The Rest of the Robots by Isaac Asimov
Mar. 26th, 2006 03:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
The rest of the robots are not simple unthinking machines victimised by frightened men.
The rest of the robots are positronic with brains of platinum-iridium. Independent. Precision-engineered. Sensible. Rational. And from the moment the last rivet is in place ...
The rest of the robots is Isaac Asimov's final, classic, terrifying picture of robotic developments in the future.
This is a collection of Asimov's robot short-stories, many of them aimed at testing his three laws of robotics:
1. a robot may not injure a human being or through inaction allow a human being to come to harm;
2. a robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except when such orders would conflict with the First Law;
3. a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
This particular collection includes four Susan Calvin stories (one of my favourite science fiction characters), of which my favourites were Lenny (which gives Calvin a robot child of her own) and Galley Slave (an ingenious look at a devious academic who is determined to discredit the use of robots). My favourite story in the collection though is Let's Get Together, a cold war story about a plot to use of human-like robots to take over the United States - it's truly ingenious and v. tense.
Considering that these stories were written between the 1940s and 1960s, it's not surprising that some of the technology is out of date, but the basic integrity of the stories and Asimov's use of mystery still holds the attention. In particular, I enjoy Asimov's spare use of prose - there's nothing flashy about his writing and the bare style makes it even easier to believe and Susan Calvin is one of the strongest female characters in science fiction - strong, cold and high-minded, she runs rings around every male she comes across.
The Verdict:
If you like science-fiction then you have to read this - Asimov is a god-father of the genre and his short stories are an inspiration.
The rest of the robots are not simple unthinking machines victimised by frightened men.
The rest of the robots are positronic with brains of platinum-iridium. Independent. Precision-engineered. Sensible. Rational. And from the moment the last rivet is in place ...
The rest of the robots is Isaac Asimov's final, classic, terrifying picture of robotic developments in the future.
This is a collection of Asimov's robot short-stories, many of them aimed at testing his three laws of robotics:
1. a robot may not injure a human being or through inaction allow a human being to come to harm;
2. a robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except when such orders would conflict with the First Law;
3. a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
This particular collection includes four Susan Calvin stories (one of my favourite science fiction characters), of which my favourites were Lenny (which gives Calvin a robot child of her own) and Galley Slave (an ingenious look at a devious academic who is determined to discredit the use of robots). My favourite story in the collection though is Let's Get Together, a cold war story about a plot to use of human-like robots to take over the United States - it's truly ingenious and v. tense.
Considering that these stories were written between the 1940s and 1960s, it's not surprising that some of the technology is out of date, but the basic integrity of the stories and Asimov's use of mystery still holds the attention. In particular, I enjoy Asimov's spare use of prose - there's nothing flashy about his writing and the bare style makes it even easier to believe and Susan Calvin is one of the strongest female characters in science fiction - strong, cold and high-minded, she runs rings around every male she comes across.
The Verdict:
If you like science-fiction then you have to read this - Asimov is a god-father of the genre and his short stories are an inspiration.
