5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Isaac Asimov's best robot book, 23 Oct 2001
This book is a compilation of most of his robot stories with a brief introduction and some brilliantly written essays at the end exploring the future of robotics (the word "robotics" was coined by Asimov himself!)and their place with mankind. The book has beautifull illustrations throughout by the artist Ralph Mcquarrie, the star wars artist. The only bad point is that several of the stories occur in I, Robot.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great book.....but not the robot packed book i expected, 16 Sep 2004
Don't be put off by the title of my review, as this book is really good. However when I bought this book, taking account of its name, i expected a whole lot of robot stuff. Instead, this book has a few robot stories and then it goes on with science fiction unrelated to robots.
I am not saying that this book is bad, but if you expected to have a book with over 400 pages packed with infomation and stories about robots, get another book like Robot Visions.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Great and varied anthology of Asimov's short stories, 19 Mar 2011
"Robot Dreams" is an anthology by Asimov and even if he was known by his robot stories, those that I considered the best in this book are about something else.
There are four short stories that seem the most representative: "Robot Dreams"; "The Last Question"; "The Ugly Little Robot" and "The Billiard Ball". Each of that quartet has a concept which gives a sense of greatness. Allow me to explain.
"Robot Dreams", the short story that gives the book a title, is about a robot that dreams a future not good to humans. The maximum expression of freedom to a being which supposedly can't have freedom.
"The Last Question" deals directly with the search for knowledge. During the entire span of existence of Humankind and beyond (through the Multivac) there is a haunting question "How can entropy of the universe can be decreased?". Amazing story and unexpected ending.
"The Ugly Little Robot" is about a Neandartal boy and a nurse. What a heart warming story...
"The Billiard Ball", a story of the friction of theorical science and engineering. The greatest mind of each side "fights" to be the best.
Of course the remaining stories are also good, some more than others. And all have something new to teach us.
Definitely a book to buy and keep.
Till next time,
M.I.T.H. (ManInsideTheHelm)
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