The Complete Robot

by

688 pages

English language

Published Dec. 30, 1983

ISBN:
978-0-586-05724-7
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Goodreads:
50091

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5 stars (2 reviews)

The Complete Robot (1982) is a collection of 31 of the 37 science fiction short stories about robots by American writer Isaac Asimov, written between 1939 and 1977. Most of the stories had been previously collected in the books I, Robot and The Rest of the Robots, while four had previously been uncollected and the rest had been scattered across five other anthologies. They share a theme of the interaction of humans, robots and morality, and put together tell a larger story of Asimov's fictional history of robotics. The stories are grouped into categories.

2 editions

reviewed The Complete Robot by Isaac Asimov

Review of 'The Complete Robot' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Daughter loved the Robot stories from [b:I, Robot|41804|I, Robot (Robot, #0.1)|Isaac Asimov|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388321463l/41804.SX50.jpg|1796026] and wanted more. On research, this book had all the stories (up to its publication) so we went to it, reading on odd evenings over the last several months. Even the non-robot stories were fun :)

My favorite was among the non-robot stories - "Sally" is about cars with positronic brains. More of a tale of robot rights than autonomous vehicles, it is a self-contained story. Another great one was "Robot AL-76 Goes Astray", where a robot designed to mine on the moon accidentally crash lands in a farmer's field in Virginia.

This collection is worth the read, and wikipedia will point out the few Robot stories published after this. We plan to track those down soon. To quote my daughter, "Isaac Asimov is a great writer!"

reviewed The Complete Robot by Isaac Asimov

Review of 'The Complete Robot' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

2019 re-read, with daughter
Bumping this up half a star, the stories are interconnected better than I remember, and the characters are well described. I also pondered how Bicentennial Man and the recent I, Robot movie are connected to these stories. Still recommended!

I must confess I never read this as a kid, though I read plenty of Asimov and other science fiction at the time. This book is essentially a collection of short stories, and the beginning of the Robot universe. These stories really make you think; the psychology of how robots treat humans often masks the real point of how humans treat humans. I especially enjoyed the concluding story, and expect I will read others in this universe in the future.