I, Robot by Isaac Asimov are a bunch of short stories that were released from 1940-1950 and were composed together in 1950. See why they have stood the test of time and even got a Will Smith featured movie!
I, Robot: Summary
The novel starts off with the tale of Robbie, a companion robot. We see robots go from being used for companionship and not being able to talk to speaking like humans in a short amount of time. Asimov tells tales about human wit being used even though the robots are much smarter. Also, the robots are shown to be much better than humans because they are programmed to whereas humans aren’t shown the same love by Asimov.
The concepts the novel juggles with are fun and interesting. Asimov thinks robots are great and believes the problem is and always has been humans. We have been fighting forever amongst each other and in the book, the age of robots brings peace. What is more interesting is that Asimov tackles one argument that has been thrown at robots and explains how it isn’t going to be an issue. He believes robots won’t steal jobs from people but instead utilize them efficiently so there will be jobs for everyone and world hunger will not exist anymore.
These ideas are thought provoking and I have to say, this world Asimov speaks of sounds great. Who knows if that’s how it will be but he does make a good point. We will be the ones programming the robots and can make them solve problems we cannot.
Commentary
Known as the father of science fiction novels, Asimov lives up to that moniker. I enjoyed all the wild sci-fi concepts. This was before the genre was congested with thousands of novels and novels about conquering the planets wasn’t every other novel’s plot. Asimov paints us a fresh and concise plot with a message behind his short stories.
The short stories contained in the book were written between the 1940’s and the 1950’s. They feel like they could have been written today. Asimov was ahead of his time and his novels are proof of that. Unless you already know about Asimov and his novels, you could easily mistake his work for something that was released in the past few years.
There is a reason he is credited as one of the father of science fiction. If you enjoy science fiction novels, then Asimov is a must. The question of ethics and morality coincide with robots and and out future. Who knows what will happen but with Asimov’s works, we can let out imagination run wild.
Conclusion
This book was a fun read and I loved all these ideas Asimov played around with. He gives robots personalities and makes them feel very human. These stories were written about 80 years ago but feel timeless. I definitely recommend them and will be checking out the other books in the series. Happy reading!
I read them from cover to cover when a teen. I therefore think that writers have an obligation to write well. Imagine succinctly writers of tomorrows truth so when the future creates the new it is worth it.