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Eleven short stories and a poem around the theme of robots. A world class collection! With Asimov's inclusive vision of leading scientific women and people of colour; on top of that great foresight in regards to man's maltreatment of their environment - all this coupled with some superb short-storytelling. The absolute cream of the crop being The Bicentennial Man, which the collection was named after, as it looks at a robot seeking more out of life, in a really compelling tale. 8 out of 12 overa...
Ah the temptation of reading more Asimov short stories is always a hard one to resist. This is another classic collection which for me I think sums up a lot of what made Asimov and his Robots so famous - the title story I think sums it all up. Asimov was determined to make the machines that think more than tools and less a monster and I think although we have a long way still to go he certainly has helped us along the way.But this book is not all about robots, there is spread of all sorts from m...
Isaac Asimov is now my favorite author, period. I would say I devoured this book, but that implies that I failed to give each short story the post-reading consideration it deserved, which is entirely untrue.Every sing story was of such enormous quality--writing style, characterization, plot. I simply do not have the vocabulary to convey how well-crafted and enjoyable every story was.Asimov's introductions, giving each story its context, were the icing on the cake. So, so good! Immediately search...
Prior to reading this book, I'd only ever read one Asimov work. It was the short story version of Nightfall and I very much enjoyed it, but I still didn't consider myself an Asimov fan because I knew him as "the robot/space-opera guy" and I've never particularly enjoyed robots or space-opera sci-fi.As it turns out, it seems I only don't particularly enjoy robots and space-opera sci-fi when it's not written by Asimov. This book contains twelve pieces (eleven short stories and a poem) and there wa...
This was my first Asimov book. I especially loved the title story. I don't remember much of the rest.
I loved the movie as a kid, I love the source material even more now. Way more touching and sentimental 🤖💖
"The Three Laws of Robotics:1. A robot may not injure may not injure a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law." (Asimov 491). Robots are made for the purpose of serving humans and following their orders. From the start, Andrew Martin was...
Well, first of all, I must say that, quite frankly, robots are not my favourite thing. But behind the stories dwell some ideas that are, somehow, intriguing. The social facts, that he presents in some of his robots, add some sort of different feeling to it. I won't give it more than three stars, because sometimes it had, in some kind of way, that sensation of: "Remind me, what am I reading?" Anyhow, The bicentennial Man was an interesting and, maybe, a cute story if we don't consider some of the...
This is quite possibly the best science-fiction short story I have ever read. Even though I already knew the main beats of the story from the movie, I enjoyed it immensely and I would recommend it to anyone. I have often defended the virtues of the film, considering it underrated, but now that I have read the wonderful source it came from, I realize the cinematic adaptation doesn't really do it justice.
It's a splendid short collection! In it the theme short story has identity of androids. Recently in Australia one android has citizenship 2017. For near the future human being must think citizenship and rights of androids!
I used to hate scifi because my sister made me watch all these boring scifi movies that she had to watch while studying scifi in high school extension english but now I will be a big fan as long as I never have to watch 2001 space odyssey ever again.
Favourite Stories:The Bicentennial ManOld-fashionedThe WinnowingThat Thou art Mindful of Him
What we have here is another cracking little collection of Isaac Asimov’s short stories, along with Asimov’s introductions to the stories for a little additional context. There were actually one or two here that I’d already read and so I skipped past those, although I did read the introductory essays as they were different.I’ve also read a full length novel that Asimov co-wrote with Robert Silverberg and which is based on the titular short story here, but it was nice to go back to the original.
You men. Faced with a woman reaching a correct conclusion and unable to accept the fact that she is your equal or superior in intelligence, you invent something called feminine intuition.
Brilliant!!!
This book is incredible and is truly a testament to Asimov's genius. I was eager to read this book after watching the film 'Bicentennial Man', which became one of my favourite movies. The book is very different from the film in many ways, but both tellings of this story are exceptional. The other stories within this book are also excellent, but I really must emphasize that 'Bicentennial Man' is the best! If you enjoy this collection, I also recommend Asimov's 'Buy Jupiter'! xx
I enjoyed this short story about Andrew the robot. I found this story to be kind of like Pinnochio with a dash of Ella's curse from Ella Enchanted. Andrew wanted to become a real human but also struggled with following the orders that were programmed into him. I liked Andrew in many ways, but he also intrigued me in many others - it is hard for me to imagine a robot who would have enough sentience to desire humanity. I also struggled with the stories conclusion of what makes a human, primarily (...
