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nicolcc12's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
I read this book because I enter a book club for the first time in my life and it was quite an experience (a pleasant one, at that), but, otherwise, I wouldn't have read anything by Asimov, let alone this book (I was biased because of the terrible 2004 "adaptation"). In reality, the book was quite impressive, feels very contemporary, even when written 70+ years ago. Asimov proves to be a master on language and at building tension.
It was really interesting to read two tales per week and share impressions with people from different backgrounds and ages, which stances were very diverse. A lot of them were terriefied of the "overtaking" of robots, some of them went and read the last two tales, and talked about how the last tale was "terrifying", and, knowing how Asimov had previously handled tension in the other tales, I was expectant.
But I was deeply let down. Therefore, not a 5 star reading.
I don't know if it's just me being absurdist, but the possibility of the World (and Humanity as a whole) be controlled by machines that take objective decisions and care about the well-being of humans is not very terrifying. I felt a lot like Susan Calvin, in the sense that, it makes sense. It probably is a byproduct of Asimov's great writing, the fact that I'm convinced that the 'ending' is not catastrophic at all. I guess the real problem were the expectations set by my fellow members of the book club, that, for me, it wasn't as shoking as they made it seems. Also, you could've seen it coming since the start of the book, as all the nine tales are linked by the narrative of an interview with Susan Calvin, in a time when The Machines already took control, so the clues were there all along.
It was really interesting to read two tales per week and share impressions with people from different backgrounds and ages, which stances were very diverse. A lot of them were terriefied of the "overtaking" of robots, some of them went and read the last two tales, and talked about how the last tale was "terrifying", and, knowing how Asimov had previously handled tension in the other tales, I was expectant.
But I was deeply let down. Therefore, not a 5 star reading.
I don't know if it's just me being absurdist, but the possibility of the World (and Humanity as a whole) be controlled by machines that take objective decisions and care about the well-being of humans is not very terrifying. I felt a lot like Susan Calvin, in the sense that, it makes sense. It probably is a byproduct of Asimov's great writing, the fact that I'm convinced that the 'ending' is not catastrophic at all. I guess the real problem were the expectations set by my fellow members of the book club, that, for me, it wasn't as shoking as they made it seems. Also, you could've seen it coming since the start of the book, as all the nine tales are linked by the narrative of an interview with Susan Calvin, in a time when The Machines already took control, so the clues were there all along.
sbrot's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
elmossy's review against another edition
I was listening to this and I couldn't focus on any of it. Might return to it later but for now it's a no.
pjulich's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
nvmsmd's review against another edition
5.0
This book was hilarious, clever, and years ahead of its time.
SPOILERS
Let’s start with the character who is essentially the protagonist: Susan, a fucking robopsychologist, and a badass. She has been given the liberty to be authoritative, assertive, and unemotional and that is traditionally not bestowed upon women without making them unlikeable or antagonist-ic. Susan is a great protagonist to follow. Snippets of her life from when she was a student to an old woman are fascinating. "Strong independent unapologetic female protagonist" is the current buzz that people still don't understand. Asimov delivered marvelously. We don’t follow a female protagonist with legs for days and boobs spilling out in her combat uniform as she fights robots. No, we see Susan, an old woman, who cares only for robots and is passionately involved in her line of work. Her mind and her no-nonsense logical deductions are a treat to read. The only flaw - the mind reader story, her male counterparts are given professional passions and conflict whereas she was given a romantic interest and failure, but it wasn't too bad and one is allowed to have romance. I loved the fact that she basically killed the robot in cold blood at the end.
Donovan and Powell are my favorite duo. They are just stuck in impossible and hilarious situations and have to figure their way out using very genius and out-of-the-box thinking. More often than not, they are helplessly stuck before they can find their way out of the solution. Their banter is fun and solutions are just so perfectly simple yet so creative and mind-blowing that their stories quickly became my favorite.
I was really captured by the first story of Robbie. That story melted my heart and gave me all the ooey-gooey feelings. Throughout the book, Asimov displays an incredible understanding of human emotion (and robot emotion) and has the ability to weave these emotions to elicit the desired feeling out of the reader. Wasn't even 50 pages in the book when I knew that it was shaping up to be one of my all-time favorites.
These short stories were written separately from the 1940s to 1950. Factually these stories are older than Indian independence. And yet, the writing is fresh. The stories are still great sci-fi and not dated at all. The characters are all unproblematic. I am in awe of this book. Instant 5 stars.
SPOILERS
Let’s start with the character who is essentially the protagonist: Susan, a fucking robopsychologist, and a badass. She has been given the liberty to be authoritative, assertive, and unemotional and that is traditionally not bestowed upon women without making them unlikeable or antagonist-ic. Susan is a great protagonist to follow. Snippets of her life from when she was a student to an old woman are fascinating. "Strong independent unapologetic female protagonist" is the current buzz that people still don't understand. Asimov delivered marvelously. We don’t follow a female protagonist with legs for days and boobs spilling out in her combat uniform as she fights robots. No, we see Susan, an old woman, who cares only for robots and is passionately involved in her line of work. Her mind and her no-nonsense logical deductions are a treat to read. The only flaw - the mind reader story, her male counterparts are given professional passions and conflict whereas she was given a romantic interest and failure, but it wasn't too bad and one is allowed to have romance. I loved the fact that she basically killed the robot in cold blood at the end.
Donovan and Powell are my favorite duo. They are just stuck in impossible and hilarious situations and have to figure their way out using very genius and out-of-the-box thinking. More often than not, they are helplessly stuck before they can find their way out of the solution. Their banter is fun and solutions are just so perfectly simple yet so creative and mind-blowing that their stories quickly became my favorite.
I was really captured by the first story of Robbie. That story melted my heart and gave me all the ooey-gooey feelings. Throughout the book, Asimov displays an incredible understanding of human emotion (and robot emotion) and has the ability to weave these emotions to elicit the desired feeling out of the reader. Wasn't even 50 pages in the book when I knew that it was shaping up to be one of my all-time favorites.
These short stories were written separately from the 1940s to 1950. Factually these stories are older than Indian independence. And yet, the writing is fresh. The stories are still great sci-fi and not dated at all. The characters are all unproblematic. I am in awe of this book. Instant 5 stars.
sydstap24's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
sam_mehdi's review against another edition
4.0
It's like sci-fi Sherlock Holmes with robots. A sequence of "mystery" short stories that are loosely related, but could each be read independently. I found it very entertaining and easy to read (Asimov himself once described his writing style as evolving around one principle: "to be clear"). There were many very interesting ideas posed in the book; one of my favorites was: "if humans had infallible robots to govern and direct them, would they let the robots do so? Or would human pride and distrust win out?"
I also have to laud Asimov for how convincing his sci-fi is. Each of these stories feels like it could happen in the next few decades. And for writing in 1950, Asimov's foresight is definitely impressive.
Last fun fact: J.R.R. Tolkien, who once said he generally disliked "modern books," made an exception of Asimov. I doubt my recommendation would be of greater value than J.R.R. Tolkien's, so listen to him!
I also have to laud Asimov for how convincing his sci-fi is. Each of these stories feels like it could happen in the next few decades. And for writing in 1950, Asimov's foresight is definitely impressive.
Last fun fact: J.R.R. Tolkien, who once said he generally disliked "modern books," made an exception of Asimov. I doubt my recommendation would be of greater value than J.R.R. Tolkien's, so listen to him!