Customer Reviews

I, ROBOT.

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Few books have defined a genre of pop culture as well as this short classic by Isaac Asimov. This book is a collection of several stories, all of which are set in the near future when written by I. Asimov in 1950. By reading the stories from front cover to back cover, we see the evolution of human - robot relationships both at a personal level, and on a societal level at large. In all the stories, the relationship is defined by three laws. But the constraints of these laws can cause robot behavior that is sometimes quite unexpected by their human masters. For example, the last story hints that robots have become so sophisticated and powerful that they can change political events such that wars are prevented. Each story explores how the laws lead to robot behaviors and human - robot relationships that in turn provide commentary on human nature. Themes explored include friendship; as in the first story of the little girl and her robot friend, to spiritual belief, as in the story of the super robot that operates a mine, and somehow develops a belief that the mining is done for the sake of a god. All in all a great book. It takes about one day to read, and is quite entertaining.