Book – I, Robot

Book – I, Robot
Author : Isaac Asimov

Score:  10/10

Year:  1950 (stories from 1940 onward) 

Publisher: Harper Collins 

ISBN 978-0-00-753227-8

Pages 245

Language: English

Aside for the short story The machine that won the war, I somehow never had the opportunity to read classic Sci-Fi author Asimov, though I knew of his work and influence on the genre. Well, today (3rd of July 2018) I started correcting my oversight by reading this 1950 novel - some 11 years prior to the aforementioned story. 

The title I, Robot, from the start, inspires a notion where a story would show an evolution of robots into sentience. This forethought is reinforced by the three laws of robotics, figuring just before the stories' introduction - where a narrator interviews Doctor Susan Calvin, aged 75, about robot cases she had known of during her long career. 

I say stories, and not story's, because this novel is comprised by 9 short, interrelated, stories, each with a theme, set in different time and location, like Bradbury's Martian Chronicles, and Illustrated man, with more humour and flow in wording perhaps, but I find that each of these books and their stories are vastly different and shouldn't be compared - beyond finding the common grounds of Sci-Fi classics, and collections of short stories that form a whole. 

Thus, 9 stories follow the introduction, set in 2059 and written in an italic font, which is used again later at the conclusions of some of the short stories, to tie-in the elements, and remain in said period, whilst the previous periods, told in each of the short stories are written in normal font. 

The stories are Robbie, Runaround, Reason, Catch the rabbit, Liar!, Little Lost Robot, Escape!, Evidence, The Evitable conflict. They were initially published, in 

1940 & 1950, Robbie ;  1942 for Runaround ; 1911, Reason ; 1944 Catch... ; 1941 Liar! ; 1947 Little... ; 1945, Escape ;  1946, Evidence ; 1950 Evitable. 

Robbie's a different kind of nursemaid. Robbie's an early model robot, owned by the Westons, who don't agree about his role in taking care of their daughter Gloria. She, on the other hand, is very dependent on him and takes his disappearance badly. 
I haven't read the original 1940 version that Asimov had written for this story, so I comment only this 1950 inclusion in I, Robot. Here, we explore the story of a robot, a girl, and a parent who finds this whole arrangement improper - setting the tone for many other Sci-Fi stories that would include robots or other robotic-like life-forms (such an Data the android, in Star Trek the Next Generation). 
I enjoyed this story and the other parent's position, characterization and the humour. 
The original story situated the action to 1982 and this was changed to 1996 later, as in this book version. 

The next 3 stories involve a team in charge of beta-testing (basically new robot models, and thus, each contain some mishap... 

Runaround is a bit less funny, but retains humorous aspects. This book's edition sitauted the story in 2015, on Mercury, where a joint human+1 robot expedition runs into trouble on the very first day of its arrival. Their robot has gone around in circles, and the 3 laws of robotics, as well as Asimov's own knowledge and interest in chemistry (with some invented aspects, I'm sure), shine through. Indeed, what can humans do in a dire situation where their protected lab may run our of energy, and that the only robot they had with them is running around in circles, and reaching him in suits which wouldn't protect them more than 20 minutes? Well, Asimov has an answer!

Some time after these events, part of the time remained, and they have to find the cause of a robotic meltdown, due to its Reason. If you think this is a predictable story, guess again! 

Catch the Rabbit!'s title is a reference to non-veggie stew, but concerns, as per every other story here, a robot gone haywire... and having to catch it in order to try understanding the nature of the problem, before attempting to correct it. Nothing in the situation is simple, though. 

Then, Doctor Calvin tells of robot malfunction she was personally involved in the next five stories. 
In Liar! a robot has true reasons why he lies... and only she had guessed why, in order to fix him. 
The text includes a bit of sexism and ageism, but we cannot avoid having to put it in social context of its writing period. Through the text, we can place the story to 37 years prior to her discussion which had started in the Introduction. 

In Little Lost Robot Doctor Calvin faces a difficult task : unmasking a robot who must be lying, in the midst of over 60 other robots which looks precisely like him... 

In Escape! the story is told entirely in third-person, and the doctor is in a staff meeting at US Robots. They were offered a special contract by a competitor, whose super-robot broke down in its attempts to compute a way to build a warp-spaceship where human life would be in danger. US Robots accepts the contract, but their super-robot, The Brain protects itself by escaping reality... 
This story, even more than the others in the collection discusses human death in a humorous and exquisitely blasphemous way (albeit somewhat hidden, but still daring for August 1945) - as Asimov was also an atheist, and I absolutely loved this passage, which has some elements of the random and abstract portion of 2001, a Space Odyssey.

The Doctor then recounts the case of a prosecutor who died some time prior, and whom she believes, according to Evidence (title of the story) may not have been human, but a robot, and presents her reasoning... Asimov left this story with a tiny open-end, for you to agree or disagree with doctor Calvin's assertions, and adds a layer of information about robots. 

The Evitable conflict is the final story for this book and the final one that Doctor Calvin gave to the narrator. The entire action takes place in Byerley's New York office. As World Co-ordinator, he asks Susan Calvin's advice, giving her the reports from the 4 world-regions he toured to better understand the economic disclocations which he fears would cause another cycle of wars. I really loved the invention Asimov had of this future world's organization into 4 regions, their sociopolitical and economical model, and how he used these to tie-in all possible robotic responses in view of the 3 laws of robotics with which he had started. 
The narrator then sais he never heard of Susan Calvin again and that she died "last month, at at the age of 82", placing his writing to about 7 years after he had interviewed her, and having followed her personal career in 4 important stages told in each of the stories that involved her directly.

I, Robot can be read as a straight-up Sci-Fi novel, divided into 9 interrelated stories. Each one is unique in content and uniquely told from start to end. It can also be read as allegories, in rather straight-forward fashion, about sociopolitical and socioeconomic natures that aren't opaque nor hidden - just there to be read, seen and understood. 

Asimov's writing is fluid, and easy ; he invented a lot of details and technologies for humankind's future. He uses some beautiful prose from time to time and is never dry. His characterization is very interesting and captivating. I, Robot is a must-read for all sci-fi lovers out there, and am glad that I corrected my oversight. 
A suggestion, however : get another edition, with the original dates Asimov had created! 

BTW, I saw that there is a 2004 movie of the same title, starring Will Smith. It doesn't adapt this book, as IMDB indicates suggested by the book.