Mark Reece's Blog - Posts Tagged "robotics"

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I found this book to be readable, but I was disappointed, given the reputation of the author. The book consists of nine short stories, loosely connected by characters, events, and themes, and introduces the 'three laws of robotics', which underpins most of the plots.

The stories are short and well paced, but often feel lacking in depth. Most of the tales revolve around a robot acting in a strange way, which prompts an investigation from engineers working at 'US Robotics', involving lots of speculation about the nature of the three laws, followed by an implausible leap of logic, where one of the characters infers the robot's motivations from a small detail. They are fun jaunts, but the world building feels lacking, with the social mores of 1950s America replicated into a bland future. Some aspects of the robots make little sense, such as their description as 'nervous' on occasion, and their ability to be analyzed by a 'robophychologist'. It feels like a lack of imagination to suggest that sentient robots would be deficient humans, rather than having traits and ways of thinking of their own.

The characterization also feels flat in places. Continuing the 1950s theme, almost all the characters are men, and are largely indistinguishable. Dr Susan Calvin features in several of the stories, with a repeated focus on her 'plainness'. She is weirdly passive aggressive, speaking little during most of her conversations, before making a cutting remark, or mysteriously identifying the reason for the latest robotic malfunction. Her appearance often seems somewhat false and out of place; given how she acts, it seems remarkable that she has reached her high ranking post.

All in all, this book was too much of its time for me to enjoy it much. I'll be unlikely to try Asimov again.



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