I, Robot

By: Isaac Asimov

Narrated by: Scott Brick

This classic science fiction masterwork by Isaac Asimov weaves stories about robots, humanity, and the deep questions of existence into a novel of shocking intelligence and heart.

“A must-read for science-fiction buffs and literature enjoyers alike.”—The Guardian

I, Robot, the first and most widely read book in Asimov’s Robot series, forever changed the world’s perception of artificial intelligence. Here are stories of robots gone mad, of mind-reading 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 Asimov’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 formulated the laws governing robots’ behavior. In I, Robot, Asimov chronicles the development of the robot 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.

“Tremendously exciting and entertaining . . . Asimov dramatizes an interesting question: How can we live with machines that, generation by generation, grow more intelligent than their creators and not eventually clash with our own invention?”—The Chicago Tribune

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

So many writers stand on Asimov's shoulders!!!

That's right! I'm not saying you'll like it, just that if other writers have written more detailed stories, more exciting in your opinion... then I promise you one thing. Before they started WRITING, they READ Asimov. I love every word of this story, I read them first when I was a boy and they had an impact of how I saw the world. For the "bad" reviewers, I suggest you read a few hundred of the books that Asimov wrote and you'll have a better idea what this man was capable of. Great science fiction of course, great mysteries too, and yes! Great non-fiction, like the book that got me through Organic Chemistry. If you have not read Asimov, just pick one. Give it a whirl. I will bet you will glad that you did.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. Peace.

wonderful book

i love this book everyone should give it a listen the speaker does a great job with it was great reading as a kid and now listening to it all this time after...it is a great book if you like robots for sure.

An Eternal Book. Excellent narration

I loved this audiobook and here is why. First the content itself is remarkable. The themes chosen by Asimov are right on target and are more relevant today than at anytime since the publication of this novel.

As a roboticist myself, my impression of Asimov's 3 laws has radically changed over the last 2 decades. When I first studied robots, I thought anything like the 3 laws and the idea of positronic brains where a far fetched fantasy. Now, the study of robot ethics, emotions, and personality are very serious topics as we learn to build robots that interact closely with humans.

Asimo builds his book using the 3 laws as axioms or postulates and then explores the ramification of those postulates. This is exactly what mathematicians do. In essence Asimov has translated the mathematical thought process into a wonderful novel. But he also uses these postulates to probe the basic nature of human beings.

Now, after 20 years of working with robots, I can state that that Asimov's vision was breathtaking.


Second, I loved the narration. I admit that it took a couple of stories to have my ear tuned to the speakers voice, but by the end of this audiobook, I found myself craving for more.

This audiobook is a "must have" for anyone who loves humanity or robots.

I Robot

I found it somewhat disjointed and, in some cases, boring. The characters are superficial and child like. Other than that it was a good way to avoid road boredom.

Brilliant

Best Audio book I have heard yet. The stories are very well read.

Still the best

Published almost 70 years ago, still one of the best. No violence, enjoy the humor, imagination and deep thinking about the future of human-robot society.

Brilliant.

Computers do run our world and this was seen by Dr. Asimov long before the robots were in our manufacturing. Now, are computers and robotics such good thing? I owned one of the first home computers in 1980. I used to tell it what to do with coding....now my house system tells me what to do. Where is the imagination in the millennials? Dr. P.

Dated Classic Short Stories.

The I Robot stories and much of Issic Asamov's stories are dated by unforeseen directions. The book is set in current times, but is missing modern technology and we have never made a Positronic Robot. But if you get past that, it is a great story, written from a 1950's point of view. But someday this moray will be vogue again, Assamov talks about this in his 1980's books. The stories are set from the mid 1990???s to the mid 2160???s and are about the development and testing of Robots. Each story is a mini mystery as to why the Robot is not working as expected and ties back to the 3 laws of Robotics which are over repeated in each story, as the original stories were written as magazine articles. Each problem was new and the solution intriguing. This is a good story for the young with much vocabulary building. This was my first real book I read in the 1970's I love the stories then and today, they are well written and intuitive, If you look at each with a what if point of view and past no cell phones or PCs you will see why I gave it 5 stars. If you don???t like this book I would recommend steering clear of Vern, Orwell, Clarke and Heinlein. All Science Fiction becomes dated with time but is doesn???t change the quality of the story. The performance by Scott Brick is as always outstanding.

good book of short stories

a bunch of cool robot stories, a few of them about dilemmas around the three laws of robotics

Asimov impresses (as usual)

I, Robot is a collection of short stories woven into a single overarching narrative. The stories are fun, clever, and surprisingly human. I've never regretted reading an Asimov book, and now I expect I'll be listening to a few, as well.