I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
Science Fiction
Overall Rating: 4
Quick summary: Artificial intelligence has been around for many years at the beginning of Asimov’s book. In a collection of short stories tied together by an overarching theme, this book explores how far humans could go with artificial intelligence.
So I started this book because one of my romance novels refers to it. Dating-ish by Penny Reid is about robots and after reading Dating-ish, I decided I needed to read I,Robot. I was a little leery at the beginning, though, because of the movie. I didn’t see the movie, but I remember liking the trailer, but any book that’s been turned into a movie is immediately suspicious to me. Don’t ask me why, it’s completely illogical.
I was very surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. In fact, I probably would have read it more quickly, had I not been reading a few other romance novels at the same time. But I thought the writing style was engaging and the characters in the novel very well developed.
Since this book is probably more of a “classic literature” title than just “science fiction” I was prepared for it to be more inaccessible. But the language is very accessible, the science is understandable, and the setting in the future very believable.
One of my favorite components of this book is thinking about what makes us human. Asimov makes a compelling argument that humans are very flawed, and perhaps less human than we’d like to admit. By that I mean, in trying to “save” ourselves from imitators (i.e. Artificial Intelligence) we reveal the weaknesses in our humanity. Indeed, by the end of the book, I think it’s difficult to tell which species exhibits the best of humanity—humans or robots.
Is it worth buying? (Kindle$7.99)
You should definitely read this book, but I recommend borrowing it from the library, like I did, or, buying it from a used bookstore, which I also did. Yes, that means I had two copies of the book, but since I had to give the library book back, it was worthwhile.
Something else you might enjoy:
Reading this book reminded me how much I love classic science fiction. If you haven’t read some of the earlier stuff, I highly recommend Ender’s Game. I read it in high school but it convinced me that any book can be amazing, regardless of genre! I have never shied away from any book, since then, simply because of its genre.
love serially 