SOLVED. Futuristic book with a robot/android who wants to die [s]

[Kristopher]

I read this several years ago. I remember that it was a futuristic novel with people whose entire lives were planned for them. There were "drop out centers" for people who couldn't/wouldn't fit in to this society. People took tranquilizers (called soma's?) like they were tic-tacs. Reading had died out completely. A man found some books and taught himself how to read. There was a robot who looked like a man (he had black earlobes?) The robot was part of a series, all of whom had killed themselves before the inventors fixed that flaw with him. The robot was the only one who was able to fix many of the machines as they broke down because no-one could remember how to do it anymore. The robot kept going to the top of a sky-scraper, which might have been the Empire state building and walking as close to the edge as he could, but was never able to actually jump because of his programming. The man who taught himself how to read had a girlfriend who didn't believe that there were any people to enforce the laws, like the robot any more. That's all I can remember. I hope someone can help me.

Thanks,

Kristopher

[El]

Sounds almost like a cross between Brave New World and Logan's Run. But that's the best I can think. Or one of Asimov's Robot books maybe.

[Kristopher]

Nope, it was neither one of those. I do suspect the author ripped off Soma from Huxley, however. I do wonder about the Asimov book, though. I don't usually care for his stuff, but it's always a possibility. Thanks for your help.

Kristopher

[Mike]

Wow, if it isn't Brave New World, then yeah, he did a lot of plagerizing. A search on the "fictional drug" Soma yields Brave New World only; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category...

[Kristopher]

I know, Mike! It's driving me crazy because all my searches bring up Brave New World. It makes me wonder if I might be mixing Brave New World up with another book...sigh. I just purchased another copy of BNW, so I might start skimming through it tonight and see if it has any of what I'm remembering. Thanks everyone who's trying to help me figure this out. I really appreciate it a lot.

Kristopher

[Kristopher]

That's it! Thank you so much, Richard!

Kristopher

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

I wonder what the book was. Richard's post seems to have disappeared.

[Kristopher]

The book was Mockingbird by Walter Tevis

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Thanks.