Robot Visions

By: Isaac Asimov

Narrated by: Graham Winton

Length: 16 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's Summary

From the writer whose name is synonymous with the science of robotics comes five decades of robot visions - 36 landmark stories and essays, plus three rare tales - gathered together in one volume.

Meet all of Asimov's most famous creations: Robbie, the very first robot that his imagination brought to life; Susan Calvin, the original robot physchologist; Stephen Byerley, the humanoid robot; and the famous human-robot detective team of Lije Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw, who appeared in such best-selling novels as The Robots of Dawn and Robots and Empire. Let the master himself guide you through the key moments in the fictional history of robot-human relations - from the most primitive computers and mobile machines to the first robot to become a man.

©1990 Byron Preiss Visual Publications, Inc. (P)2015 Recorded Books

3 Laws of Robotics

As far as I know, this collection features ALL of Asimov's short stories that involve robots asand Asimov's "3 Laws".
The book actually OPENS with a "new", previously unpublished story. It's actually one of the best in the entire collection, so it's nice to see that old Ike hasn't lost his touch.
Isaac Asimov's HAS published hundreds and hundreds of robot sci-fi, but a good majority of those works aren't actually WRITTEN by Asimov, he was only the editor.
"Robot Visions" is a collection of ONLY the stories that were penned by the author himself. None of any of the stories in which he merely edited appear within its pages.

I had read MOST of these stories in previous robot collections released under Isaac Asimov, but it was really great to find a few that I was previously unaware of.

The narrator does a bang-up job too. The voices he gives to each of the robots is pretty much petfect. Even "Bicentennial Man", a story by Asimov that I had never really cared for before, comes through with shining colors, all thanks to good narration.

Definitely pick this title up if you are ANY format of science fiction fan.

9.10 / 10.00

Minor Spoilers Ahead

At the end of the short stories there are a few essays by Asimov about robots. Be aware that some excerpts from the 'Robot' and 'Foundation' series are included. It is precisely because of those essays that this is a must read for any Asimov fan.

Foresight

The Stories are great but the essays are the real jewel of this crown collection

Fantastic stories

Fantastic collection of short stories and essays by Isaac Asimov. The first 5 or so stories can also be found in I.Robot, but they are some of my favorites and worthy of this collection. The rest were unique to the collection(as far as I'm concerned) and I found myself listening to this in only a couple sittings because I couldn't stop.

very disappointing. the original audio was better.

I listened to these long ago when first on tape. the reader was much better. only thing I can say here is this one was better than the author read.

For a world with more positronic men

I had forgotten how much I really like Asimov's writing style, be it for short stories, novellas, novels and essays!

This book, with the exception of novels, has the other three and with great examples of them all.

Robbie, Roundabout, Reason and Liar are great examples of short stories. I love the novella The Bicentennial Man and from the essays, I can't stop rereading The Sense of Humor.

The only downside to this book, especially the essays at the end, is that he repeats the Three Laws of Robotics in all of them which turns out to be too repetitive to read them together. Of course we understand that these articles were written throughout 50 years, therefore the repetition was necessary to the readers that were getting to them for the first time.

Nevertheless, I really love this book!

Highly recommended!

Narration was phenomenal.

from 1939 to 1990 Asimov is sci-fi's best

Asimov provides a glimpse of his history and humanity in describing the robot and goals. Remember his first robot story came out in 1939 - long before computers were even a serious thought.

I do love Isaac's Robot stories.

The Essays at the end give a nice incite to his thinking. The story are varied and hold the interest. I have not read the "Robot City's" stories. I do hope you publish that set .

I learned a lot about Asimov's robots in his essay

several essays from 1950s to 1980s explained a lot about Asimov's and his ideas about robots. Asimov's fans read.

repetitive

I believe he states this in the authors note at the beginning, but multiple stories in this collection can also be found in I-Robot.

overall I loved it.

Fantastic

Fascinating man a real inspiration. Listening to his stories and to think some were written nearly 80years ago and so relevant today.

Great selection, but too limited

Great selection, didn't have all the stories referenced in the essays at the end.

Great stories, poor conversion into a audiobook

Love these stories, read them all years ago. Unfortunately this is a terrible conversion - at least two stories have ended abruptly- the last bit of the story missing. Very frustrating will be requesting a refund if possible

Odd choice of actor

Many of the characters have New York or other American accents, yet the voice actor makes them all sound the same and all sound like the love child of a General Robert E Lee and Colonel Sanders.