Customer Reviews
Completes the set, rather than being complete? - By: R. Jones, 26 Sep 2008 
Note that this book does not contain all robot stories written by Asimov. It does not contain, for instance, "The Caves of Steel". It's a collection of short stories. It's not clear to me whether it contains all Asimov's short stories about robots, though the introduction does mention that it contains some stories available elsewhere.
Starts slowly, but ... - By: Mr. David W. Legg, 25 Jun 2007 
After a slow start with some longer stories, this volume gets into vintage Asimov with the classic short stories involving robots. After a while a set of stories involving the remarkable Susan Calvin emerges. Asimov says that he "fellin love" with this character. This volume contains some of the best of Asimov's work after 'Foundation'.
They don't write them like this anymore - By: T. Hartshorn, 18 Apr 2007 I've just bought this again after losing my original copy. Asimov is, quite simply, the master of the robot story. What makes the stories so compelling is that whilst they seem to be about robots, they're really about how human beings treat each other, seen through the treatment of the robots as third class citizens. Parallels can be drawn between the treatment of the robots & the treatment of blacksin segregated America.
When I was younger, I wanted to be Susan Calvin (but hopefully better looking), the robopsychologist who is the star of some of the best stories. She's a great character, years ahead of her time. The collection also includes the original Bicentennial Man story. Don't bother with the dreadful Robin Williams film. Read this. It will break your heart without even trying.
What makes these stories most compelling is that they're setin the timesin which we live now, Asimov's future, & it's interesting to see how much we have evolved. He wasn't right about everything, but computers have evolvedin such a way that we're reliant on them, whilst resenting that reliance. In that he was completely right!
The Master at Work - By: , 08 Dec 2002 Isaac Asimov is the master of the short story, revealing a whole new worldin a paragraph. His robot stories are brilliant feats of imagination, & his Laws of Robotics have had a profound influence on the real world of Artificial Intelligence research. Do read these - they are wonderful.
A must-read for any Asimov fan! - By: , 11 Aug 2001 Having read all of the Foundation series, I decided to try another of Asimov's works & this later collection of robot stories seemed ideal. Although a friend had told me that the robot stories were 'quite hard going', I found them to be most enjoyable & very thought-provoking. One of the best parts of the book is Asimov's introduction & the 'preludes' to each section, which give a real insight into the way the stories were written & how they came to be. The book is around seven hundred pages & contains over thirty varied robot stories, but the only disappointment I felt was when I came to the end of this compilation. This is a must for any fan of great science fiction.