Read for the 12 in 12 Challenge, and the Big Fun in a Little Package Novella Challenge.This story won the 1977 Hugo, Nebula and Locus for Best Novelette.Once again, Asimov proves his mastery of the medium of "science fiction story." He is perhaps not at his best in longer forms of fiction (he can be pedantic) but in shorter forms, he is amazing.This poignant tale is the story of a robot who wishes he were a man, and thus, redefines what qualifies as sentient life. A must-read for the discerning
This was the first of Isaac Asimov's writings that I have read. I liked it. As with any collection like this there were some I liked (Waterclap) and some I didn't (Stranger in Paradise). The title story, Bicentennial Man, was definitely the stand-out. This was a very enjoyable collection and has made me curious to read more Asimov.We discuss this further in a special Sci-Fi episode of the All the Books Show.https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/ep...
The Story is about LOVE, You can't believe how can Love & feelings change the lives even the life of a robot,I read this book when I was at high school but sometime ago, I saw the movie of this story which Robbin Williams played the character of that robot(I forgot the name) & I was really impressed.I recommend you to read the book & see the movie, You'll enjoy it for sure.
Overall rating: 3.5 starsThe Prime of Life - 4Feminine Intuition - 4Waterclap - 3.5That Thou Art Mindful of Him - 3.5Stranger in Paradise - 4The Life and Times of Multivac - 3The Winnowing - 4The Bicentennial Man - 5Marching In - 2Old-fashioned - 2.5The Tercentenary Incident - 4Birth of a Notion - 2.5
Ugh, this was so, so good!If you haven't read it, do yourself a favour and pick it up. Its only 33 pages (of brilliance). And is one of the best sci-fi short stories I have ever read.
If this collection had stopped with the actual "Bicentennial Man" short story, it would be an easy 5 stars. A collection of robot tales that actually challenge Asimov's societal misconceptions of the time WITHIN the actual stories...culminating in one of the most beautiful short stories in all of science fiction. Unfortunately...there are a number of left-over stories to get through that are, while perfectly competent, pale in comparison to the rest of the collection, and simply don't belong in
This was an enjoyable collection of short stories by Isaac Asimov, made even better by his own rather tongue-in-cheek comments about each story. My favorite stories were "Bicentennial Man" and "Feminine Intuition." This collection was more varied than the book "I, Robot" (which followed a general chronological trajectory and stayed within the same universe). In contrast, this volume was set in a variety of possible futures at very different times. It made me think, and several stories had a gasp...
This is the first book by Asimov that I have ever read and HOW can it be that I haven‘t read his books before? I loved it. Especially the stories "Feminine Intuition", "That Thou art Mindful of Him", "The Winnowing" and "The Bicentennial Man". I‘m really looking forward to reading more of his Robot stories.
Expecting to read adventurous stories about robots in cosmos and receiving robots in law suits.The rest of the stories are mostly stories made in hurry for some magazines.
Dr. Asimov as per usual impresses me with his wide imagination and smooth writing style that is very iconic to him. Although its 2020 and the stories in this book were trying to imagine an already past future, I was still very struck by the deep dilemmas and philosophically scientific questions poised herein that we might have not reached yet. It was a very enjoyable read, some of the best short stories I've ever read actually, where each and every single one left me with an open mouth and a min...
Bicentennial Man was an interesting read, but not as enthralling as I had expected it to be. I've never seen the Robin Williams film, so I didn't know really what to expect when starting this, but I ended up liking it enough to read it all in one go. I think that's worth four stars.
This story was fantastic. Though I'm sure it wasn't written to be a trans metaphor, it works so perfectly as one. In this story, Andrew is a robot who will stop at nothing to become and be labeled a human, a man. It parallels so well with the desire to become your true self, no matter the cost or consequences, despite what anyone says or thinks, to undergo surgery and fight politically, and still face resistance and hate from others who would seek to destroy you just because they can, that trans...
The Bicentennial Man is a robot story in Asimov’s robot-verse. It’s not about the 3 laws or the emergence of consciousness, but rather about the rights of robots and what defines us as human beings.