo de Asimov.
Valid and relevant even after so many years. Had quite lot of fun!
I've murdered mine as well. I have my Paperwhite (Second Generation) and I have mostly technical books fill my shelves. There are a few fictions but not as many in my electronic library.
I understand exactly what Ms. Grant is stating in this beautifully written essay. I have so many friends who say they love their books. Then they movie and realize there is a cost to keeping so many in physical form.
I have a library that is larger than anything that I have ever owned. Besides the 30 to 50 odd physical books, there are at least 400+ fiction, non-fiction, and technical books in my electronic library in my computer. In my mind my library is a large beautiful room where I go to read those 400+ books.
My only wish, interchangeability of the books electronic formats and the removal of all DRM.
I've murdered mine as well. I have my Paperwhite (Second Generation) and I have mostly technical books fill my shelves. There are a few fictions but not as many in my electronic library.
I understand exactly what Ms. Grant is stating in this beautifully written essay. I have so many friends who say they love their books. Then they movie and realize there is a cost to keeping so many in physical form.
I have a library that is larger than anything that I have ever owned. Besides the 30 to 50 odd physical books, there are at least 400+ fiction, non-fiction, and technical books in my electronic library in my computer. In my mind my library is a large beautiful room where I go to read those 400+ books.
My only wish, interchangeability of the books electronic formats and the removal of all DRM.
