I, Robot

By: Isaac Asimov

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

Here are stories of robots gone mad, of mind-read robots, and robots with a sense of humor. Of robot politicians, and robots who secretly run the world - all told with the dramatic blend of science fact and science fiction that has become Asmiov’s trademark.

The 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 orders given to it by human beings except where 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.

With these three, simple directives, Isaac Asimov changed our perception of robots forever when he formulated the laws governing their behavior. In I, Robot, Asimov chronicles the development of the robot through a series of interlinked stories: from its primitive origins in the present to its ultimate perfection in the not-so-distant future - a future in which humanity itself may be rendered obsolete.

©1950, 1977 Isaac Asimov (P)2004 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

A classic for a reason

A wonderful book, even after all this time. As much a collection of short stories that stand on their own, connected by common threads, as it is a novel divided by chapters.

It’s always fascinating to see where science fiction authors from the mid-twentieth century guess wrong (always a LOT more smoking in the projections than the future actually entails), and it’s interesting to see the pieces and progressions Asimov got right, as AI becomes more and more entwined with our daily lives and with humanity itself.

If you’ve only seen the film “adaptation”, ignore it. Whomever made the film either didn’t read the source material, or didn’t care to make a cohesive movie from one or more of the novel’s chapters.

Scott Brick is brilliant as always.

A vision from the 40s

Very good collection of early Asimov short stories with a common thread. Interesting seeing how his vision played out. Got pretty slow toward the end with lots of conversational scenes on theoreticals.

Still, you don’t know Asimov until you’ve read this.

timeless

I really enjoyed this story. As good science fiction should be, this doesn't feel dated.

No wonder he revolutionized robot sci-fi

This book is the epicenter of robot science fiction. The depth and complexity of politics, sociology, and science of a robotic future is amazingly put together. When we think of this kind of future, IA captured it with genious!

What if? As man makes machines, who serves whom.

So for starters, remove Will Smith and references to the movie from the cover. While entertaining, I really liked the movie, it is only loosely based on the book. Read I, Robot to explore the many scenarios; ethical, moral, financial, social and political, that occur having robots that serve humanity. But then, what does that service mean. How do you resolve "do no harm to a human or allow harm through inaction", the 1st law of robotics.

Free Willy

lots of insights and information that would never fit into the movie. wonderfully done and read.

Still holding up after all these years.

Don't let the Wil Smith cover mislead you. If the author was still alive, he should sue Mr Smith for putting his face on his book, which has nothing to do with the movie except there are robots in both.

As for the short stories themselves, I find them to be quite in interesting except for the last one. As a whole they paint a future of how robots rise to power to their eventual takeover of the world.

The narrator does a pretty good job in portraying the different characters, I would certainly keep an eye for her other works.

I would definitely recommend this book to readers of all ages. Anyone who likes sci-fi. should not miss out!

Wonderful Science Fiction

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the interesting psychological concepts that Isaac Asimov off put forward. The situational dilemmas put against the laws of robotics generated very engaging arguments, and interesting solutions. I found the book to the intellectually engaging and wanted to listen to it any free moment that I had. The main topic of the book, humans interacting with robots, I felt was a very good projection by the author. For being written almost 60 years ago. I see the issues presented in the book as something we will have to deal with in the relatively near future. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in intellectual sci-fi novels.

a true sci fi classic

One of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors. A classic. Still relevant and interesting today. Nicely narrated.

Absolute classic

I Have to hope that the folks working on AI take the three Laws to heart! Otherwise we are well and truly screwed.