robot – Page 5 – Made by Mikal

Robot Dreams

Post author:mikal
Post published:August 18, 2008
Post category:Book

Robot Dreams is another of the robot short story books from Asimov. It is a bit deceptive though and frankly quite annoying because only one of the stories in the book is a robot story, and its not very long.I am of course ignoring the robot stories that already appear in I, Robot and The Complete Robot. The rest are unrelated short stories by Asimov that aren't about robots, and aren't even consistent with the universe that the Foundation books exist in. That's what makes it so annoying for Asimov to recommend that you read the book as part of the extended Foundation series. Grumble. Don't get me wrong, the other stories are fine, its just that they're not the robot stories that I was led to believe they would be. Wikipedia is a little more clear on the situation than I was: Robot Dreams (1986) is a collection of Isaac Asimov's short stories, intended largely to show a series of Asimov robot-inspired drawings by Ralph McQuarrie. All the stories except the title one, written specifically for the volume, can be found in various other Asimov collections. The companion book, which also showcases McQuarrie's drawings (and includes Asimov essays in…

The Complete Robot

Post author:mikal
Post published:August 12, 2008
Post category:Book

This is another of Asimov's robot short story collections, and many of the stories appear in earlier works. In fact, I would recommend getting I, Robot and this book, and avoiding The Rest of the Robots if you're not interested in owning a complete collection of books, but do want to have all of the stories. I say you should get a copy of I, Robot mainly because it has linking matter between the stories that this book lacks. The Complete Robot is as good as Asimov's other short story books I have read, which means I thought it was fantastic. [isbn: 0586057242]

Isaac Asimov’s Utopia

Post author:mikal
Post published:August 12, 2008
Post category:Book

Utopia is the third and final Asimov universe book from Allen. It centers around an attempt to accellerate the terraforming of a planet by drastic measures which drive third law robots wild... The measures are so drastic that they endanger humans, whilst protecting a large number of humans. Unfortunately three law robots have trouble seeing the difference between the two. I don't think this book is as well written as the earlier two Allen books (Caliban and Inferno) and therefore not as good as the Asimov books set in the universe. It was however reasonably engaging and I'm not offended that I spent time and money on it. An ok book, but nothing special basically.

Isaac Asimov’s Nightfall Short Stories

Post author:mikal
Post published:August 9, 2008
Post category:Book

Asimov published two books named Nightfall 1 and Nightfall 2 which are collections of short stories. I have both of these books in a single volume named "Nightfall', which is not to be confused with the novel of the same name by Asimov and Silverberg. I was getting quite confused about which robot short stories I had already read already (many appear in more than one collection), so I built this table to help: Nightfall1969 The Complete Robot1982 Robot Dreams1986 Robot Visions1990 Nightfall Green Patches Hostess Breeds There a Man C-Chute In a Good Cause What If - Sally Flies Nobody Here But - It's Such a Beautiful Day Strikebreaker Insert Knob A in Hole B The Up-to-date Sorcerer Unto the Fourth Generation What is this Thing Called Love? The Machine That Won the War My Son, the…

The Rest of the Robots

Post author:mikal
Post published:August 7, 2008
Post category:Book

This is an Asimov short story collection about robots, where the stories are entirely contained in The Complete Robot, although in a different order. These stories are similar in vein to those in I, Robot, although it is odd that not all of the hyperspace development stories are present (perhaps some weren't written yet?). This is a good book, I liked it. [isbn: 0586025944]

Prelude To Foundation

Post author:mikal
Post published:July 30, 2008
Post category:Book

Written well after the original Foundation novels, Prelude to Foundation is one of two prequels. The book ties in nicely with Robots and Empire, as well as the other robot novels. Its a good book too, with its 460ish pages only taking a few days to read (I think I knocked it over in about four days). The story is sufficiently engaging that I kept looking up and discovering that I had read another 100 pages. There are also a couple of twists in the book (I count three in fact), only two of which I had figured out before the characters. A good book. Probably better than Robots of Dawn and Robots and Empire, and definitely better than Allen's Caliban trilogy (Caliban, Inferno, and Utopia. [isbn: 0586071113;0553278398]

Isaac Asimov’s Inferno

Post author:mikal
Post published:June 28, 2008
Post category:Book

Inferno is the second Asimov universe book written by Roger MacBride Allen. Much like Asimov's Robots and Empire and Caliban, its what I will call an "issue book". In Robots and Empire the issue at hand was that having a long life results in risk adversity and therefore the stagnation of society as a whole. In Caliban the issue was the over protection of humans by robots, and the ultimately corrupting nature of living in a society built on slavery (even of machines), as well as stagnation caused by the risk adversity of the robots themselves. In this second Allen book, the issue is the exploitation of the "new law" robots who ultimately become the new slaves in return for a chance at freedom later. This exploitation is a criminal offence, so of course they end up with a society in which pretty much everyone has dirty hands of some form. Overall this was a good read, and probably a better book than Inferno. I certainly found it easier to read and more enjoyable. I read the majority of the book on a single set of flights between the US and Australia because it was such a good read. Its…

Isaac Asimov’s Caliban

Post author:mikal
Post published:June 20, 2008
Post category:Book

This is a "robot mystery" in the style of Asimov, but actually written by Roger MacBride Allen. Wikipedia assures me that Asimov approved the outline for this book, as well as the other two by Roger: "Shortly before his death in 1992, Asimov approved an outline for three novels (Caliban, Inferno, Utopia) by Roger MacBride Allen, set between Robots and Empire and the Empire series, telling the story of the terraforming of the Spacer world Inferno, and about the robot revolution started by creating a "No Law" Robot, and then New Law Robots." Roger is an interesting author, and appears to have written quite a few books, with a strong tendency for basing them in other author's universes. Its interesting to meet an author who is so seemingly willing to base his work on that of others. This book didn't strike me as well written as Asimov's, but that's a pretty high bar to meet. It should be noted that Amazon reviews disagree with me on this point. Its rendition is certainly competent though, and the story is a good one.

Robots and Empire

Post author:mikal
Post published:June 10, 2008
Post category:Book

I find the newer Asimovs harder to read for some reason -- I think it might be because they are more inclined to introspection that the earlier ones, but that might not be all of it. Overall I enjoyed this book, although I did find that I lost enthusiasm briefly in the middle. Overall, worth the effort though. You can tell that Asimov was getting old at the time that he wrote this book, as he dwells extensively on the importance of living an interesting and worthwhile life, instead of necessarily a long life. Overall he makes the argument that this is what is wrong with Spacer society -- life is so long that its inconceivable to take risks early in life that might shorten that life. Later in life its too late however, as you are by then trapped in your comfortable rut. Its an interesting concept, and one which bears further consideration. [isbn: 0586062009;0345328949]

Robots of Dawn

Post author:mikal
Post published:May 29, 2008
Post category:Book

This book is the third in the third in the Robot mystery series, and is once again set on a Spacer world. This one was written 30 years after the first two, and Asimov's style has noticeably changed between the 1950s and 1980s. The book starts off slowly, with a lecturing tone which I found quite annoying. For example, devoting an entire page to a discussion of whether the deliberate death of a a robot (even a human shaped on) is murder. Often the first part of the book feels like it is going excessively slowly. However, its only the first third of so of the book which suffers this flaw. Its as if Asimov realized after a while that he also had a story to tell, and got on with it. The book then improves massively and has a good story. So, overall I liked this book, although the first part of the book wasn't as good as the rest of the Asimov I've read. [isbn: 0553299492;0345315715] [award: nominee hugo 1984]